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Antonyo Awards
Antonyo Awards

Inaugural Antonyo Awards Celebrating Black Theatre Community to Stream June 19

Broadway Black is presenting the inaugural Antonyo Awards tonight, June 19th, 2020, at 7:00 PM ET. The awards will be streamed live on Broadway Black’s YouTube and Facebook pages.

Drew Shade, the founder of Broadway Black, said, “The Antonyos honor contributors to Black theatre from actors to stage and company managers, administrators, and costume designers. Everyone in our community deserves to be acknowledged in what we hope will be a funny, authentic, celebratory event that is for us, by us.”

June 19th is significant as the date for the awards, as it is Juneteenth, the anniversary of the end of slavery in 1865. “We decided on Juneteenth for the awards, as it is a more accurate date of freedom from slavery for Black Americans,” said Shade in a statement.

There will be a virtual red carpet streamed live prior to the awards, starting at 6:00 PM ET. The awards ceremony will be hosted by Drew Shade and will feature musical numbers, presenters, and performers.

The presenters and performers scheduled to participate include Audra McDonald, Tituss Burgess, Alex Newell, Jordan E. Cooper, Teyonah Parris, Ephraim Sykes, LaChanze, Derrick Baskin, Nicolette Robinson, Jelani Alladin, Christiani Pitts, James Monroe Iglehart, Amber Iman, Kalen Allen, Nzinga Williams, Jackson Alexander, Cody Renard Richard, Ashton Muñiz, Shereen Pimentel, Kirsten Childs, Aisha Jackson, Antoine L. Smith, Griffin Matthews, Michael McElroy, Jocelyn Bioh, and L Morgan Lee.

Bryan Terrell Clark and Kristloyn Lloyd announced nominations for the Antonyo Awards on June 9.

Broadway Black is an organization that fosters and inspires artistic diversity and excellence in theatre. Dedicated to highlighting the achievements and successes of Black theatre artists on and off the Broadway stage, Broadway Black has continued to grow into a one-of-a-kind multimedia venture with editorial content that showcases the best and the brightest stars across the industry. It’s the place for Black people to see themselves center stage.