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AUDELCO, the Audience Development Committee, Inc., was established in 1973 by Vivian Robinson to honor excellence in African American theatre in New York City.
AUDELCO presents the Vivian Robinson/AUDELCO Recognition Awards (also known as Viv awards) annually. The awards were created to promote "recognition, understanding, and awareness of the arts in the African-American community."
The AUDELCO awards recognize the following Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway:
- Productions by African-American companies
- Productions written and/or directed by African-Americans
- African-American actors in productions
Description
AUDELCO has an office in Harlem, and the current president is Jacqueline Jeffries.[1] The board of directors includes: Tony Peterson (2nd Vice-President), Ralph Carter (3rd Vice-President), Linda Armstrong (secretary), and Cherine Anderson, A. Curtis Farrow, Bambi Jones, Donna M. Mills, Mary Seymour, Dale Ricardo Shields, Terrence Spivey, and Mary B. Davis as the Chair Emeritus.[2] The organization has thousands of members, a newsletter, and an African-American theater collection including books, photographs, slides, and scripts, as well as an extensive clippings on file of African-American theatre.[3]
History
A year after its founding, the Awards were designated to more specific roles in the design and production of shows such as scenic, lighting, and costume design, choreography, acting, and directing. In 1975, the Awards moved to focus on accomplishments made in particular productions. Three years later, in 1978, the rules to be nominated for an AUDELCO Award became more concrete.[3]
The AUDELCO awards recognize productions by professional, not-for-profit theater organizations that have existed for at least two years and have had a minimum of 500 hours of rehearsal, performance, and/or training. Productions have to be performed over 12 times within the year (September 1 through August 31). Workshop productions and works-in-progress are not eligible for the awards.[3]
These guidelines are still followed today and those nominated for Awards are chosen by a committee. In order to qualify to be a committee member, one must see an average of 100 shows in a year. Once the committee is selected, only five nominations can be considered for each category of the Awards.[3]
AUDELCO typically hosts the award ceremony annually; however in 1996, there were no individual awards presented due to the founder Vivian Robinson passing away just a few months prior that September.[4]
Select Awards
Previous AUDELCO awardees include: Marsha Stephanie Blake, Chadwick Boseman, Viola Davis, George Faison, André Holland, Sanaa Lathan, Barbara Montgomery, Anika Noni Rose, André De Shields, Denzel Washington, and many others.[5]
| Name | Category | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Shirley Prendergast | Lighting Design | 1974 |
| Joseph Gandy | Scenic Design | 1974 |
| Judy Dearing Parks | Costume Design | 1974 |
| Helaine Head | Stage Management | 1974 |
| Aduke Aremu | Producing | 1974 |
| Milo Timmons | Choreography | 1974 |
| Howard Roberts | Musical Direction | 1974 |
| Shauneille Perry | Directing | 1974 |
| Richard Wesley | Playwrighting | 1974 |
| Barbara Montgomery | Acting | 1974 |
| Dick Anthony Williams | Acting | 1974 |
| Name | Category | Production | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sandra Ross | Lighting Design | Waiting for Mongo | 1975 |
| Joseph Gandy | Scenic Design | Cotillion | 1975 |
| Judy Dearing Parks | Costume Design | Black Picture Show, Taking of Miss Janie, and Cotillion | 1975 |
| Woodie King, Jr. | Producing | Cotillion | 1975 |
| Rod Rodgers | Producer | Prodigal Sister | 1975 |
| Bill Gunn | Playwright | Black Picture Show | 1975 |
| Robbie McCauley | Supporting Actress | Taking of Miss Janie | 1975 |
| Kirk Kirksey | Supporting Actor | Taking of Miss Janie | 1975 |
| Zaida Coles | Lead Actress | Cotillion | 1975 |
| Dick Anthony Williams | Lead Actor | Black Picture Show | 1975 |
| Sandra Ross | Lighting Design | Eden | 1976 |
| Joseph Gandy | Scenic Design | Fat Tuesday | 1976 |
| Woodie King, Jr. | Producer | for colored girls... | 1976 |
| Joseph Papp | Producer | for colored girls... | 1976 |
| Bolani | Costume Design | Soljourney into Truth | 1976 |
| Regge Life | Director | Hail, Hail the Gangs | 1976 |
| Deborah Allen | Choreography | Mondongo | 1976 |
| Ntozake Shange | Playwright | for colored girls... | 1976 |
| Barbara Montgomery | Supporting Actress | Eden | 1976 |
| Lou Meyers | Supporting Actor | Fat Tuesday | 1976 |
| Trazana Beverly | Lead Actress | for colored girls... | 1976 |
| Graham Brown | Lead Actor | Eden | 1976 |
| Shirley Prendergast | Lighting Design | Unfinished Women... | 1977 |
| Tim Phillips | Scenic Design | Winti Train | 1977 |
| Edna Watson | Costume Design | Macbeth | 1977 |
| Bill Duke | Director | Unfinished Women... | 1977 |
| Talley Beatty | Choreography | Alice | 1977 |
| Richard Wesley | Playwright | The Last Street Play | 1977 |
| Rosanna Carter | Supporting Actress | Unfinished Women... | 1977 |
| Leonard Jackson | Supporting Actor | Macbeth | 1977 |
| Brenda Brown | Lead Musical Actress | Young, Gifted, & Broke | 1977 |
| Mikell Pinkney | Lead Musical Actor | Young, Gifted, & Broke | 1977 |
| Gloria Foster | Lead Actress | Agamemnon | 1977 |
| Richard Gant | Lead Actor | Soledad Tetrad | 1977 |
| Sandra Ross | Lighting Design | The Amen Corner | 1978 |
| Ronald Walker | Scenic Design | The River Niger | 1978 |
| Karen Perry | Costume Design | Birdland | 1978 |
| Richard Gant | Play Director | The Island | 1978 |
| Glenda Dickerson | Musical Director | Magic & Lions | 1978 |
| Otis A. Salid | Choreography | High John de Conquer | 1978 |
| Ivey McCray | Playwright | Run'ners | 1978 |
| Pamela Poitier | Supporting Actress | Run'ners | 1978 |
| Flo Wiley | Supporting Actress | Sandra Lane | 1978 |
| Charles Brown | Supporting Actor | Cockfight | 1978 |
| Suavae Mitchell | Supporting Actor | The River Niger | 1978 |
| Celestine DeSaussure | Lead Musical Actress | High John de Conquer | 1978 |
| Reginald VelJohnson | Lead Musical Actor | Birdland | 1978 |
| Marc Primus | Musical Creator | High John de Conquer | 1978 |
| Frances Foster | Lead Actress | Do Lord Remember Me | 1978 |
| Helmar Augustus Cooper | Lead Actor | The River Niger | 1978 |
| Tim Phillips | Lighting Design | Inacent Black and the Five Brothers | 1979 |
| Felix E. Cochren | Scenic Design | Inacent Black and the Five Brothers | 1979 |
| Felix E. Cochren | Costume Design | The Vampire and the Dentist | 1979 |
| Mikell Pinkney | Play Director | Inacent Black and the Five Brothers | 1979 |
| Mical Whitaker | Musical Director | Simply Heavenly | 1979 |
| Dianne McIntyre | Choreography | spell #7 | 1979 |
| A. Marcus Hemphill | Playwright | Inacent Black and the Five Brothers | 1979 |
| Mary Alice | Supporting Actress | Second Thoughts | 1979 |
| Robert Christian | Supporting Actor | Coriolanus | 1979 |
| Noble Lee Lester | Lead Musical Actor | Simply Heavenly | 1979 |
| Grenoldo Frazier | Musical Creator | Them Niggars Went Thataway | 1979 |
| Warren Burdine | Musical Creator | Them Niggars Went Thataway | 1979 |
| Starletta DuPois | Lead Actress | Mary Goldstein and the Author | 1979 |
| Barbara Montgomery | Lead Actress | Nevis Mountain Dew | 1979 |
| Glynn Turman | Lead Actor | Raisin in the Sun | 1979 |
| Marvin Watkins | Lighting Design | On Midnight, Friday the 13th | 1980 |
| Roger Furman | Scenic Design | On Midnight, Friday the 13th | 1980 |
| Bernard Johnson | Costume Design | The More You Get The More You Want | 1980 |
| Dean Irby | Play Director | Home | 1980 |
| Ron Stacker Thompson | Musical Director | Dunbar | 1980 |
| Otis A. Salid | Choreography | The More You Get The More You Want | 1980 |
| Samm-Art Williams | Playwright | Home | 1980 |
| Brenda Denmark | Supporting Actress | Miss Ann Don't Cry No More | 1980 |
| Adolph Caesar | Supporting Actor | La Grima Del Diablo | 1980 |
| Dyane Harvey | Lead Musical Actress | Dunbar | 1980 |
| Jeffery V. Thompson | Lead Musical Actor | The More You Get The More You Want | 1980 |
| Ayanna | Musical Creator | Dunbar | 1980 |
| Ron Stacker Thompson | Musical Creator | Dunbar | 1980 |
| Quitman Fludd III | Musical Creator | Dunbar | 1980 |
| Lonnie Hewitt | Musical Creator | Dunbar | 1980 |
| Paul E. Smith | Musical Creator | Dunbar | 1980 |
| Gloria Foster | Lead Actress | Mother Courage and Her Children | 1980 |