Gary Schweikhart, board president of the Carbonell Awards, South Florida’s Theater & Arts Honors, today announced the recipient of the first of seven additional Special Awards that will be presented at the 48th annual Carbonell Awards Ceremony on Monday, November 17, at 7:30 pm at FAU’s University Theatre in Boca Raton 33431.
“While we will be honoring in 20 competitive categories specific theatre performances, production elements, and shows presented between September 2024 and August 2025, the Carbonell board of directors has unanimously voted to also bestow the following Special Award,” said Schweikhart.
The Jan McArt Award
Named after the “First Lady of South Florida Theater” who helmed several local theaters including the popular Royal Palm Dinner Theatre in Mizner Park, this new Special Award recognizes significant achievement by a small theatre.
New City Players (Photo Credit: Ryan Arnst)
New City Players is a professional, ensemble-based nonprofit theatre company since 2014, the mission of Broward-based New City Players is “to stage transformative, classic, contemporary, and original works of live theatre that explore the complexity and diversity of the human experience, create space for authentic dialogue, and connect South Florida audiences and artists.” During the 2024-2025 season, Producing Artistic Director Tim Davis presented rave-worthy productions of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons, the Florida premiere of Dominique Morisseau’s Confederates, and the world premiere of The Last Christmas by Tyler Johnson Grimes.
In his nomination of NCP, award-winning producer-director-playwright Stuart Meltzer declared, “New City Players is the ‘little theatre that could.’ It blindly tackles a large scope of theatrical titles that on the surface seem so daunting and unrealistic, but they somehow come out on the other end with their own stamp of creative chutzpah and diligence on the piece. The focus of New City Players is community, inclusion, equality and telling very good stories but also being an impactful creative entity of humility and gumption.”
Previously Announced Carbonell Special Awards 2025:
The George Abbott Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts, William Hayes & Sue Ellen Beryl, co-founders of Palm Beach Dramaworks.
Still to be Announced
The Vinnette Carroll Award – August 5
The Charlie Cinnamon Award – August 12
The Ruth Foreman Award – August 19
The Bill Hindman Award – August 26
The Howard Kleinberg Award – September 2
The Bill von Maurer Award – September 9
120 Carbonell Award Finalists in 20 Categories – September 16
All the 2025 Special Award recipients were nominated by members of South Florida’s theatre community with the Carbonell Board of Directors making the final selection. The 120 Carbonell Award Finalists will be based on accumulated scores from the nonprofit organization’s pool of nearly 50 experienced and diverse volunteer judges—with seven judges from various counties assigned to each show. During the 2024-2025 season, Carbonell judges evaluated over 100 professional productions at more than 30 theatres throughout Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties.
This season’s Carbonell Awards will be presented on November 17 at a glittery ceremony that is South Florida’s version of Broadway’s Tony Awards®. Hundreds of actors, musicians, performers, writers, directors, back-stage technicians, producers, critics, designers, specialty artists, and diehard theater fans are expected to attend the event that is being produced and directed by Andrew Kato, Producing Artistic Director/Chief Executive of the Maltz Jupiter Theatre, with the award-winning Caryl Fantel serving as Music Director. Tickets for the ceremony and after party are only $45 and will go on public sale in late-September.
Sponsors of the 48th Annual Carbonell Awards ceremony and after party include the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts; Aventura Arts & Cultural Center; BroadwayWorld; Broward Center for the Performing Arts; Broward Cultural Division; Carbonell Sculptures Ltd.; Cultural Council for Palm Beach County; Donald M. Ephraim Sun & Stars International Film Festival presented by MorseLife Health System; Kravis Center for the Performing Arts; Lesser, Landy, Smith & Siegel, PLLC; Miami-Dade County Auditorium, The Dennis C. Moss Center (formerly The South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center), OutClique Magazine, South Florida Cultural Consortium; South Florida Theatre League,Mark Traverso & Conor Walton, and Donald R. Walters, P.A.
About The Carbonell Awards
The Carbonell Awards fosters the artistic growth of professional theater in South Florida by celebrating the excellence and diversity of our theater artists, providing scholarships, and building audience appreciation and civic pride by highlighting achievements of our theater community. More than 20 professional theater companies in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach Counties participate in the awards process every year. The Carbonell Awards also celebrate the accomplishments of local artistic leaders by presenting various Special Awards.
Along with New York’s Drama Desk and Chicago’s Joseph Jefferson Awards, the Carbonell Awards are among the nation’s oldest regional arts awards and predate others, including Washington, D.C.’s Helen Hayes Awards. The Carbonell Awards are named after the internationally renowned sculptor Manuel Carbonell, who designed the signature solid bronze and marble award given annually to Carbonell Award winners. Over nearly half a century, the Carbonell family has donated more than $250,000 in awards. For more information, please visit www.carbonellawards.org.
