Theatre Bay Area Announces 2019 Legacy Award Recipients

Theatre Bay Area will be holding the sixth-annual TBA Awards Celebration on Monday, November 4 at the Herbst Theatre (401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco). Among the 65 award recipients and 315 individual finalists being recognized that evening, TBA will be giving out five special awards, including three TBA Legacy Awards.

"We are thrilled to honor the recipients of this year's Legacy Awards. Each of these awardees embodies an ideal of artistic innovation and excellence with a deep commitment to the larger community," comments TBA executive director Brad Erickson. "We are blessed to have them at the core of our Bay Area theatre community, and we are honored to celebrate them and their work at this year's TBA Awards Celebration."

The TBA Legacy Awards honor extraordinary contributions to the Bay Area theatre community and reflect the recipients' body of work over time or a significant milestone in their professional journey. This year's recipients are:

· Teatro Visión, San Jose-based theatre company producing work rooted in Chicanx and Latinx experiences for 35 years

· Robert Kelley, founding artistic director of recent 2019 Tony-award winner TheatreWorks Silicon Valley

· Kevin Seaman, artist, cultural worker, and community organizer who helped lead the successful "Yes on Prop E" campaign, restoring the connection between the San Francisco hotel tax and arts funding

The recipients of two other special awards will be revealed at the November 4 celebration:

· The RHE Artistic Fellowship makes a significant investment in an individual artist via a $10,000 award. This grant is meant to allow them to take the next step in their career and is made possible through a generous grant from the RHE Charitable Foundation.

· The Charles Dean Award recognizes a Bay Area actor who has dedicated their career to Bay Area theatre. The award comes with a $10,000 cash prize endowed by the Robinson Family Fund for the Arts and is administered by Berkeley Repertory Theatre.

The sixth annual TBA Awards Celebration is open to the public. Tickets are available through City Box Office - online at www.cityboxoffice.com/TBA; over the phone at (415) 392-4400, or in- person at 180 Redwood Street, San Francisco. For the full pricing schedule, visit www.theatrebayarea.org/awardscelebration.

This year's TBA Awards celebrates the generosity of the Bay Area theatre community with the theme "We Rise By Lifting Others." With this in mind, Theatre Bay Area has introduced a radically inclusive pricing structure for tickets to the celebration. All seats in the Herbst Theatre are available for the same price. Additionally, there is an economic accessibility code that will take $15 off that base price. Ticket buyers are encouraged to purchase early, as prices will increase as the celebration gets closer.

The TBA Awards 2019 Celebration will be hosted by multi-hyphenate theatermaker TBA Legacy Award recipient Margo Hall and multiple-TBA Award recipient Dave J. Abrams. The evening will also feature live performances from the finalist productions. This also marks the second year of gender-inclusive performance categories for the TBA Awards Program.