Gary Schweikhart, board president of the Carbonell Awards, South Florida’s Theater & Arts Honors, today announced the recipients of the prestigious George Abbott Award and six Special Awards that will be presented at the Carbonell Awards Ceremony on Monday, November 7, at 7:30 p.m. at the Lauderhill Performing Arts Center at 3800 NW 11th Place, Lauderhill, FL 33311. Tickets are only $32 each (including facility fee) and will soon be available for public purchase.
The George Abbott Award
for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts
Winner
Michael Tilson Thomas
Winners
Barbara & Lawrence E. Stein
Named after the legendary Broadway director, producer, playwright, and actor, the George Abbott Award honors an individual (or team) who has contributed significantly to the artistic and cultural development of the region. Because there was no Carbonell Awards ceremony in 2021, this year there are multiple winners for this award.
Tickets and additional information HERE
Michael Tilson Thomas is cofounder and Artistic Director Laureate of the Miami Beach-based New World Symphony, as well as Music Director Laureate of the San Francisco Symphony and Conductor Laureate of the London Symphony Orchestra. A composer and pianist as well as one of the great figures in the world of classical music, Tilson Thomas comes from a family of artists: His grandparents, Boris and Bessie Thomashefsky, were Yiddish theater stars, and his parents Ted (who changed his surname) and Roberta Thomas worked in the movie industry. The winner of a dozen Grammy Awards, he appears on more than 120 recordings, and among his many honors are the National Medal of Arts and the 2019 Kennedy Center Honors. His dedication to music education and to expanding the ways people can experience concerts are exemplified by his work with the New World Symphony, which he co-founded in 1987. More than 1,200 young musicians have passed through “America’s Orchestral Academy,” with 90 percent maintaining careers in music, and a vast number of music lovers have connected with Tilson Thomas, other conductors, and the orchestra via free WALLCAST concerts on the large projection wall at the state-of-the-art Frank Gehry-designed New World Center.
Barbara & Lawrence E. Stein are the founders of Actors’ Playhouse, which will celebrate its 35th season in 2022-23. Active in multiple community organizations and as founding members of Congregation Bet Breira, the Steins launched their theater company in 1988 with a production of “Man of La Mancha” at a former twin movie theater in Kendall. When Hurricane Andrew destroyed the facility, the couple entered into an agreement with the City of Coral Gables to renovate and restore the historic Miracle Theatre on Miracle Mile, opening their new home in 1995 with another “Man of La Mancha” and building a legacy as Miami-Dade County’s premiere producer of large-scale musicals. Since then, Founding Executive Producing Director Barbara Stein and Founding Board Chairman Lawrence Stein, along with Artistic Director David Arisco and Children’s Theatre and Education Director Earl Maulding, have continued to grow the two-stage company where thousands of theater professionals (including Tony Award winner Rachel Bay Jones) have appeared, while uncounted children have begun learning their craft or simply enjoyed experiencing the art of theater.