CJay Philip

CJay Philip, founder and creative director of Dance & Bmore theatre programs in Baltimore, Md., was selected as the 2024 winner of the Excellence in Theatre Education Award from the Tony Awards.

When Philip reached junior high school, her mother, Nell Stokes, saw Philip’s potential to go further. Stokes could not afford the tuition, but she lobbied for her daughter’s admission to the Empire Institute for Performing Arts in Albany. Philip was granted a full scholarship, attending Albany High School during the week and going every Saturday for four years to Empire Institute. After studying vocal performance in college, she decided to pursue a Broadway career.


In the first nine years as a working actor, Philip was unemployed only three weeks. She took notes on every director and choreographer she watched, referring to them as her ‘mentors.’ She joined Broadway casts and touring troupes for “Hairspray,” “Big: The Musical,” “Street Corner Symphony,” “Legally Blonde,” “Dreamgirls” and more.

Philip and her husband, Winston, a music producer and social services organization chief operating officer, relocated to Baltimore in 2009 after years of helping to produce the African American Heritage Festival there. She founded Dance & Bmore the following year.