The National Theatre Conference Reveals 2023 Award Recepients

Founded in 1925, The National Theatre Conference (NTC) is a nonprofit membership organization made up of distinguished theatre professionals and academics who gather each year in New York City to connect with each other, advocate for our field, engage essential questions of our art form, and honor organizations and individuals who impact and inspire the American theatre. The 2023 Awards Ceremony will take place on Saturday, December 2, 2023, the centerpiece of the three-day conference.

"We can't wait to celebrate this extraordinary group of theatremakers," says NTC President Susan Bernfield. "Demonstrating artistic and administrative innovation, expanding key communities' participation in our art form, each of our 2023 recipients lifts the theatre higher and strengthens the theatrical ecosystem."

Jacob G. Padrón

(NTC Person of the Year) is the Artistic Director of Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut. He is also the Founder and Artistic Director of The Sol Project, a national theater initiative that works in partnership with leading theater companies to amplify the voices of Latinx playwrights in New York City and beyond. Padrón has held senior-level artistic positions at theater companies across the country. He was the Senior Line Producer at The Public Theater where he worked on new plays, new musicals, Shakespeare in the Park, and Public Works. He was formerly the Producer at Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago where he supported the artistic programming in the Garage - Steppenwolf's dedicated space for new work, new artists, and new audiences. From 2008 to 2011, he was an Associate Producer at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival where he was instrumental in producing all shows in the 11-play repertory. Under the guidance of his late mentor Diane Rodriguez, he served as the producer of Suzan-Lori Parks' 365 Days/365 Plays for Center Theatre Group, a collaboration that included over 50 theater companies to launch Festival 365 in Los Angeles. He is a co-founder of the Artist Anti-Racism Coalition, a grassroots movement committed to dismantling structural racism within the Off-Broadway community. Jacob is a graduate of Loyola Marymount University (BA) and Yale School of Drama (MFA). His first artistic home was El Teatro Campesino located in San Juan Bautista, CA.

Deaf West Theatre

(Outstanding Theatre Award) Founded in Los Angeles in 1991, Tony Award-winning Deaf West Theatre (Artistic Director, David Kurs), engages artists and audiences in unparalleled theater experiences inspired by Deaf culture and the expressive power of sign language, weaving ASL with spoken English to create a seamless ballet of movement and voice. Committed to innovation, collaboration, and training, DWT is the artistic bridge between the Deaf and hearing worlds. Recent and past productions include the groundbreaking production of Beethoven's only opera Fidelio with the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Maestro Gustavo Dudamel; an exciting new play adaptation of Oedipus at the Getty Villa Museum directed and adapted by Jenny Koons; The Solid of Life of Sugar Water by Jack Thorne; Our Town, in a co-production with The Pasadena Playhouse; Edward Albee's At Home at the Zoo, in a co-production with the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts; Spring Awakening the Musical, which transferred from Inner-City Arts to the Wallis and then to Broadway (three Tony Award nominations including Best Revival of a Musical); American Buffalo (Los Angeles Times "Critic's Choice"); Cyrano, a co-production with The Fountain Theatre (Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Production); Big River the Musical (Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle and Backstage Garland awards for Best Musical in its L.A. premiere, a Tony Award nomination, and four Drama Desk Awards on Broadway); Pippin, produced at the Mark Taper Forum in a co-production with Center Theatre Group; Sleeping Beauty Wakes, also a co-production with Center Theatre Group, presented at the Kirk Douglas Theatre; Oliver! (Ovation Award for Best Musical) and A Streetcar Named Desire (Ovation Award for Best Play). In 2005, DWT was selected to receive the Highest Recognition Award by the Secretary of Health and Human Services for its "distinguished contributions to improve and enrich the culture lives of Deaf and hard of hearing actors and theater patrons."

a.k. payne

she/they (Bernie and Bernard Stavis Playwriting Award, supported by Boston University School of the Theatre) is a playwright, artist-theorist, and theatermaker with roots in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Their plays love on and engage the interdependencies of Black pasts, presents and futures and seek to find/remember language that might move us towards our collective liberation(s). They hold a B.A. in English and African-American Studies from Yale College and an MFA in Playwriting under Tarell Alvin McCraney from fka Yale School of Drama. Their work has been a finalist for the L. Arnold Weissberger New Play Award and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. She is the current recipient of the Van Lier New Voices Fellowship, National Black Theatre's I AM SOUL Playwrights Residency, the Kemp Powers Commission Fund for Black Playwrights and Atlantic Theater Company's Judith Champion Launch Commission. Their work has been developed with the National Playwrights Conference, The New Harmony Project, Great Plains Theater Conference, and Manhattan Theater Club's "Groundworks Lab." They are a proud graduate of Pittsburgh Public Schools; grandchild of the Great Migration; descendant of a music teacher and a carpenter, who both march every year with their unions in Pittsburgh's Labor Day parade; a queer & non-binary abolitionist affected in community by the 'New Jim Crow;" and of a great lineage of Black women storytellers and living-room archivists; all of which deeply informs, uplifts and amplifies their work as a playwright, community organizer and spacemaker. This honor is accompanied by a $2,000 honorarium and a public reading of FURLOUGH'S PARADISE, the award-winning play, during The National Theatre Conference. Directed by Tamilla Woodard, the reading will be Friday, December 1, at 2:00pm, at The Players Club.

Isabel Pask

NTC Person of the Year Jacob G. Padrón has chosen Isabel Pask to receive the Paul Green Award, which recognizes and encourages excellence in new professional theatre talent. Isabel Pask is a Brooklyn-based, Texan-born writer, actor, director, and producer with Puerto Rican roots. Isabel is a contributing artist for the femme-millennial production company CNT Productions, for which she wrote, starred in, and co-produced the award winning short film This is Not a Love Letter. Isabel is also a member of the theatrical collectives The Bellwether Project and Notch Theatre Company, and is the Producing Associate for the latiné theatre initiative The Sol Project. Isabel's work has been recognized by numerous international film festivals and publications, including Big Apple Film Festival, Independent Picture House's Community Impact Film Series, Madrid International Film Festival, Venice Shorts, Toronto Indie Filmmakers Festival, Women's Voices Now Film Festival, Ms. Magazine, and the San Francisco Chronicle. As an actor she has performed regionally and in NYC with Chautauqua Theatre Company, Santa Cruz Shakespeare, McCarter Theatre Center, Ars Nova, Dorset Theatre Festival, and Shakespeare Theatre of NJ. Film/TV credits include the upcoming independent feature Revelations of Divine Love, Life and Beth (Hulu), and Succession (HBO). Most recently, Isabel wrote, produced and starred in the short film GET LOST (dir. Victoria Pedretti), and is working on pre-production for her short film Goodnight, along with several feature length screenplays. Isabel earned degrees in Acting and Creative Writing at Carnegie Mellon University, where she was awarded the Elizabeth Orion Award for Classical Acting.

Joshua Castille

David Kurs, Artistic Director of Outstanding Theatre Award recipient Deaf West Theatre, has selected Joshua Castille to receive NTC's Emerging Professional Award. Joshua Castille is a Deaf performance artist based in Chicago. Favorite Credits: Spring Awakening (Ernst, Broadway), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Quasimodo, 5th Ave), Romeo and Juliet (Romeo, ACT Theatre). Recently seen in the Fox anthology series Accused. Josh strives to form meaningful collaborations that explore the boundaries of art. He has worked on various projects in different roles including ASL master, director, actor, set designer, and more. Amidst the adrenaline rushes, he harbors the humility of knowing that no matter how you communicate, you have a voice to be heard. Joshua is repped by KMR & Associates. joshuacastille.com

In addition, NTC will induct eight new members into its ranks. They are Freddie Ashley, Julie Felise Dubiner, Julie Jensen, Kristin Leahey, Amy Rose Marsh, Christy Montour-Larson, Roxanne Schroeder-Arce, and David Stewart.

The National Theatre CONFERENCE

founded in 1925, is a membership organization limited to 150 distinguished leaders nationwide. Our diverse members work in commercial, nonprofit, and university settings, and comprise playwrights, directors, dramaturgs, actors, designers, producers, critics, choreographers, fight directors, historians, teachers, and technicians. "Connecting, Supporting and Advocating for America's Theaters since 1925," NTC is dedicated to the advancement and development of theatre in this country. In addition to recognizing and celebrating theatrical excellence through its awards programs, NTC works to promote active community among its members and positive change in the American theatre. More information can be found at www.nationaltheatreconference.org.