For Immediate Release: August 10, 2005
Media Contact: Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia, 215.413.7150

The Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia announced the nominees for the 2005 Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre at a press conference today, Wednesday, August 10th at the Arts Bank at the University of the Arts. The award recipients will be announced at the Gala Barrymore Award Ceremony, the premier annual event in Philadelphia theatre, on Monday, October 10th at 7:00 p.m. at the Merriam Theater, located at 250 S. Broad Street. The theme for the 11th annual Barrymore celebration, "Destination Philadelphia" reflects the vibrant and flourishing theatre community in the Greater Philadelphia region. As local theatres and artists continue to present innovative theatre experiences, writers premiere new plays, and national and international theatre artists come to the region to join in the collaboration, Philadelphia has become a leading destination for theatre fans of all kinds.

"Attendance to theatre in the Greater Philadelphia region is at an all time high! With a wealth of well-established theatre companies alongside a burgeoning community of emergent companies, local and visiting audiences can always find something just for them in a wide array of live theatre experiences," said James Haskins, Executive Director of the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia. "Our annual Barrymore Awards celebration casts a bright light on the region's theatre scene and this year we are pleased to spotlight our dynamic theatre community as a nationally recognized destination for theatre excellence."

The Barrymore Awards program is produced by the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia and is the only comprehensive awards program in the region, recognizing artistic excellence in theatre. Each year, over 100 productions, produced by Philadelphia professional theatres, are reviewed by the Barrymore nominating committee. More than 100 actors, directors and designers representing 40 productions became nominees for the 2005 Barrymore Awards.

A diverse selection of the season's offerings received nominations. Leading the group is Arden Theatre Company with a record-setting 25 nominations, the most ever received by one theatre company, followed by Philadelphia Theatre Company with 16 nominations, and The Wilma Theater with 14 nominations. Musicals that captured the most nominations were Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street from Arden Theatre Company with 13 nominations, followed by Prince Music Theater's Chasing Nicolette with 10 nominations, while Philadelphia Theatre Company's Take Me Out received 6 nominations, the most for a play.

In addition to the 22 categories for theatrical productions, nominations were announced in four special categories. The F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Philadelphia Theatre Artist, which includes a $10,000 cash prize, is given to a Philadelphia theatre artist (director, designer, actor, choreographer, or writer) who shows outstanding promise in his or her field and is dedicated to working in the Philadelphia theatre community. Named after the late F. Otto Haas, noted philanthropist, civic leader, and former Chairman of Rohm & Haas, the award is specifically designed to help cover the artist's living expenses for one year so the individual can focus solely on his or her craft. The runners-up each receive a $1,000 cash award. An "emerging artist" is one who has worked for at least three years and for no more than ten years in the professional theatre. The 2005 Emerging Artist Award nominees are Ben Dibble, Madi Distefano, Matt Saunders, Geoff Sobelle, and James Sugg.

The 2005 Lifetime Achievement Award honors the career of Dr. James J. Christy, professor of Theatre at Villanova University for over 38 years who will retire this year. A key director in Villanova Theatre's professional graduate program, Dr. Christy is also a top director of local professional productions, working at the Arden Theatre Company, The People's Light & Theatre Company, the Philadelphia Theatre Company, the Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival and others. Including this year's nomination for his direction of Take Me Out, he has been nominated for six Barrymore Awards for best direction of a play and received the Barrymore for his direction of The Laramie Project and for co-direction (with Harriet Power) of Angels in America, Part II.

The award for Excellence in Theatre Education and Community Service includes a $1,500 cash prize sponsored by the Harvey & Virginia Kimmel Arts Education Fund and promotes the participation of theatres and theatre artists who provide innovative theatre and educational experiences as a vehicle for betterment within the community. The 2005 nominees are InterAct Theatre Company's InterAction, Philadelphia Young Playwrights' Classic Program of Playwriting Workshops, Theater Catalyst's 2nd Stage Program, Walnut Street Theatre's Adopt-A-School, and The Wilma Theater's Wilmagination.

The Ted and Stevie Wolf Award for New Approaches to Collaborations recognizes Theatre Exile and Reconstruction Pictures' production of the film cellar, which features a cast of local theatre artists and premiered during the 2005 Philadelphia Film Festival.

At the October 10th ceremony two scholarships will also be awarded. The second recipient of the Suzanne Roberts Theatre Alliance Scholarship Award and the first recipient of the Joseph Cairns, Jr. & Ernestine Bacon Cairns Memorial Scholarship Award will both be announced. The scholarships are awarded to incoming freshman to the University of the Arts Applied Theatre Arts program and Music Theatre program, respectively.

Nominees for OUTSTANDING OVERALL PRODUCTION OF A PLAY are 1812 Productions' Recent Tragic Events, The People's Light & Theatre Company's String of Pearls, Philadelphia Theatre Company's Take Me Out, Philadelphia Theatre Company's Trumbo, and The Wilma Theater's The Clean House.

Nominees for OUTSTANDING OVERALL PRODUCTION OF A MUSICAL are Act II Playhouse's The Big Bang, Arden Theatre Company's Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Arden Theatre Company's A Year with Frog and Toad, Philadelphia Theatre Company's Elegies: A Song Cycle, and Prince Music Theater's Chasing Nicolette.

Nominees for the Harmelin Media Award for OUSTANDING DIRECTION OF A PLAY are James J. Christy for Take Me Out at Philadelphia Theatre Company, Daniel Fish for The Clean House at The Wilma Theater, Maria Mileaf for The Story at Philadelphia Theatre Company, Pete Pryor for Recent Tragic Events for 1812 Productions, and Jiri Zizka for Outrage at The Wilma Theater.

Nominees for the Harold Prince Award for OUTSTANDING DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL are Joe Calarco for Elegies: A Song Cycle at Philadelphia Theatre Company, Whit MacLaughlin for A Year with Frog and Toad at Arden Theatre Company, Ethan McSweeny for Chasing Nicolette at Prince Music Theater, Terrence J. Nolen for Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at Arden Theatre Company, and Richard M. Parison, Jr. for The Big Bang at Act II Playhouse.

Nominees for OUTSTANDING MUSIC DIRECTION are Eric Ebbenga for Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at Arden Theatre Company, Charles Gilbert for A Year with Frog and Toad at Arden Theatre Company, Kimberly Grigsby for Elegies: A Song Cycle at Philadelphia Theatre Company, Robert K. Mikulski for Chasing Nicolette at Prince Music Theater, and Jim Ryan for The Big Bang at Act II Playhouse.

Nominees for OUTSTANDING LEADING ACTOR IN A PLAY are Jamie Harris as Billy in Raw Boys at The Wilma Theater, Bill Irwin as Dalton Trumbo in Trumbo at Philadelphia Theatre Company, John Keating as Shane in Raw Boys at The Wilma Theater, Jered McLenigan as Merrick in The Elephant Man at The Centre Theater, and Ernest Perry, Jr. as Troy Maxson in Fences at Arden Theatre Company.

Nominees for the Charlotte Cushman Award for OUTSTANDING LEADING ACTRESS IN A PLAY are Stephanie Berry as Rose in Fences at Arden Theatre Company, Madi Distefano as Breda in Eden for Brat Productions, Juliette Dunn as Waverly Wilson in Recent Tragic Events for 1812 Productions, Jilline Ringle in Always a Lady: A celebration of funny women for the holidays for 1812 Productions, and Catharine K. Slusar as Lizzie et al. in The Syringa Tree at Arden Theatre Company.

Nominees for OUTSTANDING LEADING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL are Richard Amelius as Emcee in Cabaret at The Media Theater, Tony Braithwaite as Boyd in The Big Bang at Act II Playhouse, Ben Dibble as Jed in The Big Bang at Act II Playhouse, Bronson Pinchot as Valere in Chasing Nicolette at Prince Music Theater, and Thom Sesma as Sweeney Todd in Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at Arden Theatre Company.

Nominees for OUTSTANDING LEADING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL are Audri T. Dalio as Kim in Miss Saigon at Lenape Regional Performing Arts Center, Sherri L. Edelen in Elegies: A Song Cycle at Philadelphia Theatre Company, Mary Martello as Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at Arden Theatre Company, Donna Migliaccio in Elegies: A Song Cycle at Philadelphia Theatre Company, and Jasika Nicole Pruitt as Nicolette in Chasing Nicolette at Prince Music Theater.

Nominees for OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A PLAY are James Gale as William in Raw Boys at The Wilma Theater, Jeb Kreager as Ron in Recent Tragic Events for 1812 Productions, Pete Pryor as Cleante in The Miser at The People's Light & Theatre Company, Josh Shirley as Shane in Take Me Out at Philadelphia Theatre Company, Kraig Swartz as Mason in Take Me Out at Philadelphia Theatre Company, and Ray Anthony Thomas as Gabriel in Fences at Arden Theatre Company.

Nominees for OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A PLAY are Jennifer Childs as Gertrude Deuter in The Underpants at Arden Theatre Company, Alda Cortese as Frosine in The Miser at The People's Light & Theatre Company, Emmanuelle Delpech-Ramey as Prince in Hell Meets Henry Halfway for Pig Iron Theatre Company, Jayne Houdyshell as Virginia in The Clean House at The Wilma Theater, and Karen Peakes as Brooke Aston in Noises Off at Lenape Regional Performing Arts Center.

Nominees for OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL are Todd Buonopane as Herschel in Gemini at Prince Music Theater, Ben Dibble as Anthony Hope in Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at Arden Theatre Company, Christopher Kale Jones as Mercury in Olympus on my Mind at Bristol Riverside Theatre, Joshua Lamon as Tobias Ragg in Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at Arden Theatre Company, and Joshua Lamon as Snail/Ensemble in A Year with Frog and Toad at Arden Theatre Company.

Nominees for OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ATCRESS IN A MUSICAL are Rebecca Bellingham as Gwendolyn in Chasing Nicolette at Prince Music Theater, Anne DeSalvo as Maria/Lucille in Gemini at Prince Music Theater, Sarah Doherty as Rosie in Grease and Desist for Brat Productions & Tapestry Theatre, SuEllen Estey as Charis in Olympus on my Mind at Bristol Riverside Theatre, and Denise Whelan as Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at Arden Theatre Company.

Nominees for OUTSTANDING SET DESIGN are David Gallo for Fences at Bristol Riverside Theatre, David P. Gordon for Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at Arden Theatre Company, Andrew Lieberman for The Clean House at The Wilma Theater, Mimi Lien for Outrage at The Wilma Theater, and Todd Rosenthal for Take Me Out at Philadelphia Theatre Company.

Nominees for the PECO Energy Award for OUTSTANDING LIGHTING DESIGN are Russell H. Champa for Raw Boys at The Wilma Theater, Jerold R. Forsyth for Outrage at The Wilma Theater, Ac Hickox for The Syringa Tree at Arden Theatre Company, John Stephen Hoey for Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at Arden Theatre Company, and Chris Lee for Elegies: A Song Cycle at Philadelphia Theatre Company.

Nominees for OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN are Constance Hoffman for Chasing Nicolette at Prince Music Theater, Marla Jurglanis for Sleeping Beauty: A Comic Panto in the British Style at The People's Light & Theatre Company, Marla Jurglanis for Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at Arden Theatre Company, Richard St. Clair for A Year with Frog and Toad at Arden Theatre Company, and Linda Bee Stockton for Holiday at Bristol Riverside Theatre.

Nominees for OUTSTANDING SOUND DESIGN are Jorge Cousineau for Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at Arden Theatre Company, Nick Kourtides for Chasing Nicolette at Prince Music Theater, John Mock for Looking Over the President's Shoulder at Delaware Theatre Company, Bill Moriarty, Adriano Shaplin, & James Sugg for Hell Meets Henry Halfway for Pig Iron Theatre Company, and James Sugg for all wear bowlers in 1812 Productions.

Nominees for OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL MUSIC are Charles Gilbert for Gemini at Prince Music Theater, David Friedman for Chasing Nicolette at Prince Music Theater, Jim Ryan for Grease and Desist for Brat Productions & Tapestry Theatre, Adriano Shaplin & James Sugg for Hell Meets Henry Halfway for Pig Iron Theatre Company, and Adam Wernick for Outrage at The Wilma Theater.

Nominees for OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHY/MOVEMENT are Richard Amelius for Cabaret at The Media Theatre, Karen Getz for The Big Bang at Act II Playhouse, Trey Lyford & Geoffrey Sobelle for all wear bowlers for 1812 Productions, Jewel Walker for Tuesday at Amaryllis Theatre Company/VSAarts of Pennsylvania, and Dorothy Wilke for Death and the King's Horseman at Lantern Theater Company.

Nominees for the Independence Foundation Award for OUTSTANDING NEW PLAY are The Philly Fan by Bruce Graham at Theatre Exile, Raw Boys by Dael Orlandersmith at The Wilma Theater, A Higher Place in Heaven by Pamela Parker at The People's Light & Theatre Company, Hell Meets Henry Halfway by Adriano Shaplin for Pig Iron Theatre Company, and The Lives of Bosie by John Wolfson at Hedgerow Theatre.

Nominees for OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE IN A PLAY are Recent Tragic Events for 1812 Productions, Tuesday at Amaryllis Theatre Company/VSAarts of Pennsylvania, Hell Meets Henry Halfway for Pig Iron Theatre Company, Take Me Out at Philadelphia Theatre Company, and The Art of War for The Vagabond Acting Troupe.

Nominees for OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE IN A MUSICAL are Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at Arden Theatre Company, A Year with Frog and Toad at Arden Theatre Company, Forever Plaid at Delaware Theatre Company, Elegies: A Song Cycle at Philadelphia Theatre Company, and Chasing Nicolette at Prince Music Theater.

Major support for the Barrymore Awards is provided by Ark Media, Charlotte Cushman Foundation, Clear Sound, Earl Girls, Harmelin Media, Independence Foundation, The Joseph Cairns, Jr. & Ernestine Bacon Cairns Trust, a Mellon Mid-Atlantic Charitable Trust, KieranTimberlake Associates, Harvey & Virginia Kimmel Arts Education Fund, MindLabs.net, PECO Energy, Philadelphia City Paper, Philadelphia Magazine, The Phoebe W. Haas Charitable Trust "A" as recommended by Carole Haas Gravagno, Sand Castle Winery, The Suzanne F. Roberts Cultural Development Fund, Theatre League of Philadelphia and the Merriam Theater, University of the Arts, William Penn Foundation, and Ted & Stevie Wolf.

The Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia strengthens and leads the region's richly diverse theatre community, with more than 90 member organizations and 200 individuals, by promoting awareness and serving as a resource for information, professional development and advocacy. For further information, visit www.theatrealliance.org or call the Theatre Alliance at 215-413-7150.

MEMBERS OF THE MEDIA: To request interviews, ceremony press tickets, and more information, please contact Megan Wendell, Canary Promotion, 215-242-6393, megan@canarypromo.com.

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ABOUT THE NOMINEES

F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Philadelphia Theatre Artist

• Ben Dibble is a six-time Barrymore Award nominee, including two 2005 nominations for his roles in Arden Theatre Company's Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Act II Playhouse's The Big Bang, which went on to the Kimmel Center for a successful two-month run. Other credits include Toad in A Year with Frog and Toad, Hauptmann in Baby Case, and Jack in Into the Woods for Arden Theatre Company, Lies and Legends and Mary's Wedding for Act II Playhouse, Casegamus in La Vie en Bleu for Walnut Street Theatre, Guiliano in Big Love for The Wilma Theater, and Chris in Miss Saigon for Lenape Regional Performing Arts Center.
  
  
• Madi Distefano, a 2004 F. Otto Haas Award finalist, is Artistic Director of Brat Productions and has worked as an actor, director, producer, cabaret host, and teacher. She is nominated for a 2005 Barrymore Award for her role as Breda in Brat Productions' Eden and was nominated last year for Popsicle's Departure, 1989. Distefano has directed and produced Grease and Desist, Moby-Dick Rehearsed, The Good Thief, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Eye-95, A 24-Hour The Bald Soprano, This Lime Tree Bower, Anger Is My Meat: a rock deconstruction of Shakespeare's Coriolanus, the ensemble created ONCE, and Howie the Rookie. Locally, she has worked as an actor with many theatres including the Walnut Street Theatre, 1812 Productions, the Arden Theatre Company, The Wilma Theater, The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, and the Lantern Theater Company. She has taught at The Wilma, the Arden, the Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia Young Playwrights' Festival and teaches as adjunct faculty at Arcadia University and Temple University. In the last year she has been awarded a Leeway Window of Opportunity grant and a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts fellowship.
  
  
• Matt Saunders is a designer and performer and Co-founder of New Paradise Laboratories. Saunders has been involved in all of NPL's works as a designer and performer. Outside of NPL, he has performed for Philadelphia's MOXIE Dance Collective, Theatre Exile, Mum Puppettheatre/The Philadelphia Orchestra and InterAct Theatre Company. In 2001, Saunders was nominated for the Barrymore Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Play for his role in Man Measures Man, a new play by David Robson, produced by InterAct Theatre Company. As a scenic/visual designer, Saunders has worked with such companies as Brat Productions, Theatre Exile, MOXIE Dance Collective, the Walnut Street Theatre, the Arden Theatre Company, Pig Iron Theatre Company and the Bessie Award-winning Headlong Dance Theatre. Saunders designed Headlong's recent Hotel Pool, which premiered at the 2004 Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and then went immediately to PICA in Portland, Oregon. With Pig Iron Theatre Company, he designed Flop, its critically acclaimed three woman clown show, and its recent hit Hell Meets Henry Halfway.
  
  
• Geoff Sobelle is a Philadelphia-based actor and a company member of the Pig Iron Theatre Company. The company's award-winning plays have garnered international acclaim in New York, the UK, the Republic of Ireland, Italy, Poland, Romania, Germany and Brazil. Sobelle's first independent efforts (machines, machines, machines, machines, machines, machines, machines and all wear bowlers) were cult favorites at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival in 2002 and 2003. Sobelle was a 2004 finalist for the F. Otto Haas Award and received a 2004 Barrymore nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Play for Lantern Theater Company's Comedy of Errors, which received the award for Outstanding Ensemble in a Play. All wear bowlers, for which Sobelle and Trey Lyford have been nominated for a 2005 Barrymore for Outstanding Choreography/Movement, was produced this year by 1812 Productions and went on to a sold-out run in New York. Sobelle has performed with numerous theatre companies in Philadelphia such as the Arden Theatre Company, Brat Productions, 1812 Productions and the Big Mess Cabaret, with the Folger Theatre in Washington, DC and at Stanford University in California. Recently, Sobelle was named "Best of Philly Theatre Talent 2004" by Philadelphia Magazine.
  
  
• James Sugg is an actor, sound designer, composer and musician and member of Pig Iron Theatre Company. Sugg was a 2003 and 2004 finalist for the F. Otto Hass Award. His work has been recognized with three Barrymore Awards for Outstanding Sound Design, and he has received two sound design nominations again this year for all wear bowlers and Hell Meets Henry Halfway, for which he is also nominated for Outstanding Original Music. Sugg has worked with the Arden, The Wilma, Seattle Rep, Folger Theater, Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental, Princeton University, Freedom Theatre, UArts, and Lantern Theater. Acting credits include Jon the Ballboy in Pig Iron's Hell Meets Henry Halfway, Pirelli in the Arden's Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, The Earth's Sharp Edge with Lucidity Suitcase, Melissa Arctic with Folger Shakespeare Theatre, and Embarrassments with The Wilma Theater. His new musical A Murder, A Mystery and a Marriage will premiere in the spring of 2006 at Delaware Theater Company.
  
  

Lifetime Achievement Award - Dr. James J. Christy
This year's Lifetime Achievement Award honors the career of Dr. James J. Christy as he retires from his lifetime at Villanova, even as he continues his vibrant work within the Philadelphia theatre community and beyond. As professor of Theatre at Villanova University for over 38 years, he has mentored undergraduate and graduate student artists, serving for 13 years as Department Chair. A key director in Villanova Theatre's professional graduate program, he is also a top director of local professional productions, working at the Arden Theatre, The People's Light & Theatre Company, the Philadelphia Theatre Company, the Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival and others. He has been nominated for six Barrymore Awards, including this year's nomination for his direction of Take Me Out, and has received the Barrymore for his direction of The Laramie Project and for co-direction (with Harriet Power) of Angels in America, Part II. He has earned a national reputation for directing at major Shakespeare festivals around the country and at such venues as Actor's Theatre of Louisville.

Excellence in Theatre Education and Community Service Award, sponsored by Harvey & Virginia Kimmel

• InterAct Theatre Company - InterAction: InterAction residencies and workshops promote life skills through theatre exercises and improvisations, but at its core, InterAction encourages reflective thinking versus impulsive action. The program works to build self-esteem, interpersonal skills and social skills for use in everyday life through a performance piece with student participation. The primary audiences reached through this program are court referred juveniles, teenage mothers and their babies, E.S.L. students, deaf students, blind students and autistic students. Over 500 students participated in this government subsidized program, which involves four elements: initial performance of provocative and entertaining scenes and monologues; discussion addressing the ideas and issues raised by the performance; interactive theatre activities and role-playing exercises used to help participants internalize a deeper understanding of the ideas and issues as they apply to real life and real people; and the development and performance of a collaborative theatre piece performed by the participants, revolving around the issues raised during the residency. The on-site residencies last 20, 30, or 40 days.
  
  
• Philadelphia Young Playwrights - Classic Program of Playwriting Workshops: Since 1987, Philadelphia Young Playwrights has served the region with its literacy and playwriting programs. Serving nearly 1,500 students, elementary school age through high school age, on an annual basis, its mission is to tap the potential of youth and inspire learning through playwriting. The organization pairs a professional teaching artist with a classroom teacher to work as a collaborative Artistic Team, who guide students in the craft of playwriting through a series of workshops throughout the school year. The Artistic Team's continued guidance helps the students persevere in developing their skills as playwrights, actors, and audiences. The teaching artist visits the classroom a minimum of 25 hours and also helps with Mini Festivals - in school stagings of finished student plays. Young Playwrights also provides professional actors to participating classrooms who act out student scripts in progress and provide additional feedback to student playwrights. By producing original student work from their Annual Playwriting Festival and sharing those productions with students and adult audiences, Young Playwrights validates the voices of young people and personalizes the theatre for young audiences.
  
  
• Theater Catalyst - 2nd Stage Program: Theater Catalyst is a non-profit theater company whose express mission is to further the development of small theater companies and individual artists who are trying to break-in to and establish themselves in the professional theater world. Approaching this mission via programs such as their 2nd Stage Program, it is the organization's goal to put people to work in the arts in Philadelphia, from actors and directors to writers, technicians, administrators and producers. The 2nd Stage Program, which was awarded the Barrymore Award for Excellence in Theatre Education and Community Service in 2002, provides guidance and resources required to produce a show for a small company, from affordable space, to design and lighting, to promotion and box office support. Anyone is eligible for the 2nd Stage Program if they display a genuine interest and understanding of the commitment required to produce a show, some basic experience in theatre work and a strong desire to learn about and excel at their craft, and to aspire to high levels of professional artistry.
  
  
• Walnut Street Theatre - Adopt-A-School: The Walnut Street Theatre initiated the Adopt-A-School program in 1996 when administrators became aware of the continuing decline and, in most cases, total lack of artistic programming - or funding for such - in local schools. The project was designed to guide underserved schools through the process of developing a lasting theatre program. The Adopt-A-School program reaches out to schools that lack both the expertise and necessary resources for their own drama program and helps to create an infrastructure to support this programming, even after the adoption period is over. The specifics of each program are catered to the needs of each school from year to year. Program assistance could include curriculum supplements, equipment acquisition, technique assistance, or all of the above. To supplement the program, the Walnut offers the school access to other cultural opportunities such as acting classes, Outreach Programming and tickets to Mainstage dress rehearsals. Each year of adoption, two or more outstanding students are chosen to receive a scholarship to the Theatre School or to Camp Walnut.
  
  
• The Wilma Theater - Wilmagination: Piloted in the Fall 2000, Wilmagination began as a program designed to use theater as a vehicle for teaching other subjects in the Philadelphia public middle schools. Since then, with the hiring of Paul Vallas, the new superintendent brought in to turn around an ailing school system, and the passing of The No Child Left Behind Act, the district's focus has moved towards implementing a standardized literacy curriculum and raising math and literacy test scores. The Wilma has responded by continuously modifying Wilmagination to meet the shifting needs of the schools it serves. As Wilmagination finishes up its 5th year working with the Philadelphia School District, it now reaches approximately 230 students a year from four different schools. The program has been adapted specifically to reinforce the skills mandated in the state literacy curriculum and has recently been expanded to include high school students as well. The program is typically 12 weeks long, with a pair of teaching artists visiting the classroom for approximately one hour each week. With Wilmagination, The Wilma is striving to model an alternative method of teaching in the new reality of standards based education.
  
  

The Ted and Stevie Wolf Award for New Approaches to Collaborations
Theatre Exile & Reconstruction Pictures - cellar: cellar, the first feature film by Philadelphia writer/director Ben Hickernell, had its world premiere as part of the Festival of Independents in the 2005 Philadelphia Film Festival. Weaving character drama into a gritty thriller, cellar begins as two former friends wake up locked in a basement. The film spreads outwards as flashbacks fill in the lives they've lived so far, and yet draws inwards as the two men contend with their confinement and struggle to answer the question: is life in a cold, dark room eating canned beans worth living?

Now in its eighth season, Theatre Exile is a non-profit theatre company dedicated to providing a creative environment in which Philadelphia artists can grow and experiment, while introducing the greater Philadelphia community both to new locally written works and to established plays that are reinterpreted in original ways and/or held in unique site-specific locations. For Theatre Exile, cellar was an opportunity to help a young artist take a big step into a new artistic genre and provide many artists in the Philadelphia theatre community with a very special and unique experience.

Reconstruction Pictures is a new local film company founded by cellar writer/director Ben Hickernell. As Reconstruction's first film, the success of the collaboration with Theatre Exile on cellar will hopefully allow young area artists interested in making film to have a home in Philadelphia.

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