(Boca Raton, FL – October 16, 2025) The 48^th annual Carbonell Awards, South Florida’s Theater & Arts Honors, will be hosting a glittery ceremony at FAU’s University Theatre in Boca Raton on Monday, November 17, at 7:30 pm.

Up to 500 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®, the first one to be held in Palm Beach County since 1997.

Tickets for the entertainment-packed award ceremony and after-party are only $45 and can now be purchased online at FAUevents.com, or by contacting the FAU Box Office at 561.297.6124.

Event highlights include:

·        It is being produced by Andrew Kato, the longtime Producing Artistic Director/CEO at the Maltz Jupiter Theater, who served as Creative Consultant & Coordinating Producer on Broadway’s Tony Awards® for 13 years.

·        It will present eight Special Awards, including the prestigious George Abbott Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts to William Hayes & Sue Ellen Beryl, co-founders of Palm Beach Dramaworks, which recently celebrated its 25^th anniversary of producing Theatre to Think About.

·        It will present the first 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” and is being presented to Boward-based New City Players.

At this year’s ceremony, awards will be presented in 20 competitive categories for the 2024-2025 theater season. Collectively, 129 nominations are distributed among 36 professional productions at 19 different theaters in Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach Counties.

Maltz Jupiter Theatre has 24 nominations, Slow Burn Theatre Company earned 23, Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre and GableStage garnered 11 each, Arca Images and Miami New Drama both grabbed 9, with 7 nominations each going to Broadway at LPAC, New City Players, and Theatre Lab.

The GableStage production of Appropriate earned the most individual nominations (10), followed by Lincoln Road Hustle by Miami New Drama (9), with Anastasia at Slow Burn Theatre Company, Jersey Boys at the Actors’ Playhouse, and The Lehman Trilogy at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre, all getting 8 each.

Sponsors of the 48^th annual Carbonell Awards 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; FPL; 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; Donald R. Walters, P.A.; and The Wick Theatre & Costume Museum.

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 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.

Attached Image:

William Hayes & Sue Ellen Beryl, co-founders of Palm Beach Dramaworks, are receiving the prestigious George Abbott Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts.

(Photo Credit: Curtis Brown Photography)

Media Contact:

Gary Schweikhart

Carbonell Board President

561.756.4298 

[email protected]