Production Team Set For 58th Anniversary Equity Jeff Awards Ceremony

At the 58th Anniversary Joseph Jefferson Awards for Equity Theater, more than 200 recognized artists and new faces will be honored in a program under the artistic direction of Ray Frewen with music direction under Michael Mahler. Michelle Duffy and James Earl Jones II take the role of program co-hosts with Janet Ulrich Brooks returning as announcer. Media design will be led by Anthony Churchill and Imani Ross leads backstage as stage manager. Jeff Awards Equity Wing Chair Barry Taylor is the producer of this year's awards show.  

The 2025-26 season Equity Jeff Awards nominations include 209 nominees across 37 categories of excellence in theater production among shows from 27 producing entities. Goodman Theatre garnered the most honors with 24 nominations from six productions, followed by Chicago Shakespeare Theater (20 that includes five co-productions) and Paramount Theatre (20), Writers Theatre (17), a tie between American Blues Theater and Marriott Theatre (14), Steppenwolf Theatre Company (13) and Raven Theatre (12). Birds of North America at A Red Orchid Theatre and Irving Berlin's White Christmas at Paramount Theatre shared the largest number of nominations for a single production (seven), followed by a five-way tie among Always…Patsy Cline (American Blues Theater), The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Goodman Theatre), Leopoldstadt (Writers Theatre), A Little Night Music (Marriott Theatre), and Octet (Raven Theater) with six nominations each.  Among New Work, eight world premiere plays are in award consideration.

The ceremony will be held Monday, September 14th at 7:00pm (CDT) at the Harris Theater at 205 E. Randolph Street, Chicago, IL 60601. The show will be preceded by a red carpet walk featuring award nominees and theater community members beginning at 5:30pm.

​Ray Frewen

Active in Chicago theater for 40 years, Frewen has served as Artistic Director at Drury Lane Theatre,  Associate Producer at Apple Tree Theatre, Actor's Equity Central Regional Board, and on the Board of Governors of the Sarah Siddons Society. The former Associate Dean/Director of Theatre at Roosevelt University, he has also held faculty positions at Columbia College Chicago, Northern Illinois University, Moraine Valley College, and Northwestern University.

A ten-time Joseph Jefferson nominee, in both acting and directing, he has performed at Marriott Theatre, Court Theatre, Wisdom  Bridge Theatre, Candlelight Dinner Playhouse, Apple Tree Theatre, Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Ravinia Festival, as well as the first National Tour of Les Misérables, and the original production of The Foreigner Off-Broadway. Frewen received a Jeff Award (Director – Musical) for 1776 at Drury Lane, The Chicago Stage Talk Award (Director – Tintypes) and the President's Award for Social Justice at Roosevelt University, and an After Dark Award and Jeff nominations for playing Henry Higgins twice and for directing My Fair Lady. He has also appeared on a number of television series including Chicago Fire, Prison Break and Crime Story.

Michael Mahler

Mahler is a Richard Rodgers Award-winning composer/lyricist, music director, and actor. His Broadway and London West End credits include Miss Saigon, for which he contributed additional lyrics. As a

composer/lyricist his original works as include My Little Pony: A New Generation on Netflix, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, An American Tail, The Secret of My Success, October Sky (San Diego Theatre Critics Circle Award), and Jeff Award new work honors for Hero, Miracle and The Man Who Murdered Sherlock Holmes. He is a Jeff Award Music Director for Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story, and received Jeff Award nominations for Parade, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Road Show. Michael's acting highlights include Broadway in Chicago's Working, Into the Woods, The Producers, Little Shop of Horrors, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Holiday Inn, Honeymoon in Vegas, Hank Williams: Lost Highway, They're Playing Our Song, and It's A Wonderful Life. With Artists Lounge Live: Feelin' Groovy: Michael Mahler Sings Paul Simon and Silly Love Songs: Michael Mahler Sings Paul McCartney. He is a graduate of Northwestern University and member of American Blues Theatre, Actors Equity, and ASCAP. His songs have been featured in concerts and showcases across the globe, including an evening at The Kennedy Center.

Michelle Duffy

Award-winning performer and Jeff Award nominee this season, Duffy has had an extensive career as a stage actress and vocalist (classical, contemporary, and musical) on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and in regional houses throughout the country and abroad. She was in the original cast of Leap of Faith (Broadway) and Heathers:The Musical (Off-Broadway) and has appeared in dozens of regional theater productions of favorites and classics including Sense and Sensibility, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, The Tempest, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, A Streetcar Named Desire, Richard III, Sunday in the Park with George, Sweeney Todd, and Next to Normal among many others. In addition she has been part of several world premieres including Riverview (Goodman Theatre) and How a Boy Falls (Northlight Theatre). Duffy has been in a number of films including Burning Man the Musical, The Post (directed by Steven Spielberg) and That Thing You Do! (directed by Tom Hanks). She has been seen in over a dozen national commercials and ads, as well as done many a guest star role on network and streaming television including Desperate Housewives, House MD, Succession, Blue Bloods, The Good Wife, Elementary, and Chicago PD. Duffy is the recipient of an LA Ovation Award, a Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award, two Wilde Awards, and a number of Jeff Award nominations.

James Earl Jones II

A prominent fixture in major Chicago theaters who has received multiple Jeff Award nominations, James has frequently performed at The Goodman Theatre including productions of Carlyle and Wonderful Town.  He is currently starring as a guide named David in the immersive sensory experience Theater of the Mind.

At Court Theater he was featured in Five Guys Named Moe, Satchmo at the Waldorf, and The Secret Garden. A favorite at Porchlight Music Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater and Drury Lane Theater, James has appeared in Scottsboro Boys, Sondheim on Sondheim, Beauty and the Beast, Shrek, Aida, and Spamalot. Favorite productions at Marriott Theatre have included Titanic, Ragtime, She Loves Me, Madagascar: A Musical Adventure, Elf, October Sky, Dreamgirls and The Full Monty. James has also been part of 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Broadway in Chicago) and the national tours for The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, Come From Away and Company. He has also appeared on stage at the Lyric Opera Chicago and San Francisco Opera in Porgy and Bess. Audiences have enjoyed his TV/film performances in Pokerhouse, Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, Empire, Sherman's Showcase, Southside and Hot Date.

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