Joyce Kulhawik, Cherry Jones, Diane Paulus & Boston Theater Critics Association/Photo: Mikki Ansin

If you are a theater lover/goer and were not at the HUNTINGTON THEATRE COMPANY’s BU Theater on Monday May 15, 2017, you missed the event of the local theatrical season: The 35th Anniversary Elliot Norton Awards with Guest of Honor Tony-Award winner CHERRY JONES, and Elliot Norton Prize winner A.R.T.’s DIANE PAULUS! The Boston Theater Critics Association of which I am president handed out awards in 26 categories for outstanding work in our great Boston Theater community with a chance to mingle with all your favorite performers, honored guests, critics, and artists behind the scenes at a gala afterparty!

Joyce Kulhawik & Guest of Honor Cherry Jones/Photo: Mikki Ansin

There was Mayoral Proclamation declaring MAY 15, 2017 Elliot Norton Awards Day in the City of Boston. The BTCA also donated a portion of the proceeds to the next generation of artists being nurtured at the Boston Arts Academy, the city’s only HS of the performing arts. Those students also wowed the crowd with a number from THE WIZ which left everyone on their feet in a standing O! And Broadway In Boston flew in cast members from the national touring company of the Tony Award-winning musical WICKED (just ahead of its June engagement at the Boston Opera House) who performed a stirring closing number in the spirit of the evening, “For Good.”

The evening’s theme “Alternative Acts” was a call to arts at a time when the NEA is in danger of extinction, freedom of expression is being challenged, and “alternative facts” threaten to overwhelm the truth.  We need our artists more than ever to speak the truth about what unites us all. Every night our theatrical artists shine on stages all around the city. It was a privilege for the BTCA to shine a light on them!

Click link for more info and a complete list of The 35th Anniversary Elliot Norton Awards announced by the BTCA on MAY 15, 2017.  ENA WINNERS RELEASE