The Boston Theater Critics Association (BTCA) announced the nominees on April 16. The winners of the 38th Annual Elliot Norton Awards will be revealed in a virtual ceremony on Monday, May 11 at 7pm. Details on how to view the event on ElliotNortonawards.com will be announced soon.
“I could not be more proud of the collective effort that is PIPELINE,” said Director Dawn M. Simmons. “The creative and producing teams came together to create a really special piece and the extended life it was able to have, just everything about this project and process has been a dream.”
“It’s the exceptional cast [of PIPELINE] which grabs us immediately with passion and poetry in equal measure. I want to applaud it because it is about the kind of connection that will save us in the end,” said BTCA President Joyce Kulhawik. “It is more important than ever before that the BTCA acknowledge this season’s outstanding work! The arts community has been among the hardest hit by the pandemic, and we will continue to support and honor our theater artists the best way we know how.”
This production of PIPELINE was presented October 24-November 9, 2019, by WAM Theatre at Shakespeare & Company’s Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre in Lenox, MA, and then ran March 5-April 12 (closed March 15 due to COVID-19), 2020 by The Nora at Central Square Theater in Cambridge, MA.
This year’s Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence is being awarded posthumously to Johnny Lee Davenport, a mainstay at Shakespeare & Company for decades and an actor beloved on both Boston and Berkshire stages.
The Elliot Norton Awards are presented annually by The Boston Theater Critics Association (Don Aucoin, Jared Bowen, Terry Byrne, Carolyn Clay, Christopher Ehlers, Iris Fanger, Nancy Grossman, Joyce Kulhawik, Kilian Melloy, Bob Nesti, and Ed Siegel) to honor the outstanding productions, directors, designers and performers that audiences have seen on greater Boston stages throughout the season.
The Elliot Norton Awards are named for the eminent Boston theater critic Elliot Norton, who remained an active supporter of drama, both locally and nationally, until his death in 2003 at the age of 100. The Boston theater community carries on his legacy and can be proud of its remarkable growth at a time in our nation’s history when the arts are struggling to survive.
WAM Theatre is grateful to the Boston Theatre Critics Association (BTCA), and extends congratulations to all the nominees. WAM especially recognizes the BTCA’s diligence in supporting the theater community and creating an online celebration for all to share together.
AT A GLANCE
PIPELINE
by Dominique Morisseau
Directed by Dawn M. Simmons
CAST
Hubens “Bobby” Cius as Omari
Barbara Douglass as Laurie
Alexandria Danielle King as Nya
James Ricardo Milord as Dun
Sandra Seoane-Serí as Jasmine
Kevin Craig West as Xavier
Shelley Barish, Scenic Designer
Michaela Carmelo Bocchino, Lighting Designer
Greg Smith, Sound Designer
Elizabeth Rocha, Costume Designer
JV Hampton Van Sant, Assistant Costume Designer
John ADEkoje, Projection Designer
Lauren Burke, Stage Manager
In keeping with WAM’s philanthropic mission, a portion of box office proceeds from the Lenox performances were donated to the Harmony Homestead & Wholeness Center and the Women of Color Giving Circle.
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
DOMINIQUE MORISSEAU (playwright) WAM Theatre: Pipeline (2018 Fresh Takes Play Reading Series) Plays: The Detroit Project (A 3-Play Cycle) which includes the following plays: Skeleton Crew(Atlantic Theater Company), Paradise Blue (Signature Theatre), and Detroit ’67 (Public Theater, Classical Theatre of Harlem and NBT). Additional plays include: Pipeline (Lincoln Center Theatre), Sunset Baby (LAByrinth Theatre); Blood at the Root (National Black Theatre) and Follow Me To Nellie’s (Premiere Stages). She is also the book writer on the new musical Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations (Berkeley Repertory Theatre). Theatre Commissions: Her work has been commissioned by Steppenwolf Theater, Women’s Project, South Coast Rep, People’s Light and Theatre, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival/Penumbra Theatre. Film/TV: She most recently served as Co-Producer on the Showtime series “Shameless”. Awards: Spirit of Detroit Award, PoNY Fellowship, Sky-Cooper Prize, TEER Trailblazer Award, Steinberg Playwright Award, Audelco Awards, NBFT August Wilson Playwriting Award, Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama, OBIE Award, Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellowship, and being named one of Variety’s Women of Impact for 2017-18. Et Cetera: Dominique is an alumna of The Public Theater Emerging Writer’s Group, Women’s Project Lab, and Lark Playwrights Workshop and has developed work at Sundance Lab, Williamstown Theatre Festival and Eugene O’Neil Playwrights Conference.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
DAWN M. SIMMONS (Director) WAM Theatre: Pipeline (2018 Fresh Takes Play Reading Series), Elsewhere: Lyric Stage Company of Boston (The Wiz, Warrior Class, Saturday Night Sunday Morning), Hibernian Hall, (With Glittering Eyes) Actors Shakespeare Project (Macbeth), Greater Boston Stage Company (The Three Musketeers, The Irish and How They Got That Way), SpeakEasy Stage Company (Just Cause (The Boston Project), Men On Boats), Commonwealth Shakespeare Company (The Tempest), Bad Habit Productions (The Real Inspector Hound), Boston Public Works (Hard and Fast: A Love Story), New Exhibition Room (Smile), Fresh Ink Theatre (The Embryos), Online: www.frontporcharts.org
ABOUT HUBENS “BOBBY” CIUS:
Hubens “Bobby” Cius (Omari) WAM Theatre: Debut. Central Square Theater: black odyssey boston. Other credits include Pass Over (SpeakEasy Stage Company), The Three Musketeers (Greater Boston Stage Company), A Free Man of Color (Salem State University). Training: BA in Theatre Arts at Salem State University. Awards: 2018 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Region 1 – NETC Best Scene Partner, 2019 KCACTF Region 1 – Irene Ryan 1st Honorable Mention. Online: @bobby_cius
ABOUT THE ELLIOT NORTON AWARDS
The Elliot Norton Awards are presented annually by The Boston Theater Critics Association (Don Aucoin, Jared Bowen, Terry Byrne, Carolyn Clay, Christopher Ehlers, Iris Fanger, Nancy Grossman, Joyce Kulhawik, Kilian Melloy, Bob Nesti and Ed Siegel) to honor the outstanding productions, directors, designers and performers that audiences have seen on greater Boston stages throughout the season.
The Elliot Norton Awards are named for the eminent Boston theater critic Elliot Norton, who remained an active supporter of drama, both locally and nationally, until his death in 2003 at the age of 100. The Boston theater community carries on his legacy and can be proud of its remarkable growth at a time in our nation’s history when the arts are struggling to survive.
ABOUT CENTRAL SQUARE THEATER
Central Square Theater (CST) is a state-of-the-art theatrical arts facility where audiences find, under one roof, the distinctive repertoires of two award-winning, professional companies, Underground Railway Theater (URT) and The Nora Theatre Company (The Nora), as well as collaborative projects drawing on their creative synergy.
Central Square Theater is a cultural anchor in the community — schools, families, and community groups benefit from outreach and educational programs, and the local economy gets a boost from the nearly 30,000 audience members that visit CST each season and enjoy the multicultural, multi-generational, urban environment of Central Square, Cambridge.
As the first permanent home for both theater companies, Central Square Theater is a vibrant hub of theatrical, educational, and social activity, where artists and audiences come together to create theater vital to the community. The theater is dedicated to providing affordable ticket prices for underserved communities and offers free or discounted tickets to many local non-profit organizations.
WAM 2020 Sponsors
WAM’s 2020 sponsors include Adams Community Bank, Berkshire Bank, Berkshire Hand to Shoulder Center, Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, Blue Q, Blue Spark Financial, Brabson Library & Educational Foundation, Canyon Ranch, Chez Nous, Custom Business Solutions, The Dylandale Foundation, Frankie’s Ristorante Italiano, Greylock Federal Credit Union, Guido’s Fresh Marketplace, Haven Cafe and Bakery, Health Professional Coaching, Heller & Robbins, Interprint, J.H. Maxymillian, Inc., Lake House Inn. Lee Bank, Massachusetts Cultural Council, Only in My Dreams Events, Onyx Specialty Papers, Outpost Productions, RB Design Co., The Rookwood Inn, T Square Design Studio, Toole Insurance, a. von schlegell & co., and the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts.
WAM Theatre is also supported in part by grants from Alford-Egremont Cultural Council, Lenox Cultural Council, Pittsfield Cultural Council, Sandisfield Cultural Council, Washington Cultural Council, and the West Stockbridge Cultural Council – local agencies supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.
ABOUT WAM THEATRE
WAM Theatre is a professional theatre company based in Berkshire County, MA, that operates at the intersection of arts and activism. WAM creates theatre for gender equity and has a vision of theatre as philanthropy.
In fulfillment of its philanthropic mission, WAM donates a portion of the proceeds from their Mainstage productions to carefully selected beneficiaries. Since WAM’s founding in 2010, they have donated more than $75,000 to 19 local and global organizations taking action for gender equity in areas such as girls education, teen pregnancy prevention, sexual trafficking awareness, midwife training, and more.
In addition to Mainstage productions and special events, WAM’s activities include innovative community engagement programs and the Fresh Takes Play Reading Series. To date, WAM has provided paid work to more than 400 theatre artists, the majority of whom are female-identifying.
As a civic organization that embraces intersectional feminism (feminism that acknowledges how multiple forms of discrimination overlap), WAM understands that to address one piece of systemic discrimination means we have to address them all. This is on-going personal and professional work at WAM for the staff and board.
WAM Theatre has been widely recognized for having a positive impact on cultural and community development in the region. WAM is the recipient of the Creative Economy Standout Berkshire Trendsetter Award and previously, was named Outstanding Philanthropy Corporation of the Year by the Western MA Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. Kristen van Ginhoven, WAM’s Producing Artistic Director, was honored by the Berkshire Theatre Critics Association (BTCA) with the prestigious Larry Murray Award, presented at the discretion of the BTCA Board to a person or theatre project that advances social, political, or community issues in Berkshire County.
For more information, visit www.WAMTheatre.com