The Huntington and Central Square Theater win multiple Elliot Norton Awards

Hundreds of theater makers and theater lovers gathered at The Huntington Theatre Monday for the 43rd Annual Elliot Norton Awards. The ceremony, which celebrates theater productions in the Greater Boston area, and is presented by the Boston Theater Critics Association, awarded actors, designers, playwrights and others across more than 20 categories.

One of the night’s big winners was The Huntington’s production of the musical “The Light in the Piazza.” The show is a love story set in the summer of 1953 in Florence, Italy where two people meet and try to build a life together. The set design, the lighting and the vocal prowess of the cast were top notch, resulting in the show (and those who helped make it a success) winning across five categories. The dazzling “The Light in the Piazza” won in the musical category, actor Joshua Grosso won for featured performance for the show, Loretta Greco, the Huntington’s artistic director, won for her direction of the production, Alex Jaeger won for costume design and Christopher Akerlind won for the production’s lighting design. The lighting design award was shared in memory of artist Candelaria Norma Silva-Collins.

Silva-Collins, director Pascale Florestal shared when presenting the award, “was the cultivator of communities and a true inspiration to me and The Porch. And it is this theater scene that is better because of her dedicated service.”

Two productions, “The Glass Menagerie” and “The Moderate,” vied for top spots in the mid-size theater category. The Gloucester Stage Company won outstanding play (in honor of Tina Packer) for their production of “The Glass Menagerie,” while Liza Giangrande won for featured performance, Doug Lockwood won for director and the award for lighting design went  to Amanda Fallon, all for the same show.

For Central Square Theater’s production of the technology-focused play (a Catalyst Collaborative@MIT Production) “The Moderate,” Sibyl Wickersheimer and Jared Mezzocchi won for scenic design, Christian Frederickson won for sound design and Ken Urban won for new script.

In the small theater category, The Front Porch Arts Collective won key awards. The Porch’s production of “The Mountaintop,” in collaboration with The Suffolk University Modern Theatre won outstanding play, Kiera Prusmack snagged the award for featured performance and Maurice Emmanuel Parent, The Porch’s co-founder won for direction for the show. In Prusmack’s tearful, but joyful comments she thanked her family for flying in from Houston, TX, and her partner for playing Martin Luther King Jr. in their apartment while practicing her lines.

Notably, the Outstanding Featured Performance category had a second winner — Sehnaz Dirik for “A View from the Bridge,” by Apollinaire Theatre Company. Dirik shared in her acceptance speech that portraying her character Beatrice “was a true homage to my own mother’s courageous journey to bring us to America.” She went on to talk about how theater gives us life. And that the theater at the awards ceremony was brimming with “beautiful life.”

One of the biggest awards of the evening, the 2026 Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence, went to Bill Hanney. Hanney re-opened the North Shore Music Theatre and Rhode Island’s Theatre By The Sea. Hanney’s work as a producer has been seen in New England, on Broadway, and in London’s West End.

Special citations were awarded to Commonwealth Shakespeare Company in honor of its 30th anniversary season, Blue Man Group in honor of its 30-year residency in Boston and to longtime arts administrators Temple Gill and Jim Torres in honor of their decades of service to the theater community.

Gill shared, when talking about her life in arts administration, that there’s a “difference between making a living and making a life worth living.”

Amid the numerous awards, there were exuberant performances. Lyla Randall from the Huntington production of  the musical “Fun Home,” offered a moving rendition of  “Ring of Keys,” and cast members from “Crowns” donned their Sunday best with hats and fascinators and took the audience to church with their performance. David Coleman, who was the music director for “Crowns,” won in the Outstanding Music Direction category. Coleman said in his remarks (which were read aloud by actor Davron S. Monroe) that “tonight is a true community effort of  talent, sacrifice and sharing our vulnerability with a world that may not see the full women behind the hats.”

The 2026 Elliot Norton Arts Education Award was presented to Open Door Theater, which is considered one of the only integrated, accessible theater troupes in the nation to stage full-scale high-quality productions featuring actors who are deaf, blind, disabled, autistic and neurodiverse, according to its website. All of their productions are ASL interpreted, open captioned, sensory friendly and audio described.

Outstanding Play, Large

“The Hills of California,” The Huntington in association with Berkeley Repertory Theatre

Outstanding Play, Midsize — in memory of Tina Packer

“The Glass Menagerie,” Gloucester Stage

Outstanding Play, Small

“The Mountaintop,” Front Porch Arts Collective in collaboration with The Suffolk University Modern Theatre

Outstanding Musical — in memory of Russell Garrett

“The Light in the Piazza,” The Huntington

Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play, Large — in memory of Larry Stark

Allison Jean White, “The Hills of California,” The Huntington in association with Berkeley Repertory Theatre

Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play, Midsize

Paul Melendy, “Featherbaby,” Greater Boston Stage Company

Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play, Small

Dominic Carter, “The Mountaintop,” Front Porch Arts Collective in collaboration  with The Suffolk University Modern Theatre

Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play, Large

Amy Resnick, “We Had a World,” The Huntington

Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play, Midsize

Liza Giangrande, “The Glass Menagerie,” Gloucester Stage

Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play, Small

Sehnaz Dirik, “A View from the Bridge,” Apollinaire Theatre Company

Kiera Prusmack, “The Mountaintop,” Front Porch Arts Collective in collaboration  with The Suffolk University Modern Theatre

Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical

Johnny Shea, “tick, tick…BOOM!,” The Umbrella Stage Company

Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical

Joshua Grosso, “The Light in the Piazza,” The Huntington

Outstanding Choreography

Rachel Bertone, “Evita,” Reagle Music Theatre

Outstanding Music Direction

David Coleman, "Crowns," Moonbox Productions

Outstanding Director, Large

Loretta Greco, “The Light in the Piazza,” The Huntington

Outstanding Director, Midsize

Doug Lockwood, “The Glass Menagerie,” Gloucester Stage

Outstanding Director, Small

Maurice Emmanuel Parent, “The Mountaintop,” Front Porch Arts Collective in collaboration with The Suffolk University Modern Theatre

Outstanding Scenic Design, Large

Tanya Orellana, “Don’t Eat the Mangos,” The Huntington

Outstanding Scenic Design, Midsize or Small

Sibyl Wickersheimer and Jared Mezzocchi, “The Moderate,” a Catalyst Collaborative@MIT Production, presented by Central Square Theater

Outstanding Lighting Design, Large — in memory of Candelaria Norma Silva-Collins

Christopher Akerlind, “The Light in the Piazza,” The Huntington

Outstanding Lighting Design, Midsize or Small

Amanda Fallon, “The Glass Menagerie,” Gloucester Stage

Outstanding Costume Design, Large

Alex Jaeger, “The Light in the Piazza,” The Huntington

Outstanding Costume Design, Midsize or Small

Danielle Domingue Sumi, “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,” SpeakEasy Stage

Outstanding Sound Design, Large

David Remedios, “Misery,” Merrimack Repertory Theatre

Outstanding Sound Design, Midsize or Small

Christian Frederickson, “The Moderate,” a Catalyst Collaborative@MIT Production, presented by Central Square Theater

Outstanding Solo Performance

Valyn Lyric Turner, “No Child…,” Gloucester Stage

Outstanding New Script

Ken Urban, “The Moderate,” a Catalyst Collaborative@MIT Production, presented  by Central Square Theater

Outstanding Ensemble

“Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,” SpeakEasy Stage