Actors' Shakespeare Project and The Huntington win multiple Elliot Norton Awards

At the 42nd Elliot Norton Awards on Monday night, actor Ivan Cecil Walks, who starred in The Huntington’s 2023 production of “K-I-S-S-I-N-G,” encouraged the audience to “feed the garden that is Boston theater.”

It’s a real community, he said.

The Boston Theater Critics Association celebrated that community by distributing more than 30 awards and citations at the ceremony to honor the actors and narratives on Greater Boston’s stages this past season.

There were many notable wins spread across theaters and categories from Kristin Chenoweth’s outstanding visiting lead performance win for the musical “The Queen of Versailles” presented by Emerson Colonial Theatre, to the winner for outstanding play in the large category — “Leopoldstadt” by The Huntington Theatre, and the outstanding ensemble of “Titanic” at North Shore Music Theatre.

Two of this year’s awardees, Central Square Theater and Front Porch Arts Collective’s musical “Next to Normal” and Actor Shakespeare Project’s “The Piano Lesson,” received multiple wins.

Sherée Marcelle won for her lead performance in “Next to Normal,” which centers a family impacted by their matriarch’s bipolar disorder.  Her co-star, Cortlandt Barrett, won for featured performance in the show, and the production, directed by Pascale Florestal, won best outstanding musical.

Omar Robinson, who portrayed Boy Willie in “The Piano Lesson” by August Wilson, was honored for his lead performance in a play in the midsize category. Anthony T. Goss won for outstanding featured performance, and Jon Savage got the award for scenic design.

Goss, who also starred in ASP’s “Seven Guitars” in 2023, said that performing August Wilson’s enduring work is “a forever privilege.”

Continuity and endurance are qualities that long time thespian Kathy St. George knows something about. A professional actor since 1981, St. George won the 2025 Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence. When accepting her honor, she talked of living at the YMCA on 34th Street when she first moved to New York with big dreams of becoming a star. She had lots of survival jobs like being Susan Lucci’s stand-in on “All My Children,” an elf during the holiday season at Macy’s and she even delivered singing telegrams dressed as a bumble bee.

But just as she was deciding to move back home, she went on one more audition. After five callbacks, she explained, she got the role in “Fiddler on the Roof,” her Broadway debut.

Throughout her career, she’s starred in numerous productions and has been on five national tours performing across the United States, Canada, Japan and Russia. Last season, the Stoneham, Massachusetts native appeared in “A Man of No Importance” at SpeakEasy Stage, “A Christmas Carol” at the Majestic Theatre with Commonwealth Shakespeare Company and “Urinetown” at Lyric Stage Boston, to name a few.

At one point, St. George worked as a second-grade teacher, but eventually had to quit to pursue her dreams. When she talked to the superintendent of her school, she was told to “go for it!” That bet on herself has paid off. And, in her remarks, she encouraged the next generation to do the same.

In addition to St. George’s win for longevity, there were citations for organizations celebrating milestones. The Boch Center Wang Theatre’s 100th anniversary, Apollinaire Theatre Company’s 30th anniversary, Greater Boston Stage Company’s 25th anniversary and Shit-Faced Shakespeare’s 10th anniversary were all acknowledged.

Outside the city, Gloucester Stage Company, Teatro Chelsea and Apollinaire Theatre Company also took home Norties. Apollinaire Theatre Company’s artistic director, Danielle Jacques, won for outstanding director at a small theater for “Touching the Void” and Armando Rivera, co-artistic director of Teatro Chelsea, won for outstanding direction in the mid-size category for “The Hombres,” a co-production of Gloucester Stage and Teatro Chelsea. “The Hombres” also nabbed the award for outstanding play, in the midsize category.

The contributions of the hard-working creative teams who construct and illuminate theatrical worlds onstage and dress those who inhabit them were also recognized. The dazzling set by Mimi Lien won for outstanding scenic design for American Repertory Theater’s “Gatsby,” Lucas Clopton and Aubrey Dube brought home awards for their excellent sound design work for “Toni Stone” at The Huntington, Rachel Padula-Shufelt won for costume design of Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s “The Winter’s Tale,” and Jeff Adelberg won the lighting design award for the Arlekin Players’ “The Dybbuk,” which also won for outstanding play in the small theater category.

Wheelock Family Theatre’s “The SpongeBob Musical” took home a couple of awards too. Gage Baker and Peter DiMaggio won for outstanding sound design, and Chloe Moore won for outstanding costume design for the production.

Playwright Mfoniso Udofia’s ambitious nine-play Ufot Family Cycle was also honored. Inspired by August Wilson, Udofia’s plays will be staged across Greater Boston over two years. Four have been staged so far, including “Sojourners,” “Her Portmanteau” and “runboyrun.” The second play in the cycle, "The Grove" at The Huntington, won for outstanding new script and actress Abigail C. Onwunali won outstanding lead performance in a play in the large theater category. (She was also nominated for her performance in “Sojourners.”)

Udofia thanked the Boston theater community. “This honor also belongs to you, because you gave the play its breath, its heart, its full-bodied life onstage, and you held the vision of it with care, with rigor,” she said onstage.

After acknowledging her family and The Huntington, she added, “This kind of artistic and civic commitment is rare, and I'm not sure if anything like this has ever happened on a national scale. So thank you. And to my ancestors, to my community, and to every Black writer, every immigrant child trying to make sense of legacy and longing: May we keep building what we haven't yet seen.”

The organization Rehearsal for Life and its flagship programs Urban Improv and the Freelance Players, which support the growth of students through arts programming, won the 2025 Elliot Norton Arts Education Award. Its executive director, Jamie Ullrich, shared a quote from theater practitioner and activist Augusto Boal that best summed up the night’s sentiment: “Theater is not revolutionary in itself, but it’s a rehearsal for revolution.”

The Elliot Norton Awards are presented annually by the Boston Theater Critics Association. Voting members for this year's awards are Jacquinn Sinclair, Don Aucoin, Jules Becker, Jared Bowen, Christopher Ehlers, Joyce Kulhawik, Charles Munitz, R. Scott Reedy, Bob Verini, and Lynne Weiss.

Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence
Kathy St. George

Special Citations
The Boch Center Wang Theatre in honor of its 100th anniversary

Apollinaire Theatre Company in honor of its 30th anniversary

Greater Boston Stage Company in honor of its 25th anniversary

Shit-Faced Shakespeare in honor of its 10th anniversary

Elliot Norton Arts Education Award
Rehearsal for Life and its flagship programs Urban Improv and the Freelance Players

Outstanding Visiting Play
“Life & Times of Michael K,” A Baxter Theatre Centre and Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus Production, presented by ArtsEmerson

Outstanding Visiting Musical
“Parade,” presented by Emerson Colonial Theatre

Outstanding Visiting Lead Performance in a Musical
Kristin Chenoweth, “The Queen of Versailles,” presented by Emerson Colonial Theatre

Outstanding Visiting Featured Performance in a Musical
Melissa Manchester, “Funny Girl,” presented by Broadway In Boston

Outstanding Visiting Solo Performance
Gordon Clapp, “Robert Frost: This Verse Business,” presented by Spring Pool Arts

Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play, Large
Joshua Olumide, “Sojourners,” The Huntington

Outstanding Lighting Design, Large
Alan C. Edwards, “Gatsby,” American Repertory Theater

Outstanding Music Direction
Jenny Tsai, “A Little Night Music,” Sullivan Rep

Outstanding Scenic Design, Large
Mimi Lien, “Gatsby,” American Repertory Theater

Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play, Small
Brooks Reeves, “Tartuffe,” Hub Theatre Company of Boston

Outstanding Scenic Design, Midsize or Small
Jon Savage, “The Piano Lesson,” Actors’ Shakespeare Project

Outstanding Choreography
Ayodele Casel, “Diary of a Tap Dancer,” American Repertory Theater

Outstanding Lighting Design, Midsize or Small
Jeff Adelberg, “The Dybbuk,” Arlekin Players

Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play, Midsize
Anthony T Goss, “The Piano Lesson,” Actors’ Shakespeare Project

Outstanding Costume Design, Large
Rachel Padula-Shufelt, “The Winter’s Tale,” Commonwealth Shakespeare Company

Outstanding Sound Design, Midsize or Small
Gage Baker and Peter DiMaggio, “The SpongeBob Musical,” Wheelock Family Theatre

Outstanding Solo Performance
Jenece Upton, “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill,” Merrimack Repertory Theatre

Outstanding New Script in memory of Athol Fugard
Mfoniso Udofia, “The Grove,” The Huntington

Outstanding Sound Design, Large
Lucas Clopton and Aubrey Dube, “Toni Stone,” The Huntington

Outstanding Costume Design, Midsize/Small
Seth Bodie, “The Drowsy Chaperone,” Lyric Stage Boston
Chloe Moore, “The SpongeBob Musical,” Wheelock Family Theatre

Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play, Small
Patrick O’Konis, “Touching the Void,” Apollinaire Theatre Company

Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play, Midsize
Omar Robinson, “The Piano Lesson,” Actors’ Shakespeare Project

Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play, Large in memory of James Earl Jones
Abigail C. Onwunali, “The Grove,” The Huntington

Outstanding Director, Large
Kevin P. Hill, “Titanic,” North Shore Music Theatre

Outstanding Director, Small
Danielle Jacques, “Touching the Void,” Apollinaire Theatre Company

Outstanding Director, Midsize
Armando Rivera, “The Hombres,” Gloucester Stage and Teatro Chelsea

Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical
Cortlandt Barrett, “Next to Normal,” Central Square Theater and Front Porch Arts Collective

Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical
Sherée Marcelle, “Next to Normal,” Central Square Theater and Front Porch Arts Collective

Outstanding Play, Large
“Leopoldstadt,” The Huntington in association with Shakespeare Theatre Company

Outstanding Play, Small in memory of Ron Ritchell
“The Dybbuk,” Arlekin Players

Outstanding Play, Midsize
“The Hombres,” Gloucester Stage and Teatro Chelsea

Outstanding Musical in memory of William Finn
“Next to Normal,” Central Square Theater and Front Porch Arts Collective

Outstanding Ensemble
“Titanic,” North Shore Music Theatre