Broadway Black, the multimedia organization highlighting the achievements of Black theatre artists presented the inaugural Antonyo Awards, a celebration of the Black Broadway and Off-Broadway community.
Drew Shade, founder of Broadway Black and the companion podcast, Off Book, is Executive Producer of the Antonyos. Shade has gathered a team of creatives that include Catherine Caldwell, Darius Barnes, Kim Exum, Neville Braithwaite, Zhailon Levingston, Elijah Lewis, Allen Louis, Eric Lockley, Edward Mawere, Emma Claye, Ianne Fields Stewart, and The Press Room, who are donating their time and talents to beautifully recognize Black theatre in NYC. All found this endeavor especially important given the shortened show season due to COVID-19.
"In our first meeting we decided on Juneteenth for the awards, as it is a more accurate date of freedom from slavery for Black Americans," says Shade. "The Antonyos honor contributors to Black theatre from actors to stage and company managers, administrators and designers. Everyone in our community deserves to be acknowledged in what we hope will be a funny, authentic, celebratory event that is for us, by us."