In a livestream ceremony on Facebook and YouTube last night, hosts Kristolyn Lloyd (Dear Evan Hansen) and Bryan Terrell Clark (Hamilton) announced the nominations in 23 categories, along with a Lifetime Achievement honoree, for the inaugural Antonyo Awards. Presented by Broadway Black – an organization founded by Drew Shade in 2012, to foster and inspire artistic diversity and excellence in theater – the new awards shine a spotlight on the achievements of Black theater artists of the Broadway and Off-Broadway community.
Winners of the awards will be chosen by the public through online voting on the Broadway Black website; the poll is open now through midnight EST on June 12. The results will be revealed in a streamed ceremony featuring a virtual pre-show red carpet, musical numbers, and a star-studded line-up of performers and presenters, beginning at 7 pm, on June 19 (aka Juneteenth – a holiday celebrating the end of slavery in America with the reading of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1865). Appearances by Audra McDonald, Tituss Burgess, Alex Newell, Ephraim Sykes, LaChanze, Jelani Alladin, Christiani Pitts, and more have already been confirmed, with additional names to be announced in advance of the big event.
The nominees for the 2020 Antonyo Awards are:
Best Featured Actor in a Play Off-Broadway: Leland Fowler, one in two; Nicco Annan, The Hot Wing King; Crystal Lucas Perry, A Bright Room Called Day; John-Andrew Morrison, Blues for an Alabama Sky; Latoya Edwards, The Rolling Stone; Okwui Okpokwasili, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/when the rainbow is enuf
Best Featured Actor in a Play on Broadway: David Alan Grier, A Soldier’s Play; Ato Blankson-Wood, Slave Play; Chalia La Tour, Slave Play; Zawe Ashton, Betrayal; Grantham Coleman, The Great Society; Jordan Barbour, The Inheritance
Best Featured Actor in a Musical Off-Broadway: John-Andrew Morrison, A Strange Loop; Starr Busby, Octet; Jasmine Cephas Jones, Cyrano; Saycon Sengbloh, The Secret Life of Bees; L Morgan Lee, A Strange Loop; Taylor Iman Jones, Scotland, PA
Best Featured Actor in a Musical Broadway: Sahr Ngaujah, Moulin Rouge; Celia Rose Gooding, Jagged Little Pill; Jeanette Bayardelle, Girl from the North Country; Dharon E. Jones, West Side Story
Best Director: Stevie Walker Webb, one in two; Robert O’Hara, BLKS; Whitney White, Our Dear Dead Drug Lord; Colette Robert, STEW; Raja Feather Kelly, We’re Gonna Die; Lileana Blain-Cruz, Anatomy of a Suicide
Best Choreography: Raja Feather Kelly, A Strange Loop; Camille A. Brown, For Colored Girls Who Have Committed Suicide/when the rainbow is enuf; Edisa Weeks, Novenas for a Lost Hospital; Adesola Osakalumi, Coal Country; Byron Easley, Slave Play; nicHi Douglas, Skinfolk: An American Show
Best Quarantine Content: Daniel J. Watts, The Jam IG Live; Eddie Marwere, #BroadwayRemixChallenge; Drew Shade, Inside the Mind, a Mental Wellness series; Jordan E. Cooper, Mama Got a Cough; Sis, Living for Sis IG Series; Camille A. Brown, Social Dance for Social Distance
Best Lighting Design: Allen Lee Hughes, Toni Stone; Alan C. Edwards, The Hot Wing King; Stacey Derosier, Novenas for a Lost Hospital; Allen Lee Hughes, A Soldier’s Play
Best Scenic Design: Lawrence E. Moten III, Native Son
Best Sound: Justin Ellington, one in two; Rucyl Frison, Anatomy of a Suicide; Luqman Brown, The Hot Wing King
Best Costumes: Toni Leslie James, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/when the rainbow is enuf; Dede Ayite, BLKS; Andy Jean, one in two; Karen Perry, runboyrun/In Old Age; Sarita P Fellows, Native Son; Ari Fulton, Novenas for a Lost Hospital
Best Hair & Wig Design: Cookie Jordan, Toni Stone; Nikiya Mathis, STEW; Greg Cooper Spence, A Soldier’s Play; Nikiya Mathis, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/when the rainbow is enuf; Cookie Jordan, A Strange Loop
Lifetime Achievement Award: Chuck Cooper, Tony Award-winning actor and singer
Best Orchestrations: The Secret of Life Bees; A Strange Loop; Tina: The Tina Turner Musical; We’re Gonna Die; The Wrong Man; Skinfolk: An American Show
Best Original Score: The Secret of Life Bees; A Strange Loop; Broadbend, Arkansas; We’re Gonna Die; The Wrong Man
Best Book: Michael R. Jackson, A Strange Loop; Lynn Nottage, The Secret Life of Bees; Katori Hall, Tina: A Tina Turner Musical; Harrison David Rivers, Broadbend, Arkansas
Best Solo Performance: Donnetta Lavinia Grays, Where We Stand; Michael Benjamin Washington, Fires in the Mirror; Dierdra McDowell, Down to Eartha
Best Actor in a Play Off-Broadway: Kara Young, All The Natalie Portmans; Portia, STEW; April Mathis, Toni Stone; Kristolyn Lloyd, Little Women; Ato Blankson Wood, The Rolling Stone; Danielle Brooks, Much Ado About Nothing
Best Actor in a Play on Broadway: Audra McDonald, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune; LaChanze, A Christmas Carol; Joaquina Kalukango, Slave Play; Blair Underwood, A Soldier’s Play
Best Actor in a Musical Off-Broadway: Ciara Renee, The Wrong Man; Larry Owens, A Strange Loop; Janelle McDermoth, We’re Gonna Die; Danyel Fulton, Broadbend, Arkansas; Joshua Henry, The Wrong Man; LaChanze, The Secret Life of Bees
Best Actor in a Musical on Broadway: Kimber Elayne Sprawl, Girl from the North Country; Adrienne Warren, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical; Isaac Cole Powell, West Side Story; Daniel J. Watts, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical; Shereen Pimental, West Side Story
Best Revival: For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/when the rainbow is enuf; West Side Story; Native Son; Little Shop of Horrors; Fires in the Mirror; Two Can Play
Best Play: one in two by Donja R. Love; Toni Stone by Lydia R. Diamond; All The Natalie Portmans by C.A. Johnson; STEW by Zora Howard; BLKS by Aziza Barnes; Paris by Eboni Booth
Best Musical: The Secret Life of Bees; A Strange Loop; Tina: The Tina Turner Musical; The Wrong Man; Girl From North Country; Jagged Little Pill.
Congratulations to all of the nominees! Be sure to check back on June 19, to see who won.
