Nominees announced for the inaugural Antonyo Awards celebrating Black theatre

Voting is open to the public for the awards, which will take place on June 19.

Broadway Black, a multimedia organization founded by Drew Shade to promote the achievements of Black theatermakers, has announced its inaugural Antonyo Awards, which will celebrate the Black Broadway and Off-Broadway community. 

The streamed program will take place on June 19, also known as Juneteenth, the holiday commemorating the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation and the end of slavery. The ceremony will begin at 7 PM EST with a virtual red carpet, and will include a star-studded line-up, original musical numbers and more.

Bryan Terrell Clark ("Hamilton," "Motown") and Kristolyn Lloyd ("Dear Evan Hansen") announced the nominations for the Antonyo Awards on June 9 on Broadway Black's YouTube and Facebook pages. Emphasizing the "spirit of community," voting for Antonyo Award winners is open to the public on BroadwayBlack.com and will close at midnight on June 12. 

"In our first meeting we decided on Juneteenth for the awards, as it is a more accurate date of freedom from slavery for Black Americans," Shade said in a press release. "The Antonyos honor contributors to Black theatre from actors to stage and company managers, administrators and 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."

Current presenters and performers 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.

The ceremony will also feature four special "Kinsfolk Awards," the Lorraine Hansberry Award, the Langston Hughes Award, Welcome Award, and The Doors of the Theatre are Open Award, as well as a Lifetime Achievement award which will be bestowed to Chuck Cooper.

The nominations include performances both on and off-Broadway with new categories to the awards scene like "Best Quarantine Content," and performance categories are not split by gender. 

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 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 with 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 Soldiers 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 for One in Two
Karen Perry- runboyrun/ In Old Age
Sarita P Fellows for Native Son
Ari Fulton for Novenas For a Lost Hospital

Best Hair & Wig Design
Cookie Jordan - Toni Stone
Nikiya Mathis - STEW
Greg Cooper Spencer - 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

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 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