Carbonell Awards Reveals Recipients of Five Special Awards in 2024
The Carbonell Awards Ceremony is on Monday, November 11, at 7:30 pm.
By: Stephi Wild Aug. 12, 2024
Gary Schweikhart, board president of the Carbonell Awards, South Florida’s Theater & Arts Honors, has announced the recipients of five prestigious Special Awards that will be presented at the Carbonell Awards Ceremony on Monday, November 11, at 7:30 pm at the Lauderhill Performing Arts Center at 3800 NW 11th Place, Lauderhill, FL 33311. Tickets are just $40 each (including facility fee) and will be available for public purchase next month.
“While we will be honoring 20 specific theatre performances, production elements, and shows presented from September 2023 through August 2024, the Carbonell board of directors has voted to also bestow the following Special Awards,” said Schweikhart.
The Vinnette Carroll Award
For significant achievement in advancing the cause of diversity, equality, and inclusion in South Florida theater.
Director and actor John Pryor has been a valued theater professor at Miami-Dade Community College and Florida Memorial College who taught hundreds of students the joys of theater while exposing them to playwrights such as August Wilson, Charles Fuller, Lorraine Hansberry, Samm Art-Williams, and Vinnette Carroll. Pryor not only produced Carroll’s Don’t Bother Me I Can’t Cope for Miami-Dade Community College, he also served as her stage manager when she produced and directed her musical Your Arms Too Short to Box with God starring Patti LaBelle in a brief Miami run. Pryor has directed more than 100 productions over the last 34 years and has appeared in many as an actor. He also directed M Ensemble’s production of the late Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson’s complete, 10-play Century Cycle.
Previous Winners:
Christie Alexander & Katie Christie, for leading the South Florida Theatre League's AntiRacism Theatre Strategies Cohorts (2023); Marshall L. Davis (2022), managing director of the African Heritage Cultural Arts Center (AHCAC) in Miami’s Liberty City, a facility newly renamed in his honor.
The Ruth Foreman Award
Recognizes contributions to South Florida theater development by an individual or group, for singular achievement and/or career contributions.
Marilynn Wick
Founder and CEO of The Wick Theatre & Museum Club and Costume World, Inc.
Marilynn Wick has dedicated her life to the preservation of theatre history. Her commitment to purchasing, restoring, and housing the largest collection of Broadway costumes in the world is a passion that will allow future generations to experience and cherish theatre’s brilliant legacy in a tangible way. Her Costume World houses an incredible collection of 87 original Broadway wardrobes and thousands of theatrical pieces. Her love of theater led her to transform the shuttered Caldwell Theatre in Boca Raton into The Wick Theatre & Museum Club, now celebrating its 11th season of offering both mega-sized musicals and intimate Manhattan-style cabaret. The Wick recently added the Museum Club, an immersive venue, featuring original Broadway costumes and a 360-degree video wall showcasing original content that provides comprehensive, entertaining, and educational insights into the history of the Great White Way. Marilynn Wick is the quintessential role model of an arts advocate–both preserving the irreplaceable past and embracing the future of entertainment.
Previous Winners:
Maltz Jupiter Theatre (2023); Teresa Maria Rojas (2022), The Amparo Experience (2020), Juggerknot Theatre Company (2019), Nicole Stodard (2018), and Florida Children’s Theatre (2016).
The Bill Hindman Award
Honoring significant, long-term contributions to the region’s cultural life and onstage career achievement by performing artists based in South Florida.
Carl Waisanen
With an MFA in Acting from the University of Iowa, Carl Waisanen worked as an actor in multiple shows (1776, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, The Underpants, Funny Girl, and Havana Bourgeois). However, he is best known for the 25 years he served as Production Stage Manager for more than 120 shows at Actors' Playhouse in Coral Gables. His lengthy tenure at Actors' ended when he suffered a massive stroke during COVID. Famous for his constant and creative reminders when the clocks needed turning back (lest the cast and crew miss half-hour), Carl still sends them out via Facebook to hundreds of actors who look forward to receiving his messages. Throughout his long career, he has been a cherished source of both on-stage guidance and back-stage support to everyone in the cast and crew, show after show after show.
Previous Winners: James Samuel Randolph (2023); Margot Moreland (2022), Barbara Bradshaw (2020), Harriet Oser(2015), and Don McArt (2013).
The Howard Kleinberg Award
Honoring an individual or organization for contributions to the health and development of the arts in South Florida.
Kermit Christman
Founder & Artistic Producing Director, Palm Beach Shakespeare Festival
Kermit Christman has dedicated his life to professional theater, devoting the past 35 years to creating and running the Palm Beach Shakespeare Festival. Starting in 1989, his dream was realized when he welcomed 10,000 visitors to Carlin Park for the inaugural two-week run of the annual Shakespeare by the Sea, which offers free professional theater for year-round residents, fills the end-of-season cultural void, and provides paid work each summer for actors and technicians. He was instrumental in designing and generating public support for the popular Seabreeze Amphitheater and has produced numerous award-winning contemporary theater productions, comedy showcases, and concert series.
Previous Winners: Ronnie Larsen (2023); Andie Arthur (2022), Deborah Margol (2018), Christine Dolen (2015), and Iris Acker (2014
The Bill von Maurer Award for Theatrical Excellence
Honoring a theater company that exemplifies excellence for the totality of its programming: productions, educational outreach, developmental programs, and audiences served.
Area Stage
Now celebrating its 35th anniversary, Area Stage is an award-winning theatre organization that offers world-class professional productions and a vibrant conservatory program. It was founded by John & Maria Rodaz with the mission “to provide extraordinary theatrical experiences, to nurture the artistic talents and creative spirits of the next generation of theatre professionals, and to make the in-person, collective experience of theatre accessible to everyone, especially to those who traditionally face barriers to access or participation.” In 2008, the company established a professional-level conservatory program in addition to maintaining a full season of professional productions, concerts, and community events. In 2014, the Inclusion Theatre Project (ITP) was established, a life-changing program for individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities. In 2020, Area Stage moved to The Shops at Sunset Place. Its current headquarters, built from the ground up for its needs, host state-of-the-art dance and voice studios and a black box theatre. Under the visionary leadership of current Artistic Director Giancarlo Rodaz, the critically acclaimed Area Stage has undergone a transformative phase, embracing immersive productions to elevate storytelling, forcing multi-generational, multicultural audiences to rekindle new relationships with classic tales. With a vision of unceasing growth, Area Stage aspires to remain a key component of South Florida’s artistic and cultural landscape now and in the future.
Previous Winners:
Slow Burn Theatre Company (2023), Theater Lab (2022), Palm Beach Dramaworks (2020), City Theatre (2015), Maltz Jupiter Theatre (2011), and Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre (2007).
In July, the Carbonell Awards announced the 2024 recipient of its best-known Special Award:
The George Abbott Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts
Honoring an individual (or team) who has contributed significantly to the artistic and cultural development of the region.
Cuban American Nilo Cruz gained national prominence in 2003 when he won the Pulitzer Prize for drama for his play Anna in the Tropics, a Depression-era tale about migrant Cubans working in a Tampa cigar factory, for which he also received a Steinberg Award and Tony Award nomination. He has become known for his ability to successfully weave strains of magical realism and other literary traditions into his works. His plays include A Park in Our House; Two Sisters and a Piano; A Bicycle Country; Hortensia and the Museum of Dreams; Lorca in a Green Dress; Hurricane; Sotto Voce; Bathing in Moonlight; Hotel Desiderium; Kisses through the Glass; and Thirst on Water Street. His work has been seen at numerous theaters throughout the country and around the world.
Previous Winners: Christine Dolen (2023); Michael Tilson Thomas (2022), Barbara & Lawrence E. Stein (2022), Kelley Shanley (2020), Michael McKeever (2019), and Gail Garrisan (2018)
As part of the 2024 Carbonell Awards, $2,000 Jack Zink Memorial Student Scholarships will be presented to Alexandra Dreszer (Miami-Dade County), Lillian Jones (Palm Beach County), and Morgan Brooke Wilder (Broward County).
The Carbonell Awards Ceremony on November 11 is being produced by celebrated playwright, actor, and designer Michael McKeever and Stuart Meltzer, the founding artistic director of Zoetic Stage—both of whom have won multiple Carbonell Awards and previously produced and directed numerous Carbonell Ceremonies. Caryl Fantel is returning as Music Director.
Sponsors of the 47th Annual Carbonell Awards include the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Aventura Arts & Cultural Center, Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Broward Cultural Division, Carbonell Sculptures Ltd., Cultural Council for Palm Beach County, Donald M. Ephraim Sun & Stars International Film Festival presented by MorseLife Health System, John Knox Village, Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, Lauderhill Performing Arts Center, Miami-Dade County Auditorium, The Dennis C. Moss Center (formerly The South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center), OutClique Magazine, South Florida Theater Magazine, South Florida Theatre League, Mark Traverso & Conor Walton, and Donald R. Walters, P.A.
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