Audelco_Award

AUDELCO

AUDELCO

Add article description

AUDELCO, the Audience Development Committee, Inc., was established in 1973 by Vivian Robinson to honor excellence in African American theatre in New York City.

AUDELCO presents the Vivian Robinson/AUDELCO Recognition Awards (also known as Viv awards) annually. The awards were created to promote "recognition, understanding, and awareness of the arts in the African-American community."

The AUDELCO awards recognize the following Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway:

  • Productions by African-American companies
  • Productions written and/or directed by African-Americans
  • African-American actors in productions

Description

AUDELCO has an office in Harlem, and the current president is Jacqueline Jeffries.[1] The board of directors includes: Tony Peterson (2nd Vice-President), Ralph Carter (3rd Vice-President), Linda Armstrong (secretary), and Cherine Anderson, A. Curtis Farrow, Bambi Jones, Donna M. Mills, Mary Seymour, Dale Ricardo Shields, Terrence Spivey, and Mary B. Davis as the Chair Emeritus.[2] The organization has thousands of members, a newsletter, and an African-American theater collection including books, photographs, slides, and scripts, as well as an extensive clippings on file of African-American theatre.[3]

History

A year after its founding, the Awards were designated to more specific roles in the design and production of shows such as scenic, lighting, and costume design, choreography, acting, and directing. In 1975, the Awards moved to focus on accomplishments made in particular productions. Three years later, in 1978, the rules to be nominated for an AUDELCO Award became more concrete.[3]

The AUDELCO awards recognize productions by professional, not-for-profit theater organizations that have existed for at least two years and have had a minimum of 500 hours of rehearsal, performance, and/or training. Productions have to be performed over 12 times within the year (September 1 through August 31). Workshop productions and works-in-progress are not eligible for the awards.[3]

These guidelines are still followed today and those nominated for Awards are chosen by a committee. In order to qualify to be a committee member, one must see an average of 100 shows in a year. Once the committee is selected, only five nominations can be considered for each category of the Awards.[3]

AUDELCO typically hosts the award ceremony annually; however in 1996, there were no individual awards presented due to the founder Vivian Robinson passing away just a few months prior that September.[4]

Select awards

Previous AUDELCO awardees include: Marsha Stephanie Blake, Chadwick Boseman, Viola Davis, George Faison, André Holland, Sanaa Lathan, Barbara Montgomery, Anika Noni Rose, André De Shields, Denzel Washington, and many others.[5]

More information Name, Category ...
More information Name, Category ...
More information Production, Category ...

References

  1. [1]
    BWW News Desk (May 27, 2015). "AUDELCO President Grace L. Jones Attends No Name Show in Washington Heights". BroadwayWorld. Retrieved December 8, 2017.
  2. [2]
    "Board of Directors | Audience Development Committee, Inc". www.audelco.org. Retrieved 2016-11-01.
  3. [3]
    Robinson, Vivian (1983). "The First Ten Years of AUDELCO". Black American Literature Forum. 17 (2): 79–81. doi:10.2307/2904584. ISSN 0148-6179. JSTOR 2904584.
  4. [4]
    Gener, Randy. "The Theater Fan." The Village Voice, Dec 17 1996, p. 89. ProQuest. Web. 19 Nov. 2020 .
  5. [5]
    "Deep Azure". University of Michigan Press. Archived from the original on September 2, 2020. Retrieved 2020-09-02.
  6. [6]
    Fraser, C. Gerald (November 23, 1983). "Black Theater Stars Given Awards". New York Times.
  7. [7]
    Fraser, C. Gerald (November 20, 1985). "Black Theater Awards Given". New York Times.
  8. [8]
    Fraser, C. Gerald (November 26, 1988). "Six Awards to 'Struttin'". New York Times.
  9. [9]
    Fraser, C. Gerald (November 23, 1989). "'Talented Tenth' and 'Sheba' Dominate Theater Awards". The New York Times.
  10. [10]
    Viagas, Robert (December 1, 1995). "Audelco Award Winners". Playbill.
  11. [11]
    Simonson, Robert (November 19, 1998). "1998 Audelco Awards, Honoring Black Theatre, Announced". Playbill.
  12. [12]
    Lefkowitz, David (November 19, 1999). "OOB's Safreeta Mae Wins Six Audelco Awards". Playbill.
  13. [13]
    Lefkowitz, David; Hernandez, Ernio (November 21, 2000). "Jitney Takes Eight AUDELCO Awards for Excellence in Black Theatre". Playbill.
  14. [14]
    Reichheld, Chris; Luber, Steve (November 24, 2001). "NYC's Harlem-Based Audelco Awards Turn Blue". Playbill.
  15. [15]
    Armstrong, Linda (November 18, 2004). "Honoring Black theatre: 32nd Annual AUDELCO Awards". The New York Amsterdam News.
  16. [16]
    Armstrong, Linda (November 23, 2006). "AUDELCOs honor the best in Black theatre". The New York Amsterdam News.
  17. [17]
    Armstrong, Linda (November 29, 2012). "Black theater saluted at 40th anniversary AUDELCO Awards". The New York Amsterdam News.
  18. [18]
    "Lia Chang: Knock Me a Kiss Sweeps Audelcos with 9 Wins Including Best Dramatic Play, André De Shields, Marie Thomas, Charles Smith and Chuck Smith". Backstage Pass with Lia Chang. 2011-11-16. Retrieved 2020-11-20.
  19. [19]
    "Lia Chang: Classical Theatre of Harlem's Archbishop Supreme Tartuffe, MTC's Ruined, De Shields and Nottage Among 2009 Audelco Winners". Backstage Pass with Lia Chang. 2009-11-19. Retrieved 2020-11-20.
  20. [20]
    "'What Would Jesus Do' Tops Audelco Awards". www.backstage.com. 2010-11-17. Retrieved 2020-11-20.
  21. [21]
    Ards, Angela. "Theater in the Round." The Village Voice, Dec 09 1997, p. 107. ProQuest. Web. 19 Nov. 2020 .
  22. [22]
    D.J.R. BRUCKNER. "The Stage: 'Memories,' A Comedy." New York Times (1923-Current file), Nov 26 1987, p. 1. ProQuest. Web. 19 Nov. 2020 .
  23. [23]
    "Crowns". www.iobdb.com. Retrieved 2020-11-20.
  24. [24]
    "2020 Winners and Honorees | Audience Development Committee, Inc". Retrieved 2020-12-16.
  25. [25]
    Release, Press. "Riverside: Broadway Actress Brings Fannie Lou Hamer to Life in a One-Woman Performance". InlandEmpire.us. Retrieved 2020-11-20.
  26. [26]
    "New York Arts Celebrate Black History". www.backstage.com. 2003-02-10. Retrieved 2020-11-20.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Audelco_Award, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.