Photo Flash: All-Access Pass To The National Black Theatre Festival Gala With Andre De Shields

2019 Tony winner Andre De Shields has been attending The National Black Theatre Festival® (NBTF) in Winston-Salem, N. C. since 1995. Dubbed the "Black Theatre Holy Ground," NBTF is the international outreach program of the North Carolina Black Repertory Company, founded by the late Larry Leon Hamlin in 1979. The Festival, also founded by Hamlin, has been held biennially since 1989. The NCBRC celebrated its 40th anniversary this year, while the NBTF celebrated its 30th.

2019 Tony Award Winner Andre De Shields

Mr. De Shields presented the 2019 NBTF Sidney Poitier Lifelong Achievement Award to his dear friend and colleague, Tony and Emmy Award-winning actress Leslie Uggams during the opening night gala at the Benton Convention Center on July 29. Scroll down for complete coverage of the evening's festivities.

Leslie Uggams, Recipient of the 2019 NBTF Sidney Poitier Lifelong Achievement Award

Carver High School's marching band and dancers performed in front of the Benton Convention Center. A stilt walker, dancers and drummers from Otesha Creative Arts led the processional of stars down the center of the banquet hall.

Margaret Avery and Chester Gregory served as celebrity co-chairs for the evening. Celebrity guests also included 2019 Tony winners Harold Wheeler and Rosemary Harris, 2000 Tony winner Brian Stokes Mitchell, 1992 Tony winner Tonya Pinkins, Greenleaf's Keith David and Lamman Rucker, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Ledisi, Geoffrey Owens, Woodie King, Jr., Bern Nadete Stanis, Hal Williams, Lisa Arrindell, Taurean Blacque, Mychal Bella Bowman, Petri Hawkins Byrd, Colby Christina, Bill Cobbs, Savion Glover, Fay Hauser- Price and Louis Price, Tommy Redmond Hicks, Maria Howell, Ebony Jo-Ann, Aku Kadogo, Ted Lange, Khalil Middleton, Qaasim Middleton, Barbara Montgomery, Gabriela Norwood, Tonea Stewart, Darnell Williams, Hattie Winston Wheeler, Producer Stephen C. Bird, Producer Ron Simons and many more who posed for an iconic group portrait prior to the awards ceremony.

Congratulations to all of the winners:

2019 NATIONAL BLACK THEATRE FESTIVAL® HONOREES

Sidney Poitier Lifelong Achievement Award

Leslie Uggams

Larry Leon Hamlin Producer Award

Kamilah Forbes

August Wilson Playwright Award

Pearl Cleage

Lloyd Richards Director Award

Michele Shay

Living Legend Award

Art Evans, Marjorie Moon

Thembi Mtshali, Roscoe Orman

Roscoe Orman, 2019 NBTF Living Legend Award Recipient

Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design

Frenchie La'Vern

Outstanding Achievement in Lighting Design

Xavier Pierce

Outstanding Achievement in Scenic Design

James V. Thomas

Outstanding Achievement in Stage Management

Femi Sarah Heggie

Theatre Longevity Award

Black Spectrum Theatre Company

New York, NY

Special Recognition Award

Idris Ackamoor , Herman LeVern Thompson-Jones, Rhodessa Jones

Marvtastic Philanthropy Award

Branch Banking & Trust Company (BB&T)

Theatre Arts & Humanitarian Award

Dr. Elwanda Ingram

A new award, the inaugural Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin Rolling world Premier Award, was presented to Nambi E. Kelley, who is currently serving as playwright-in-residence at New Victory Theater and The Dramatists Guild Foundation in New York City. Ms. Kelley was commissioned by N.C. Black Repertory Company to write "Maya," a stage production inspired by the life and legacy of the late Maya Angelou. The award, named after NCBRC board president and the widow of Larry Leon Hamlin, guarantees at least three regional productions of the play.

After the awards ceremony, attendees lined the streets of Winston-Salem on the way to the Stevens Center for the opening night gala performance of Jelly's Last Jam, presented by the NCBRC and helmed by Jackie Alexander. The production starred DeWitt Fleming Jr., Idella Johnson and Stanley Wayne Mathis. Mathis appeared in the original Broadway company, and original cast members Keith David, Tonya Pinkins and Savion Glover were in the house to cheer them on.

From July 29 - August 3, the festival presented over one hundred productions performed by more thirty professional theatre companies, several universities, including a production from Cape Town, South Africa. The NBTF is one of the most historic and culturally significant events in the history of black theatre and is produced by The North Carolina Black Repertory Company (NCBRC). NBTF is the only theatre festival in the country offering six consecutive days of professional theatre. Other components of the festival include workshops, a reader's theatre of new works, a film festival, a poetry jam, a youth celebrity project, a vendor's market, and The International Colloquium. NBTF was named one of the Top 100 events in North America by the American Business Association. For additional information click on www.nbtf.org.

Photo Credit: Lia Chang

Mabel Robinson

Maria Howell

Starletta DuPois

Annie Hamlin Johnson, mother of NBTF founder Larry Leon Hamlin

Sharon Jeffries Jones accepts the 2019 NBTF Marvtastic Philanthropy Award for Branch Banking & Trust (BB & T).

Winston-Salem's Mayor Pro Tempore Vivian Burke

Drummers perform during the National Black Theatre Festival''s opening night gala

2019 NBTF Celebrity Portrait

Vanessa Bell Calloway and Darnell Williams

Dr. Elwanda Ingram receives the 2019 NBTF Theatre Arts and Humanitarian Award from Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin

Ted Lange and Darnell Williams

Celebrity co-chair Margaret Avery

A tribute to the late Larry Leon Hamlin

Larente Hamlin and Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin

Andre De Shields and Richarda Abrams

Louis Price and Faith Hauser-Price

Leslie Uggams, 2019 NBTF Sidney Poitier Lifelong Achievement Award Winner

Winston-Salem's Mayor Allen Joines

2019 Tony Award Winner Andre De Shields

Tommy Redmond Hicks

Bill Cobbs

Ebony Jo-Ann and Geoffrey Owens

Producer Stephen C. Bird and Andre De Shields

Frenchie La'Vern, Recipient of the 2019 NBTF Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design Award

Tonya Pinkins

Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin and Chester Gregory

Andre De Shields, KB Saine and Andre Harrington

Carver High School's marching band

Jackie Alexander and Winston-Salem's Mayor Allen Joines

Hattie Winston Wheeler

Stephen C. Bird, Kimberley LaMarque Orman, Roscoe Orman and Andre De Shields

Andre De Shields, Makita Bond and her husband, Petri Hawkins-Byrd

Tonya Pinkins and Stephen C. Bird

Lia Chang and Andre De Shields. Photo by Rome Neal

Ted Lange and Andre De Shields

Leslie Uggams, Sidney Poitier Lifelong Achievement Award Recipient

2019 Tony Award Winner Andre De Shields

Art Evans, Recipient of the 2019 NBTF Living Legend Award

Jazz Singer Maria Howell

Ted Lange

Celebrity co-chairs Margaret Avery and Chester Gregory

Fay Hauser-Price

Petri Hawkins-Byrd and Andre De Shields

Kamilah Forbes, Recipient of the 2019 NBTF Larry Leon Hamlin Producer Award

Ebony Jo-Ann and Geoffrey Owens

Elizabeth Van Dyke, Andre De Shields, Art Evans and Woodie King, Jr.

Art Evans, Andre De Shields, Michael Colyar and Keith David

Vanessa Bell Calloway

Thembi Mtshali-Jones, Recipient of the 2019 NBTF Living Legend Award

Brian Stokes Mitchell, Keith David, Andre De Shields, Stephen C. Bird

Margaret Avery

Kelly Davis-Rucker and Lamman Rucker

Dr. Elwanda Ingram, 2019 NBTF Theatre Arts and Humanitarian Award Recipient

Andre De Shields and cast members from JELLY's LAST JAM

Andre De Shields and Darnell Williams