Beverly Blanchette, a nationally recognized theater artist and educator who has helped shape the cultural fabric of south Florida for over four decades, will receive the Carbonell’s 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.
As a performer, director, and passionate advocate for arts education, she has championed the transformative power of theatre in both professional and academic settings. During her long career as a theater educator—most notably as Dean of Theatre at the Dreyfoos School of the Arts in West Palm Beach—she mentored hundreds of young artists, many of whom now work across the globe in the arts and education.
A member of the Educational Theatre Association’s Hall of Fame, she trained and inspired generations of students whose own careers span Broadway, television, film, world stages, and classrooms of their own. Her passionate mentorship and professional excellence ripples across the country and back home where her students guide the next wave of actors, directors, producers, designers, and writers.
She has been quoted as saying, “We call it a play because we’re playing,”—and she’s still playing full-out, having made her New York stage debut this past summer.
Blanchette received multiple nominations for this award. MNM Producer Marcie Gorman praises Blanchette for being “a vital part of South Florida’s theatre community for 40 years. (Just) add up her teaching credits, workshop creations, acting skills, directing credits, and the sheer number of young people she has helped find their life journey.” Former student and SAG/AFTRA actor Sarah Siegel who says, “Thanks to (Beverly’s) wisdom, encouragement, and unforgettable pep talks (often sprinkled with Broadway-level dramatics), I’m now pursuing my career in Hollywood with heartfelt confidence.”
The Bill Hindman Award, named after the Carbonell Award-winning stage and film actor, has previously been given to longtime stage manager Carl Waisanen (2024); James Samuel Randolph, theater professor at New World School of the Arts (2023); actor and Actors’ Equity Association representative Margot Moreland (2022); actors Barbara Bradshaw (2020) and Harriet Oser (2015); and veteran performer Don McArt (2013).
All the 2025 Special Award recipients were nominated by members from South Florida’s theater community with the Carbonell Board of Directors making the final selection. The 120 Carbonell Award Finalists will be based on accumulated scores from the nonprofit organization’s pool of nearly 50 experienced and diverse volunteer judges—with seven judges from various counties assigned to each show. During the 2024-2025 season, Carbonell judges adjudicated over 100 professional productions at more than 30 theatres across Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach Counties.
The presentation will be at the 48th Annual Carbonell Awards at 7:30 p.m. November 17 at FAU’s University Theatre in Boca Raton — a change in venue for the program. Tickets for the ceremony and after party are $45 and will go on public sale in mid-October.
The Carbonells plan to release each of its other special awards one at a time and then the nominees in its traditional categories each of the succeeding Tuesdays. The most prestigious George Abbott Award was announced for William Hayes and Sue Ellen Beryl, co-founders of Palm Beach Dramaworks; the new Jan McArt Award to New City Players, and Michel Hausmann, the co-founder and Artistic Director of Miami New Drama, with the Vinnette Carroll Award; the Charlie Cinnamon Award will be given to critic/journalist Mary Damiano, and the Ruth Foreman Award to Alexa Kuve, the actress, executive producer and artistic director of Arca Images.
All the 2025 Special Award recipients were nominated by members from South Florida’s theater community with the Carbonell Board of Directors making the final selection.
The 120 Carbonell Award nominee finalists will be based on accumulated scores from the nonprofit organization’s pool of nearly 50 experienced and diverse volunteer judges—with seven judges from various counties assigned to each show. During the 2024-2025 season, Carbonell judges adjudicated over 100 professional productions at more than 30 theaters across Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach Counties.
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 Washington, D.C.’s 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 half a century, the Carbonell family has donated more than $250,000 in awards.
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