Thursday, July 03, 2008

Playhouse Wins Big at NAACP Theatre Awards


From Sheldon:

Dear Friends,

As many of you know by now, our theatre had an incredible evening at the Kodak Theatre on Monday night when the NAACP Theatre Awards were presented. In addition to our overwhelming number of nominations, we actually received seven awards (more than any other theatre). The productions that were recognized are RAY CHARLES LIVE!, SISTER ACT, MATTER OF HONOR, and DEFIANCE. We received awards in a startling number of categories including performance, design, writing, choreography, and direction. Truly, the accolades represent the full spectrum of the artistry that goes into making productions on our stage.

Because our theatres name was called out so often during the night, as nominees and winners were announced, the entire evening became something of a grand celebration of Pasadena Playhouse! It was wonderful to have so many people come up to me before, during and after the ceremony with words of abundant praise for our theatre and the work that we do. Over the past several days, that ebullient feeling has continued as I’ve received words of congratulations from friends and colleagues all over the country.

As I said once again at the board meeting last week, we are truly riding the crest of the wave at this moment in our history. It was so gratifying to attend the awards ceremony a few days later and have my words proven in this very tangible form. As we face the inevitable challenges that always exist, and the hard work of meeting and overcoming those challenges (and we will!), I think that it is valuable to give ourselves a moment to gloat. Surely we deserve a moment of pride about all of the amazing and dazzling work that is on the other side of all of the effort, and the sweat-especially at this very moment.

I was lucky enough to stand there and be handed several of the beautiful awards as I accepted on behalf of the Playhouse and some of the other winners. Once again I would remind you that though I frequently have the thrill of accepting the honors, we ALL stand center stage for this acclaim. It is our joint effort that keeps our work vital, adventurous, and brilliant. Pride in our work gives us the right and the reasons to continue to dream big and boldly. We deserve to do that, and we must do that with each new production and with each new season!

And so, congratulations to us all on yet more well deserved honors! Drop by and visit YOUR award when you have a chance.

All the best,

Sheldon


(For a rundown on the awards, the Playbill article is here.)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Foremost, congratulations to the Playhouse on the awards.

While adding some shows to my facebook profile, I discovered that the list of past Playhouse productions on the website is woefully incomplete. There used to be a more complete list on the website, but it disappeared a long time ago. Luckily, I found it through the wayback machine here. Hopefully, you can add it back again, for it is really good. There are also some pictures here.

Patrizzi Intergarlictica said...

Wonderful news.