The Wilmington Theater Awards

With Wilmington’s oldest theater company, Thalian Association Community Theatre, tracing its roots back to 1788, theater has had an outsized cultural impact on the Port City for well over two centuries now.

The origins of the Wilmington Theater Awards date to 2011, when the late, Tony-winning actress Linda Lavin, who was living in Wilmington at that time, suggested to StarNews arts writer John Staton that the paper should turn its annual story looking back at the best plays, musicals, performances and technical achievements of the past year into a proper awards show.

Along with former StarNews features editor Jeff Hidek, Staton joined forces with three others who had expressed interest in starting a community-wide event – Wilmington actor/director/producer Justin Smith (the show’s first host), musician Chiaki Ito (the show’s first music director) and late Wilmington thespian Donn Ansell – to present the first awards show in 2012 at Thalian Hall.

The show has always included award presentations in performance and technical categories, as well as performances from nominated plays and musicals staged by local companies. The StarNews produced and organized the Wilmington Theater Awards from 2012 to 2020 in association with Thalian Hall Center for the Performing Arts..

After the awards were not held for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2023 the StarNews handed off the awards to the Arts Council of Wilmington and New Hanover County, whose executive director, Rhonda Bellamy, has produced it ever since. Staton and Hidek continue to serve as producers.

One constant throughout the history of the awards has been the support of Thalian Hall, first under late director Tony Rivenbark, and now under director Shane Fernando.

THE LELA THOMPSON AWARD

Each year one community member is honored with the Lela Thompson Award for Enduring Contributions to Wilmington Theater. The award is named for Thompson, the late co-founder of Wilmington theater company The Willis Richardson Players. The award goes to a person who has made a positive and long-lasting impact on Wilmington’s theatrical community.

NOMINATION RULES AND PROCESS

Committee: Nominations are decided by a committee of between at least 5 and no more than 9 community members, all of whom serve at the pleasure of the Arts Council director. (Each committee member should see at least 75% of the productions deemed eligible for awards.) The committee will use a mix of ranked-choice voting in each category and discussion to determine the final slate of nominees. Each category will have a default of five nominees. The nomination committee may choose to increase or decrease that number depending on the number of eligible productions.

Eligibility rules: Eligible productions must run for at least 4 performances. Once a theater company wins in the best musical or best play category, that company is not eligible to be nominated for a production of the same show in best musical or best play for 5 years after the winning production has closed.

Once an actor or technician has won in a particular category for a specific show, that person is ineligible to be nominated again for that role or technical category as it relates to the show they won for. (For example, if someone wins Best Set Design for “Li’L Abner,” that person is ineligible to be nominated for Best Set Design for “Li’L Abner” again; if someone wins Best Actress in a Musical for playing Raggedy Ann in “Raggedy Ann,” that person is ineligible to be nominated for playing Raggedy Ann in “Raggedy Ann” again.)

All eligible productions must fall within the same calendar year. If a show spans two years, it will be eligible for the year in which most of its performances occur.

Community Mission: In the spirit of community, no theater company may have more than 60% of the nominations in any category unless no other eligible productions could be nominated. (For example, if there are only 3 original productions in a given year, and all 3 are by the same company, then all 3 can be nominated.)

Exceptions: Theater companies seeking exceptions to any of the above rules may petition the Arts Council before the end of the calendar year in which the show is performed.

VOTING

Winners are determined by votes from three groups: the nominations committee, theater companies who produced at least one show in that calendar year, and the public. Each group comprises one-third of the vote to determine the winners in each category.

Each member of the nominations committee gets one ballot, and each eligible theater company gets one ballot. Public voting will be live for a period of at least two weeks, and individuals may vote once per day.

HONOREES

Any person who is mentioned by name in the list of each year’s nominations is entitled to one free ticket to that year’s awards show. Multiple nominations for one person do not increase the number of tickets to which they are entitled. To reserve their free ticket, nominees should contact the Thalian Hall box office after nominees are announced. It is important to contact the box office to ensure an assigned seat is issued to you. If you wish to purchase additional seats for friends and family, the box office will do its best to seat you together.

Click here for photos from the 11th Wilmington Theater Awards

Star News Coverage

Here are the night’s winners:

Lela Thompson Award for Outstanding Contribution to Wilmington Theater: Kim Henry, Theatre for All

OUTSTANDING PLAY: “The Philadelphia Story,” Thalian Association Community Theatre

OUTSTANDING MUSICAL: “Ragtime,” Opera House Theatre Co.

OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR, PLAY: Steve Vernon, “Waiting For Godot,” Big Dawg Productions

OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR, MUSICAL: Fracaswell Hyman, “Ragtime,” Opera House Theatre Co.

OUTSTANDING ACTOR, PLAY: Jon Wallin, “Waiting for Godot,” Big Dawg Productions

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS, PLAY: Mirla Criste, “The Chinese Lady,” Big Dawg Productions

OUTSTANDING ACTOR, MUSICAL: Troy Rudeseal, “The Producers,” Opera House Theatre Co.

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS, MUSICAL: Denise Jackson, “The Color Purple,” Techmoja Dance & Theatre Co.

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR, PLAY: Chad Hsu, “The Chinese Lady,” Big Dawg Productions

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS, PLAY: Arianna Tysinger, “Women Playing Hamlet,” Big Dawg Productions

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR, MUSICAL: Tanner Smith, “Ragtime,” Opera House Theatre Co.

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS, MUSICAL: Bianca Shaw, “Ragtime,” Opera House Theatre Co.

OUTSTANDING MUSIC DIRECTION: Brian Whitted, “Ragtime,” Opera House Theatre Co.

OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHY: Kevin Lee-Y Green, “The Color Purple,” Techmoja Dance & Theatre Co.

OUTSTANDING SET DESIGN: Terry Collins, “Next to Normal,” BS Productions & Opera House Theatre Co.

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS, MUSICAL: Bianca Shaw, “Ragtime,” Opera House Theatre Co.

OUTSTANDING MUSIC DIRECTION: Brian Whitted, “Ragtime,” Opera House Theatre Co.

OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHY: Kevin Lee-Y Green, “The Color Purple,” Techmoja Dance & Theatre Co.

OUTSTANDING SET DESIGN: Terry Collins, “Next to Normal,” BS Productions & Opera House Theatre Co.

OUTSTANDING SOUND DESIGN: Christopher Dean, “Ring of Fire,” Opera House Theatre Co.

OUTSTANDING LIGHTING DESIGN: Cole Marquis, “Next to Normal,” BS Productions & Opera House Theatre Co.

OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN: Debbie Scheu, “Ragtime,” Opera House Theatre Co.

OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL PRODUCTION: “Wilmington Reconstructed,” Mouths of Babes Theatre Company

OUTSTANDING YOUTH PRODUCTION: “Spring Awakening,” Opera House Theatre Co.

OUTSTANDING NEWCOMER: Tanner Smith

2023 Wilmington Theater Award Winners

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