Broadway Black Presents the Inaugural Antonyo Awards, a Juneteenth Celebration of Black Theatre

Broadway Black, the multimedia organization highlighting the achievements of Black theatre artists, has announced the inaugural Antonyo Awards, a celebration of the Black Broadway and Off-Broadway community. This joyous online event will take place at 7:00 pm EST on June 19, 2020, also known as Juneteenth, a holiday which commemorates the end of slavery in America. The streamed ceremony will include a pre-show virtual red carpet, original musical numbers, star presenters and performers, and more.

The Antonyo Award nominations will be announced today, Tuesday, June 9th at 7:00 pm EST on Broadway Black's YouTube and Facebook pages by Bryan Terrell Clark and Kristolyn Lloyd. In the Broadway Black spirit of community, winners will be chosen by the public. Online voting will be open from June 9th, 7:30 pm EST through midnight on June 12th at BroadwayBlack.com.

Drew Shade, founder of Broadway Black and the companion podcast, Off Book, is Executive Producer of the Antonyos. Shade has gathered a team of creatives that include Catherine Caldwell, Darius Barnes, Kim Exum, Neville Braithwaite, Zhailon Levingston, Elijah Lewis, Allen Louis, Eric Lockley, Edward Mawere, Emma Claye, Ianne Fields Stewart, and The Press Room, who are donating their time and talents to beautifully recognize Black theatre in NYC. All found this endeavor especially important given the shortened show season due to COVID-19.

"In our first meeting we decided on Juneteenth for the awards, as it is a more accurate date of freedom from slavery for Black Americans," says Shade. "The Antonyos honor contributors to Black theatre from actors to stage and company managers, administrators and designers. Everyone in our community deserves to be acknowledged in what we hope will be a funny, authentic, celebratory event that is for us, by us."

Current presenters and performers include: Audra McDonald, Tituss Burgess, Alex Newell, Jordan E. Cooper, Teyonah Parris, Ephraim Sykes, LaChanze, Derrick Baskin, Nicolette Robinson, Jelani Alladin, Christiani Pitts, James Monroe Iglehart, Amber Iman, Kalen Allen, Nzinga Williams, Jackson Alexander, Cody Renard Richard, Ashton Muñiz, Shereen Pimentel, Kirsten Childs, Aisha Jackson, Antoine L. Smith, Griffin Matthews, Michael McElroy, Jocelyn Bioh, and L Morgan Lee, with more to come.

Four special "Kinfolk Awards" - the Lorraine Hansberry Award, the Langston Hughes Award, Welcome Award and The Doors of the Theatre are Open Award - will also be presented to members of the Black theatre community as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award to be announced prior to the event.

The Antonyo Awards promise to be hilarious, uplifting and unapologetically Black. Anyone is welcome to vote for the nominees and all should join in watching on Juneteenth through Broadway Black's YouTube and Facebook pages.

Visit BroadwayBlack.com for more information.