The cast of Appropriate at GableStage, winner of best production of a play, scenic design , lighting design and Outstanding Achievement of an Artistic Specialty.
By Bill Hirschman
Many of this year’s Carbonell Awards recipients were familiar names with acclaimed artistry, but the gala itself Monday was filled with changes and a few surprises.
From a new location at Florida Atlantic University to changes in hosting duties to an 11-piece orchestra, the wryly nicknamed “theater prom” had a new look.
The 48th annual awards akin to a local Tony Awards honored excellence in 20 competitive categories, three scholarships, eight special awards to major contributors to the theater community plus a new one the Christine Dolen Award for Outstanding Debut.
The artists at GableStage and Slow Burn Theatre Company each won four awards; Maltz Jupiter Theatre won three; Arca Images, Theater Lab and Zoetic Stage claimed two, and Broadway at LPAC; Island City Stage and Miami New Drama took home one award each.
Outstanding Production, Play, Appropriate, GableStage
Production, Musical, Once, Maltz Jupiter Theatre
Direction, Musical, Patrick Fitzwater, Parade, Slow Burn Theatre Company
Mikayla Cohen and Justin Albinder in Slow Burn Theatre’s Parade
Direction, Play, Stuart Meltzer, The Pillowman, Zoetic Stage
New Work, The Last Yiddish Speaker by Deborah Zoe Laufer, Theatre Lab
Gemma Berg & Patti Gardner in The Last Yiddish Speaker by Deborah Zoe Laufer at Theatre Lab winner of outstanding new work
Performance by an Actor in a Lead Male Role, Musical Jack Wesley Gerhard, Once, Maltz Jupiter Theatre
Performance by an Actor in a Lead Female Role, Musical Mikayla Cohen, Anastasia, Slow Burn Theatre Company, who performed “Journey to the Past” from the same musical.
Performance by an Actor in a Lead Female Role, Play Andrea Ferro, Tres Veces Cruz/Three Times Cruz, Arca Images
Performance by an Actor in a Lead Male Role, Play Iain Batchelor, The Impossible Task of Today, Theatre Lab
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Female Role, Play, Betty Ann Hunt Strain, A Delicate Balance, Island City Stage
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Female Role, Musical, Lillie Eliza Thomas, The Bodyguard, Slow Burn Theatre Company
Seth Trucks in Zoetic Stage’s The Pillowman
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Male Role, Play Seth Trucks, The Pillowman, Zoetic Stage
Scenic Design, Frank J. Oliva, Appropriate, GableStage
Lighting Design, Tony Galaska, Appropriate, GableStage
Achievement of an Artistic Specialty, Jamie Godwin for Projection Design, Appropriate, GableStage
Music Direction, Maggie Hollinbeck, Once, Maltz Jupiter Theatre
Costume Design, Gema Valdés, Tres Veces Cruz/Three Times Cruz, Arca Images
Choreography, Alex Jorth, Legally Blonde, LPAC
Sound Design, Tyler Kieffer, Lincoln Road Hustle, Miami New Drama
A complete list of the nominees is at https://www.floridatheateronstage.com/news/an-unusually-diverse-array-of-carbonell-nominations-full-list/.
Eight Special Awards nominated by members of the local theatre community and selected by the nonprofit organization’s board of directors, included:
William Hayes and Sue Ellen Beryl
+ The George Abbott Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts to William Hayes & Sue Ellen Beryl, co-founders of Palm Beach Dramaworks, which recently celebrated its 25th anniversary of producing Theatre to Think About.
+ The Vinnette Carroll Award for significant achievement in advancing the cause of diversity, equality, and inclusion in South Florida theater to Michel Hausmann, co-founder and Artistic Director of Miami New Drama, reportedly the largest bilingual theater company in the country.
+ The Charlie Cinnamon Award honoring an individual who contributes significantly to the support of the arts in South Florida and to the Carbonell Awards program to veteran entertainment writer Mary Damiano.
Mary Damiano
+ The Ruth Foreman Award, which recognizes contributions to South Florida theater development by an individual or group, to Alexa Kuve, Executive Producer and Artistic Director of Arca Images.
+ The Bill Hindman Award, which honors significant, long-term contributions to the region’s cultural life and onstage career achievement, to Beverly Blanchette, the longtime Dean of Theatre at the Dreyfoos School of the Arts in West Palm Beach
+ The Howard Kleinberg Award, which honors an individual or organization for contributions to the health and development of the arts in South Florida, to Harvey J. Burstein and Miamiartzine.
+ The Jan McArt Award recognizing significant achievement by a small theater to New City Players.
+ The Bill von Maurer Award for Theatrical Excellence, which honors a theater company that exemplifies excellence for the totality of its programming: productions, educational outreach, developmental programs, and audiences served, to GableStage.
Christine Dolen
The nonprofit organization announced a new Special Award starting in 2026: the new Christine Dolen Award for Outstanding Debut honoring the late theatre critic for the Miami Herald and Carbonell Judge Emeritus.
As part of the 2025 Carbonell Awards, $2,000 Jack Zink Memorial Student Scholarships were presented to DeJaya Hardy (Miami-Dade County), Alexa Isabel Lasanta (Palm Beach County), and Jack Bear Ryan (Broward County). All three received an additional $1,000 this year from the new Hap Erstein Memorial Scholarship honoring the long-serving Carbonell judge and theater reviewer.
Previously, a procession of different duets of presenters for each award – usually theater artists or a donor. This time, four hosts presented all the awards: actress Karen Stephens, director/actor Bruce Linser, actors Randall Swinton and Diana Garle.
One of more moving moments occurred in the memorium section displayed to the Sondheim classic “No One Is Alone” performed by the Carbonell Orchestra and the FAU Student Wind Ensemble.
Two live excerpts from shows were performed from each county, although not necessarily nominees, including “Close Every Door” from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; “She Used to be Mine/ I Didn’t Plan It” from Waitress sung by Lindsay Corey and Kareema Khouri;”This Is Me” from The Greatest Showman; “Adelaide’s Lament” from Guys & Dolls sung by Mallory Newbrough; “Strangers Like Me” from Tarzan; and “I Can See It” from The Fantasticks sung by Kevin Hincapie and Jesse Luttrell.
The opener was a video featuring 32 companies and a four-minute number with a choir, dancers and lead vocalists.
This marked the first time in several years that the event was not held in centrally-located Broward in an intentional decision to move the event around the region.
The 490-seat FAU theater is smaller than recent years at the Amaturo Theater at the Broward Center which sells out about 590 seats. The FAU theater sold out weeks ago, but a side room provided a live feed and was the suite of an after-party.
The reimagined evening was put together by Executive Producer and Director Andrew Kato, who is celebrating his 20th season at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre as the Producing Artistic Director/Chief Executive, along with Coordinating Producer Eloisa Ferrer, and Associate Producer and Musical Director Caryl Fantel from the Florida Atlantic University Department of Theatre and Dance.
Along with New York’s Drama Desk and Chicago’s Joseph Jefferson Awards, the Carbonell Awards are among the nation’s oldest regional arts awards and predate others, including the Washington, D.C., Helen Hayes Awards. The Carbonell Awards are named after the internationally renowned sculptor Manuel Carbonell, who designed the signature solid bronze and marble award given annually to Carbonell Award winners. Over nearly a half-century, the Carbonell family has donated more than $250,000 in awards.
Tres Veces Cruz from Arca Images
Brief links to musical numbers:
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1718367968840729
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1573975057270398
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1729293967750376
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1922268755390033
https://www.facebook.com/reel/841934998240553
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1355493725963417
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1146687070914098
Special awards presentation
https://www.facebook.com/reel/864040669404327
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