2015-16 Silver Palm Theatre Awards to Be Presented 12/5

The South Florida Silver Palm Theatre Awards, founded nine years ago to honor theatrical excellence in South Florida, will be presented this year to 28 individuals and organizations on Monday, December 5th, in Fort Lauderdale, at the Theatre League of South Florida's annual holiday party.

"The Silver Palm Awards are presented annually to those who've made an outstanding or unique contribution to South Florida Theatre," explained Silver Palm Awards Executive Committee Chairman Tony Finstrom. "There are no nominees, no winners or losers, and no limit to the number of citations given in any 'category,' though there really are no official categories."

"Every year it seems to get harder to determine who should be honored," says Finstrom. "The talent pool in South Florida is strong and has grown so much over the past nine years. We gave out only 13 awards our first season of existence. Last December we gave out 27 of them. On Monday we'll give out 28."

The awards are determined by a vote of the South Florida Theatre Press Corp, who Finstrom drafts each year into submitting recommendations for outstanding contributions to South Florida Theatre.

Finstrom (a playwright), Becon TV talk show host Iris Acker, and Florida Media News critic Ron Levitt compose the Silver Palm Executive Committee, who receive the recommendations from South Florida journalists and theatre critics, then tally the votes and draw up the final list of recipients.

This year's Silver Palm Advisory Council consisted of Christine Dolen (artburstmiami.com, Miami Herald, Sun-Sentinel), Hap Erstein (Palm Beach Post, and Palm Beach ArtsPaper.com), Bill Hirschman(FloridaTheaterOnStage.com, and FloridaWeekly.com), John Thomason (Boca Raton Magazine, FloridaTheatreOnStage.com, and New Times), J.W. Arnold (South Florida Gay News), Roger Martin(MiamiArtzine.com), Michelle F. Solomon.(MiamiArtzine.com, and FloridaTheaterOnStage.com), Skip Sheffield(SKipsheffield.com, Boca Raton Tribune, and Atlantic Avenue Magazine), John Lariviere (TalkinBroadway.com, and ArtsAmerica.org ), Jeffrey Bruce (TalkinBroadway.com), and Mary Damiano (MaryDamiano.com, MiamiArtzine.com, BroadwayWorld.com, and South Florida Gay News.)

Silver Palm Awards have been presented to over 150 individuals and/or groups during the previous eight theatre seasons, and the "2015-2016 Season" consisted of shows that opened between September 1st, 2015 and August 31st, 2016.

This year the awards presentation will again be held during the annual South Florida Theatre League's Holiday Party on Monday, December 5th, 2016, from 7:30 PM to 10:00 PM, at the Savor Cinema (formerly Cinema Paradiso), 503 SE 6th St, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301. The party is open to the public, but there is a $25 admission charge. Theatre League members attend free of charge.

For more information about South Florida's Silver Palm Theatre Awards, go to: http://www.silverpalmawards.com.