By Bill Hirschman
Rules how Carbonell Awards are judged were revised this week in response to concerns from theaters and community volunteers about the need to fine-tune the complex mathematics of the results.
Five of seven recommendations from an adhoc study committee were adopted Monday by the board of the region’s oldest continuing program recognizing excellence among professional productions in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.
At their heart, the changes were based in opinions among some theater leaders “that the way we were adjudicating a show was not mathematically sound,” said Gary Schweikhart, president of the board.
The concern was the mathematics being used most recently were unintentionally misleading – “allegations that our final scoring process is skewed and not mathematically consistent,” Schweikart wrote.
The structure for selecting awards in the 47-year-old program has evolved several times, most recently in 2021 when, among other changes, shows were not considered being compared to each other, but being judged stand-alone on their individual merits.
Specifically, it abandoned having the same overall panel of judges see everything and thereby compare works across the three counties. Among the challenges was that the spike in the number of companies that had to be reviewed by the same group.
As a result, “no show is to be compared to another show…. You don’t go to the Maltz to compare that to something you saw at Slow Burn. Every show, every performance is to be judged in and of itself…. The theaters were very clear that they did not want to be put in competition against one another,” Schweikart said.
The changes grow out of the complex current point-based system in which seven judges are assigned to each show but non-assigned judges can also see and evaluate a show on their own. All submitted evaluations are added. Then the highest and lowest scores are eliminated. The remainders are divided by the number of remaining judges to achieve the final point score average. This means the number of participating judge evaluations could be the basic 5 or as high as 12.
Matt Stabile, producing artistic director of Theatre Lab at FAU said that gave a different weight to a judge’s vote depending on how many votes were included. For instance, when only five votes are averaged, each one judge’s ballot counts for about 20 percent of the result. If there are ten votes, an individual vote counts for 10 percent toward the average.
But in the underlying change for the coming season beginning in September, scoring will only be limited to the seven initial judges assigned to each show. Non-assigned judges who see the shows on their own volition will not have scores counted unless one or more of the assigned judges are drop-outs or no-shows.
Those vacancies will be filled by non-assigned judges that have scored the show – they being pulled from a pool by a random number calculator. All judges will be encouraged to complete score cards for every show that they see during the year, to provide those potential back-up scores.
Additionally:
*** This August, all judges will be given the opportunity to review their scores from the current 2023-24 season and revise before final calculation. … During the year, a process will be worked on that would make it easier for all judges to review and update their scores at the end of the 2024-25 season.
*** Instead of calling the top scorers “nominees,” they will be termed “finalists.” Some people like Stabile contended that “nominees” gives the impression in publicity that “you actually already know the winner.” Further, the term finalist is a more positive term that a theater can use in its publicity whether it wins the award or not.
*** Non-assigned judges are not allowed to request comps. Comps are for assigned judges only. The board is requesting but not requiring that theaters offer industry rates, if they have them, to non-assigned judges.The proposals state that such a move would “make it more affordable for non-assigned judges to see as many performances as possible with the understanding that the more shows that a judge sees, the better it is for a fair judging process.”
This plays into the concern – and intentional change in voting philosophy for the past few years – that shows are no longer being compared to each other, but being judged on their individual merit, akin to a teacher grading their students’ essays. Some observers question if the comparisons are still being made – and should be.
The problem is that while any judge can attend any show, the assigned judges usually only attend theaters in the two adjoining counties near their home – and don’t get to many if any in the third county.
Stabile suggested a future option in which judges would be required to visit every member theater for at least one performance. “If you’re going to the same three, four theaters, and you’re always scoring those theaters, you don’t actually have an idea of what else is out there.”
Two other proposals from the adhoc committee were weighed by the Carbonell board, but were tabled for further consideration:
*** Require all judges to see at least 16 performances per year among all three counties, starting with the 2025-26 season.
*** For the 2025-26 season, revisit the process by which the final winners are determined. One possibility would be that judges who see more of the shows in a category have a more heavily weighted score. Or, once the six finalists in each category is determined, allow the judges to subjectively select the ultimate winners rather than rely solely on the point score.
The adhoc committee proposing changes began meeting late last fall in Zoom meetings. Members included co-chairs Carbonell judges Jill Kratish of the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, and Jeff Kiltie of the Aventura Arts & Cultural Center, plus Elizabeth Dashiell of the Palm Beach Shakespeare Festival, Tim Davis of New City Players, critic Christine Dolen, Jennifer Sierra-Grobbelaar of the Broward Center, actress Margery Lowe, Betsy Weisman of the Broward Center and Stabile.
A Zoom meeting with all judges and participating theaters is penciled in for August to explain the process changes to be in place for the start of the 2024-25 season on September 1.
The 47th Carbonell Awards Ceremony is slated for Monday, November 11, at 7:30 p.m. at the Lauderhill Performing Arts Center at 3800 NW 11th Place, Lauderhill, FL 33311. Tickets are $45 each including facility fee.
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