The Carbonell Awards Welcome Four New Judges for 2025-2026 Theatre Season

The Carbonell Awards, South Florida’s most highly coveted recognition of theatrical production and performance excellence, today announced four new judges. They will bring the total number of Carbonell judges to 48, including 18 in Broward County, 11 in Miami-Dade, and 19 in Palm Beach County. Collectively, they will see and evaluate more than 100 different productions at more than 30 professional theaters. The current theater season runs between September 1, 2025, and August 31, 2026.

The four new Carbonell judges are:

 Deborah Bigeleisen (West Boca) is an internationally acclaimed artist who in her early career was a textile print designer and founder of her own global design company in NYC. She also served as a voter/judge for the Emmy Awards in several design categories. She began her fine art career upon moving to WPB in 1998. Over the course of her 25-year art career she has had 21 solo shows and has been juried into over 65 group exhibitions. Her paintings are sold through fine art dealers, International Contemporary Art Fairs including Art Hamptons, The Palm Beach Show, and the Shanghai Art Fair, and upscale digital art platforms. They have been widely published in international lifestyle and art magazines including Architectural Digest and Fine Art Collector and have been prominently exhibited in museum exhibitions including The Boca Raton Museum of Art, The Platt/Bornstein Galleries at American Jewish University in Los Angeles, and the Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, Brooklyn, NY.

Barbara Cheives (West Palm Beach) is President/CEO of Converge & Associates Consulting. Her community engagement clients include the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County (she recently joined their Board) and the Maltz Jupiter Theatre, where she offers training and consulting in workplace communication and race relations, and guides the theatre’s diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Barbara’s consulting expertise includes law enforcement and public safety, not-for-profit organizations, media, education, and corporations. She served as the first Executive Director of Toward a More Perfect Union in Palm Beach County, a non-profit initiative addressing the critical impact of race and ethnicity in a diverse community, is Past President of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, has been featured in The Palm Beacher as one of “25 Impact Players Defining Palm Beach County, and is the new chair of the Board of Trustees of St. Mary’s Medical Center.

Wendy Bryan Michaels (Miami) Actress, writer, playwright with 25+ years of experience, who won the Carbonell Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2006 for Bluefish Cove and was nominated for Best Actress the same year for Rabbit Hole at Mosaic Theatre. She appeared in the films I Love You Phillip Morris with Jim Carrey, Bachelor Party 2 with Harland Williams, and Sex Drive featuring James Marsden; and co-created and starred in the comedy series My Sister Is So Gay, alongside Loni Anderson, Debra Wilson, and Rae Dawn Chong.

Cheryl Steinthal (Boynton Beach) is Artistic Director/Choreographer for The New Florida Follies; a lifelong dancer, she is a former Rockette at Radio City Music Hall, danced in the Ziegfeld Girls Gala featuring Liza Minnelli, was dance coach to Ann Miller’s understudy in Anything Goes at the Papermill Playhouse, and choreographed shows at the Delray Beach Playhouse and numerous high schools and residential communities in NY, NJ and Florida.

They will join the current team of distinguished Carbonell judges:

From Broward County:

• Jerry Abella (Wilton Manors) actor, playwright, and arts journalist.

• Charles Baran (Palm Aire) actor, singer, comedian, published author and Senior Writer and Brand Ambassador for South Florida’s OutClique Magazine. 

• Noah Cuellar (Fort Lauderdale) actor, director, former member of the Chicago Latino Theatre Company. 

• Mary Damiano (Oakland Park) award-winning writer, editor, and theater critic who has covered the South Florida arts scene since 2000, former Carbonell Coordinator.

• Donna Horkey (Davie) actor, director, stage manager, props master, and make-up artist. 

• Mike Jeknavorian (Tamarac) actor, writer.

• Jerry K. Jensen (Hallandale) director, production stage manager, producer, and tech designer.

• Larry Jurrist (Hollywood) retired teacher, performer, and screener for the South Florida LGBTQ Film Festival.

• Jeff Kiltie (Wilton Manors) General Manager of Aventura Arts & Cultural Center, stage manager, producer, member of Actors’ Equity Association, and former president of the Carbonell Awards.

• Jill Kratish (Fort Lauderdale) Associate Vice President of Programming & Producing for the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. 

• Jody Leshinsky (Lauderhill) Life Enrichment Manager at John Knox Village of Florida, and longtime former officer and board member of the Carbonell Awards.

• Marcy Ruderhausen (Hollywood) classically trained actor, media spokesperson, and brand strategist.  

• Lynne Schaefer (Tamarac) production manager/assistant stage manager who worked on many Broadway shows.

• Greg Schuh (Tamarac) actor, director, teacher, dancer and choreographer.

• David Simson (Pompano Beach) veteran stage director. 

• Gilda Steiger (Hallandale Beach) communication and marketing pro. 

• Ali Tallman (Pembroke Pines) director, movement coach, dramaturg, and playwright.

• Savannah Whaley (Lauderhill) veteran arts publicist who managed public relations for the Broward Center for the Performing Arts and former theatre columnist.

From Miami-Dade County:

• Al Alschuler (Miami) arts journalist and theatre board member.

• Nancy Doyle Cohen (Miami) Arts, Culture & Education Director at the David Posnack Jewish Community Center in Davie, and former Director of Group Sales for Broadway Across America. 

• Nancy Duerr (Miami) actor, spokesperson, TV host, and voice over artist who served on national and local boards of SAG and SAG-AFTRA for 25 years and was a member of the G1 team that merged the two unions. 

• Isadora Zia Hernandez (Miami Beach) student at the New World School of the Arts in the Visual Arts division for Art & Technology. 

• Marjorie O’Neill-Butler (Miami Beach) playwright, theater critic, and a member of the Dramatists Guild, AEA and SAG-AFTRA.  

• Ileana Oroza (Miami Beach), former arts editor and assistant managing editor at The Miami Herald, now an independent editor focused on cultural issues. 

• Jorge Perez (Miami) former editor of CubaNet News and correspondent for the EFE agency, blogger and author.

• John Soliday (Miami) award-winning actor, director, educator, and member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers.

• Michelle F. Solomon, M.A. (Miami) editor in chief and theater critic/writer for both Artburstmiami.com and Miamiartzine.com.

• Pauline Winick (Miami Beach) a leader in the local arts community and former Chair of the Cultural Councils of Miami-Dade County and the City of Miami Beach. 

From Palm Beach County: 

• Dr. Lhisa Almashy (Lake Worth) award-winning educator who founded film and theater organizations in California and Michigan.  

• Barbara Bradshaw (Delray Beach), a 17-time Carbonell Award nominee and four-time winner who has been a professional actress for more than 50 years. 

• Cheryl Dunn Bychek (Royal Palm Beach) served as PR/Marketing Director for the BoarsHead Theatre in Lansing, Michigan and the Theatre Club of the Palm Beaches, longest serving Carbonell judge.

• Elizabeth Dashiell (Jupiter) is both Carbonell Coordinator and a judge and has served as Co-Producer of the Palm Beach Shakespeare Festival since 2013. 

• Jason Fisher (West Palm Beach), actor, stage manager, and arts journalist.

• Sharon Geltner (Boynton Beach) award-winning writer and multimedia communication specialist who is a contributing writer/reviewer for both the Broward Arts Journalism Alliance (BAJA) and Palm Beach Arts Paper. 

• Tom Hantzarides (Delray Beach) talk show host and producer, writer, journalist, and founder of GET OUT South Florida LGBTQ+ Media. 

• Allen H. Jones (West Palm Beach) retired Production Designer who has worked on hundreds of TV commercials, films, and plays. 

• Mark Keller (Boynton Beach) producer-presenter for numerous concerts and stage productions from Broadway to South Florida and serves on the board for Florida Children’s Theatre. 

• Dale King (Greenacres) award-winning newspaper reporter and critic in both Rhode Island and Florida. 

• Christine LeShay (Riviera Beach) actor, playwright, and owner/artistic director of A.C.T.S. of Life Productions. 

• Teri Mitze (Boynton Beach) began her producing career at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, founder and producer of The Great American Children’s Theatre Company, and produced more than 300 national television commercials..

• Deborah Nix (Delray Beach) retired high school and middle school counselor and lifelong theater student and enthusiast.

• Jeremy Quinn (Boynton Beach) has acted in or directed over 300 theatrical productions including On and Off Broadway and three National Tours.  

• Linda Shorrock (Boynton Beach) costumer for Palm Beach State College and experienced designer, wardrobe coordinator, and costume technician. 

• Jan Sjostrom (Boca Raton) spent 28 years as cultural editor and theater reviewer for The Palm Beach Daily News,  a critic for South Florida Theater on Stage, and an adjudicator for the Kravis Center’s Dream Awards for high school musicals. 

This season’s Carbonell Awards will be presented at a glittery ceremony on Monday, November 17, at FAU’s University Theatre in Boca Raton. Hundreds of actors, musicians, performers, writers, directors, back-stage technicians, producers, reviewers, designers, specialty artists, and diehard theater fans are expected to attend South Florida’s version of Broadway’s Tony Awards® under the leadership of Executive Producer and Director Andrew Kato, Coordinating Producer Eloisa Ferrer, and Associate Producer and Musical Director Caryl Fantel. Tickets for the ceremony and after party are only $45 and will go on public sale in mid-October.

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 30 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.