TheatreWorks Silicon Valley to Receive 2019 Regional Theatre Tony Award
Tony Awards to Broadcast Live from Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, June 9th
April 29 — The Tony Awards® Administration Committee has announced that based on the recommendation by the American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA), TheatreWorks Silicon Valley will be the recipient of the 2019 Regional Theatre Tony Award. Accompanied by a grant of $25,000, the award is made possible by City National Bank’s generous support of the Creative Arts Awards.
“We are thrilled to present the 2019 Regional Theatre Tony Award to TheatreWorks Silicon Valley,” said Charlotte St. Martin, President of The Broadway League and Heather Hitchens, President of the American Theatre Wing. “The work they produce celebrates the human spirit, they have helped develop hundreds of vibrant new plays and musicals that are now being performed in theaters across America, and they have pioneered education programs that inspire thousands of students each year, creating future generations of creative artists and enthusiastic audiences.”
“I am deeply honored to accept the Regional Theatre Tony Award for TheatreWorks Silicon Valley,” said the company’s Founding Artistic Director Robert Kelley, who is launching his 50th and final season as artistic director of the company he created as a new Stanford graduate, concluding one of the longest tenures of any professional regional theater.
“I can think of no better way to begin TheatreWorks’s 50th Anniversary Season than with this highest honor, a testament to the passion and imaginative spirit of the artists whose work has been presented on TheatreWorks’s stages. There is a joy here, a warmth to the creative process that many have found inspiring. For me, that joy has been worth a lifetime. We dedicate this award to the many thousands of brilliant theatre artists and fiercely committed staff, trustees, and community supporters who have shared our work for half a century.”
Said TheatreWorks Silicon Valley Executive Director Phil Santora, ”This is a profound honor. Our thanks go out to our myriad dedicated supporters, funders, and staff, and to the American Theatre Wing, The Broadway League, and the American Theatre Critics Association for this recognition and their enduring commitment to the art of theatre.”
The American Theatre Wing’s 73rd Annual Tony Awards, hosted by James Corden, will air on the CBS Television Network on Sunday, June 9, 2019 (8:00-11:00 PM, ET/delayed PT) live from Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The Tony Awards, which honors theatre professionals for distinguished achievement on Broadway, has been broadcast on CBS since 1978. The Tony Awards are presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing.
Nominations for the 2019 Tony Awards will be announced live by Bebe Neuwirth and Brandon Victor Dixon on Tuesday, April 30, 2019 from the New York City Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. The event will be streamed on Facebook LIVE (at Facebook.com/TheTonyAwards), and covered by CBS This Morning at 8:30am ET.Follow the Tony Awards on Twitter and Instagram for real-time updates on the nominees as they are announced (@TheTonyAwards). The entire announcement will also be available on TonyAwards.com after the event. Press releases and high-res images are available at www.TonyAwards.com/presskit.
The Regional Theatre Tony Award, initially called the Special Tony Award for Regional Theatre, began when a committee of senior ATCA members pitched the idea to then-Tony-producer Alex Cohen. The first award was in 1976 to Arena Stage (Washington, DC). Each year since ATCA has involved its nationwide membership in a confidential process which leads to a recommendation to the Tony Committee. For a list of all 43 previous winners, click here.
Since its founding in 1970, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley has become one of the nation’s leaders in cultivating and producing new musicals and plays, developing and presenting 69 World Premieres (with the 70th coming up this season) by new and veteran artists, in addition to 167 regional premieres, and hundreds of works developed in the company’s New Works Initiatives. The company’s annual New Works Festival and Writers’ Retreat programs attract authors and composers of national stature (Rajiv Joseph, Stephen Schwartz, Beth Henley, Paul Gordon, Marsha Norman, Henry Krieger, Duncan Sheik, Jules Feiffer, Joe DiPietro, and Andrew Lippa, among many others). The company has developed scores of works which have gone on to regional, Off-Broadway, and Broadway productions. Notably, the Best Musical Tony Award- and Olivier award-winning “Memphis” was first workshopped and received its world premiere at TheatreWorks.
TheatreWorks Silicon Valley is an Equity/LORT theatre, producing eight shows annually, playing to more than 100,000 patrons a year. TheatreWorks is dedicated to creating works that celebrate the human spirit, and reflect the diversity of its community, with a proud history of inclusive casting, and selecting or creating works that shine a light on the experiences of the diverse populations of the Bay Area. TheatreWorks offers myriad outreach programs, reaching some 25,000 students annually with in-class workshops, student matinees, summer camps, the Young Playwrights Project, the acclaimed “Oskar” school tour which addresses issues such as bullying, stress, and inclusion, the Children’s Healing Project at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital which serves children in long-term care and their siblings, and a newly piloted theatre program for children at Ronald McDonald House. Information can be found at www.TheatreWorks.org.
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About the Tony Awards
The American Theatre Wing’s Tony Awards are presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing. At The Broadway League, Thomas Schumacher is Chairman and Charlotte St. Martin is President. At the American Theatre Wing, David Henry Hwang is Chair and Heather A. Hitchens is President & CEO. Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss of White Cherry Entertainment are the Executive Producers of the 2019 Tony Awards. Mr. Weiss will also serve as Director of the 2019 Tony Awards.
Sponsors for Tony Awards include: Carnegie Mellon University – the first-ever, exclusive higher education partner; City National – official bank of the Tony Awards and presenting sponsor of the Creative Arts Awards; Sofitel New York – the official hotel of the Tony Awards; Rainbow Room – official partner of the Tony Nominee Luncheon; United Airlines – the official airline of the Tony Awards for the last 18 years; and People/Entertainment Weekly – official magazine partners of the Tony Awards.
Tony Awards press contact: SLATE PR – (212) 235-6813. Shawn Purdy / Rachael Trager
TheatreWorks Silicon Valley Press Contact:CBCO Public Relations – (650) 327-1200; Carla Befera: carlab@cb-pr.com; Lauren Goldfarb: lauren@cb-pr.com
Release written by Tony Awards and TheatreWorks, edited and lightly amplified here by ATCA.
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