For Immediate Release: August 16, 2006
Media Contact: Megan Wendell, for Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia, 215.242.6393

The Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia announced the nominations in 25 categories for the 2006 Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre at a press conference held today at The Wilma Theater. The award recipients will be announced at the Gala Barrymore Award Ceremony, the premier annual event in Philadelphia theatre, on Monday, October 23rd at 7:00 p.m. at the Merriam Theater, located at 250 S. Broad Street. Tickets are available online at www.theatrealliance.org or by calling (215) 413-7150.

Vincent Marini, third-time director of the Barrymore Award Ceremony and Producing Artistic Director of Lenape Regional Performing Arts Center, announced Philadelphia theatre luminary Mary Martello as host of the 2006 Ceremony. An actress and singer, Ms. Martello's extraordinary talent has graced dozens of stages throughout the Philadelphia region and has earned her multiple Barrymore Awards, most recently for the role of Mrs. Lovett in last season's Sweeney Todd at Arden Theatre Company.

This year's theme "One Stage..." highlights both the Barrymore Award Ceremony as a platform to celebrate the entire community's artistic achievements on one stage, as well as the confluence of stages throughout the Philadelphia region via the community's many unique collaborations.

Barrymore Award nominations were announced by Joanne Harmelin, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Harmelin Media and Theatre Alliance Board Member, and Patreshettarlini Adams who has served as stage manager for the Barrymore Awards for the past decade and is Production Stage Manager of The Wilma Theater. 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 professional theatres in the region, are reviewed by the Barrymore nominating committee. More than 100 actors, directors and designers representing 42 companies became nominees for the 2006 Barrymore Awards.

A diverse group representing both large and small theatre companies from various areas of the Greater Philadelphia region received nominations for their work in the 2005-2006 season. Leading the nominees for the second consecutive season is Arden Theatre Company with 24 nominations; followed by Lantern Theater Company and Wilmington's Delaware Theatre Company, both with 12 nominations; Philadelphia Theatre Company with 10 nominations; Prince Music Theater with 9 nominations; Marlton, New Jersey's Lenape Regional Performing Arts Center with 8 nominations; and Theatre Exile and Malvern's The People's Light & Theatre Company, both with 7 nominations.

Musicals that captured the most nominations were A Murder, A Mystery & A Marriage: A Mark Twain Musical Melodrama from Delaware Theatre Company and Winesburg, Ohio from Arden Theatre Company, both with 10 nominations, followed by Prince Music Theater's Dreamgirls with 9 nominations, and Lenape's Waiting for the Moon with 8 nominations. Theatre Exile's Killer Joe and Arden's Opus received 7 nominations each, the most for a play, followed by Lantern's Richard III and The Man from Nebraska from People's Light with 6 nominations each.

In addition to the 22 categories for theatrical productions, nominations in three special categories, the Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, and a Special Recognition Award were announced. 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 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 sponsored thru the generosity of Carole Haas Gravagno and is specifically designed to help cover the artist's living expenses for one year to allow the individual to focus solely on his or her craft. The runners-up each receive a $1,000 cash award. The 2006 Emerging Artist Award nominees are Tony Braithwaite, Ben Dibble, Lee Ann Etzold, Matt Saunders, and Charlotte Cloe Fox Wind.

Last year's Lifetime Achievement Award recipient James J. Christy, announced the 2006 Award which honors the career of Robert Hedley. Over the past 39 years, Mr. Hedley has served as Chair of the theatre departments at Villanova University and Temple University. He was a founding Artistic Director of Philadelphia Theatre Company from 1975-1980. He has worked locally with InterAct Theatre Company, Philadelphia Theatre Company, the Annenberg Center, and Philadelphia Young Playwrights and nationally with the New York Shakespeare Festival, The Public Theatre, Iowa Playwrights Festival, and the West Coast Playwrights Workshop, among many others. Currently he is Director of International Programs in the School of Communications & Theatre for Temple University.

The Special Recognition Award recognizes individuals and organizations whose abilities and contributions do not fit neatly into any category but have made a significant impact on the Greater Philadelphia theatre scene. This year the Barrymore Awards recognize ComedySportz Philadelphia. For the past 15 years, ComedySportz has performed improvisational theatre every Saturday night and has been a breeding ground for new comic talent. Some of Philadelphia's best known performers such as Jennifer Childs, Scott Greer, Dave Jadico, Karen Getz, Pete Pryor, Tony Braithwaite, and Megan Bellwoar are ComedySportz veterans.

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 2006 nominees are Delaware Theatre Company's Programs for Youth, InterAct Theatre Company's InterAction, Lantern Theater Company's Illumination, and Philadelphia Theatre Company's PTC Drama Contact.

The nominees for the Ted and Stevie Wolf Award for New Approaches to Collaborations are Arden Theatre Company & Vertigo String Quartet for Opus and Lantern Theater Company & Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts for The Trial of Richard III.

At the October 23rd ceremony two scholarships will also be awarded. Recipients of the Suzanne Roberts Theatre Alliance Scholarship Award and 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 Arden Theatre Company's Opus, Lantern Theater Company's The Foocy, Lantern Theater Company's Richard III, The People's Light & Theatre Company's The Man from Nebraska, and Theatre Exile's Killer Joe.

Nominees for OUTSTANDING OVERALL PRODUCTION OF A MUSICAL are Arden Theatre Company's A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Arden Theatre Company's Winesburg, Ohio, Delaware Theatre Company's A Murder, A Mystery, & A Marriage: A Mark Twain Musical Melodrama, Lenape Regional Performing Arts Center's Waiting for the Moon, and Prince Music Theater's Dreamgirls.

Nominees for the Harmelin Media Award for OUTSTANDING DIRECTION OF A PLAY are Joe Canuso for Killer Joe at Theatre Exile, Ken Marini for The Man from Nebraska at The People's Light & Theatre Company, Charles McMahon for Richard III at Lantern Theater Company, Terrence J. Nolen for Opus at Arden Theatre Company, and Matt Pfeiffer for The Foocy at Lantern Theater Company.

Nominees for the Harold Prince Award for OUTSTANDING DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL are Peter M. Donohue, O.S.A. for Urinetown at Villanova Theatre, Vincent Marini for Waiting for the Moon at Lenape Regional Performing Arts Center, Terrence J. Nolen for Winesburg, Ohio at Arden Theatre Company, Richard M. Parison, Jr. for Dreamgirls at Prince Music Theater, and Aaron Posner for A Murder, A Mystery, & A Marriage: A Mark Twain Musical Melodrama at Delaware Theatre Company.

Nominees for OUTSTANDING MUSIC DIRECTION are Jay Ansill for A Murder, A Mystery, & A Marriage: A Mark Twain Musical Melodrama at Delaware Theatre Company, Charles Gilbert for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at Arden Theatre Company, Thomas Murray for Winesburg, Ohio at Arden Theatre Company, Jim Ryan for Urinetown at Villanova Theatre, and Jesse Vargas for Dreamgirls at Prince Music Theater.

Nominees for OUTSTANDING LEADING ACTOR IN A PLAY are Daniel Beaty in Emergence-See! at New Freedom Theatre, Peter DeLaurier as Ken Carpenter in The Man from Nebraska at The People's Light & Theatre Company, Floyd King as Charlotte von Mahlsdorf in I Am My Own Wife at The Wilma Theater, Pete Pryor as Richard of Gloucester in Richard III at Lantern Theater Company, and Kraig Swartz as Betty/Edward in Cloud 9 at The Wilma Theater.

Nominees for the Charlotte Cushman Award for OUTSTANDING LEADING ACTRESS IN A PLAY are Jacqueline Antaramian in Nine Parts of Desire at The Wilma Theater, Erica Bradshaw as Salamina, and others in The Syringa Tree at Delaware Theatre Company, Rosalyn Coleman as Esther in Intimate Apparel at Philadelphia Theatre Company, Mary Martello as Margaret in The Boys at Azuka Theatre, and Marcia Saunders as Nancy Carpenter in The Man from Nebraska at The People's Light & Theatre Company.

Nominees for OUTSTANDING LEADING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL are Tony Braithwaite as Prologus/Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at Arden Theatre Company, Jarrod Emick as F. Scott Fitzgerald in Waiting for the Moon at Lenape Regional Performing Arts Center, Eugene Fleming as Jimmy (James Thunder) Early in Dreamgirls at Prince Music Theater, Brian Hissong as George Willard in Winesburg, Ohio at Arden Theatre Company, and Michael Philip O'Brien as Jonathan in tick, tick...BOOM! at 11th Hour Theatre Company.

Nominees for OUTSTANDING LEADING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL are Rachel deBenedet as Lureena in Adrift in Macao at Philadelphia Theatre Company, Lauren Kennedy as Zelda Fitzgerald in Waiting for the Moon at Lenape Regional Performing Arts Center, Nova Y. Payton as Effie Melody White in Dreamgirls at Prince Music Theater, Chauntee Schuler as Deena Jones in Dreamgirls at Prince Music Theater, and Erin Weaver as Jack Trot in Jack & the Beanstalk at The People's Light & Theatre Company.

Nominees for OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A PLAY are Kevin Bergen as Harry Brown in The Man from Nebraska at The People's Light & Theatre Company, Pearce Bunting as Ansel Smith in Killer Joe at Theatre Exile, John Glover as Archie, Scoop, Cemus, Marty, Spencer, Ensemble in Some Men at Philadelphia Theatre Company, Matt Saunders as Chris Smith in Killer Joe at Theatre Exile, and John Zak as Caliban in The Tempest at Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival.

Nominees for OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A PLAY are Hazel Bowers as Mother Miriam Ruth in Agnes of God at Luna Theater Company, Erika Cuenca as Grace in Opus at Arden Theatre Company, Kate Hurster as Lady Anne, Messenger, Prince Edward, Christopher, Oxford in Richard III at Lantern Theater Company, Miriam Hyman as Tamyra in The Man from Nebraska at The People's Light & Theatre Company, and Amanda Schoonover as Dottie Smith in Killer Joe at Theatre Exile.

Nominees for OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL are Jeffrey Coon as Miles Gloriosus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at Arden Theatre Company, Ben Dibble as Rev. Hartman, Ned, Actor, Townsperson 2 in Winesburg, Ohio at Arden Theatre Company, Scott Greer as The Mysterious Stranger in A Murder, A Mystery, & A Marriage: A Mark Twain Musical Melodrama at Delaware Theatre Company, Orville Mendoza as Tempura in Adrift in Macao at Philadelphia Theatre Company, and Richard Ruiz as Hysterium in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at Arden Theatre Company.

Nominees for OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL are Lesley Bevan as Kate Swift in Winesburg, Ohio at Arden Theatre Company, Tonilyn Longo as Penelope Pennywise in Urinetown at Villanova Theatre, Meghan McGeary as Giulietta in Aspects of Love at The Media Theatre, Michele Ragusa as Corinna in Adrift in Macao at Philadelphia Theatre Company, and Erin Weaver as Mary Gray in A Murder, A Mystery, & A Marriage: A Mark Twain Musical Melodrama at Delaware Theatre Company.

Nominees for OUTSTANDING SET DESIGN are Tony Cisek for A Murder, A Mystery, & A Marriage: A Mark Twain Musical Melodrama at Delaware Theatre Company, Bradley Helm for Daughters of Genius at 1812 Productions, Dave Jadico for The Foocy at Lantern Theater Company, Daniel Ostling for Winesburg, Ohio at Arden Theatre Company, and Anne Patterson for Nine Parts of Desire at The Wilma Theater.

Nominees for the PECO Energy Award for OUTSTANDING LIGHTING DESIGN are Howell Binkley for Waiting for the Moon at Lenape Regional Performing Arts Center, John Stephen Hoey for Nine Parts of Desire at The Wilma Theater, James Leitner for A Murder, A Mystery, & A Marriage: A Mark Twain Musical Melodrama at Delaware Theatre Company, Mark O'Maley for Planetary Enzyme Blues at New Paradise Laboratories, and Dennis Parichy for Winesburg, Ohio at Arden Theatre Company.

Nominees for OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN are Mark Mariani for Dreamgirls at Prince Music Theater, Janine McCabe for Waiting for the Moon at Lenape Regional Performing Arts Center, Richard St. Clair for The Dinosaur Musical at Arden Theatre Company, Janus Stefanowicz for Intimate Apparel at Philadelphia Theatre Company, and Willa Kim for Adrift in Macao at Philadelphia Theatre Company.

Nominees for OUTSTANDING SOUND DESIGN are Jorge Cousineau for Opus at Arden Theatre Company, Nick Kourtides for Mission to Mercury at Pig Iron Theatre Company, Bill Moriarty for Syncopation at Act II Playhouse, Fabian Obispo for The Tempest at Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival, and Mark Valenzuela for tick, tick...BOOM! at 11th Hour Theatre Company.

Nominees for OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL MUSIC are Peter Melnick for Adrift in Macao at Philadelphia Theatre Company, Andre Pluess & Ben Sussman for Winesburg, Ohio at Arden Theatre Company, Rob Reale for The Dinosaur Musical at Arden Theatre Company, James Sugg for A Murder, A Mystery, & A Marriage: A Mark Twain Musical Melodrama at Delaware Theatre Company, and Frank Wildhorn for Waiting for the Moon at Lenape Regional Performing Arts Center.

Nominees for OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHY/MOVEMENT are John V. Bellomo for Killer Joe at Theatre Exile, Samantha Bellomo for Syncopation at Act II Playhouse, Andy Blankenbuehler for Waiting for the Moon at Lenape Regional Performing Arts Center, Mercedes Ellington for Dreamgirls at Prince Music Theater, and Barby Hobyak Roche for Urinetown at Villanova Theatre.

Nominees for the Independence Foundation Award for OUTSTANDING NEW PLAY are Pay Up by Robert Quillen Camp & the Pig Iron Ensemble at Pig Iron Theatre Company, Adrift in Macao - book & lyrics by Christopher Durang, music by Peter Melnick at Philadelphia Theatre Company, Opus by Michael Hollinger at Arden Theatre Company, The Foocy by Anthony Lawton at Lantern Theater Company, and A Murder, A Mystery, & A Marriage: A Mark Twain Musical Melodrama - book & lyrics by Aaron Posner, music by James Sugg at Delaware Theatre Company.

Nominees for OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE IN A PLAY are Opus at Arden Theatre Company, The Foocy at Lantern Theater Company, Richard III at Lantern Theater Company, Pay Up at Pig Iron Theatre Company, and Killer Joe at Theatre Exile.

Nominees for OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE IN A MUSICAL are Winesburg, Ohio at Arden Theatre Company, A Murder, A Mystery, & A Marriage: A Mark Twain Musical Melodrama at Delaware Theatre Company, The Wizard of Oz at Mum Puppettheatre, Mission to Mercury at Pig Iron Theatre Company, and Dreamgirls 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, The Phoebe W. Haas Charitable Trust “A” as recommended by Carole Haas Gravagno, 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 theater community, with more than 100 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.

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

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ABOUT THE HOST
An actress and singer, Mary Martello's extraordinary talent has graced dozens of stages throughout the Philadelphia region and has earned her three Barrymore Awards, most recently for the role of Mrs. Lovett in last season's Sweeney Todd at Arden Theatre Company, and five nominations including a 2006 nomination for her role as Margaret in The Boys at Azuka Theatre. Martello began her career at the age of eight singing a duet with Florence Henderson in an Oldsmobile Christmas special hosted by Johnny Carson. She trained as an actor at Michigan's BoarsHead Theatre and after moving to the east coast, she was at New Jersey's McCarter Theatre for seven seasons (two as a full time company member). In Philadelphia, Martello has performed in productions with Arden Theatre Company, Walnut Street Theatre, 1812 Productions, Prince Music Theater, and The People's Light & Theatre Company, among others. She will be seen next season in the Arden's A Prayer For Owen Meany and is currently working on a one woman musical about the ground breaking theatre director, Joan Littlewood.

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
This year's Lifetime Achievement Award honors the career of Robert Hedley whose contributions to the Philadelphia theatre community began in 1967 at Villanova University where he taught for four years in the theatre department, serving two years as Chair. He was a founding Artistic Director of The Philadelphia Company (now the Philadelphia Theatre Company) from 1975-1980. At Temple University, where he is beginning his sixteenth year as a full-time professor of theater, he served as Chair of the department of theater from 1990-1996, was the Provost's Fellow for the Arts, and is currently Director of International Programs in the School of Communications and Theater.

He has worked with many companies locally including InterAct, PTC, the Annenberg Center, and Philadelphia Young Playwrights and nationally with the New York Shakespeare Festival, The Public Theatre, Iowa Playwrights Festival, and the West Coast Playwrights Workshop, among many others. Outside of Philadelphia, Hedley served as Chair of the theatre arts department at the University of Iowa.

Hedley has mentored, produced and directed many esteemed playwrights, including Leslie Lee, David Rabe, Clay Goss, Kimmika Williams-Witherspoon, Michael Friel, Naomi Wallace, Rebecca Gilman and Dorothy Louise, who together have won many major national playwriting awards. Hedley's remarkable energy and commitment to theatre has played a significant role in the development of Philadelphia's national reputation as a center of new play development.

ABOUT THE NOMINEES

F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Philadelphia Theatre Artist

• Tony Braithwaite
  Philadelphia native and resident comedic actor, Tony Braithwaite has been working in the local theatre community for nearly ten years. He has hosted the Barrymore Awards four times and is nominated for a 2006 Barrymore for his role as Prologus/Pseudolus in the Arden's A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Braithwaite has been honored with two Barrymores for his lead role in the musical comedy The Big Bang and as a member of the Outstanding Ensemble in a Musical for Baby Case. He has appeared in over twenty local productions while simultaneously juggling a full-time teaching career at St. Joseph's Prep for nine years. As a teacher of Theatre and Theology, he has directed twenty-two school productions and introduced thousands of students and their parents to theatre. In the upcoming season, Braithwaite can be seen in 1812 Productions' This Is the Week That Is and performing a one-man cabaret at the Arden.
  
  
• Ben Dibble
  Ben Dibble is a seven-time Barrymore Award nominee, including a 2006 nomination for his role as the flawed Rev. Hartman in the Arden Theatre Company's Winesburg, Ohio. Other credits include Act II Playhouse's The Big Bang, which went on to the Kimmel Center for a successful two-month run and traveled to the legendary Chicago Theatre. Dibble has recently performed in A Murder, A Mystery, A Marriage for Delaware Theatre Company, The Dinosaur Musical for Arden Theatre Company, Waiting for the Moon for Lenape Regional Performing Arts Center, and as Anthony in the Arden Theatre Company's Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street for which he received a Barrymore nomination. As an educator, Dibble has worked with the Arden's educational outreach programs and is currently a Professor at West Chester University, teaching courses on acting and song in performance.
  
  
• Lee Ann Etzold
  Lee Ann Etzold is a founding member and assistant director of the OBIE award-winning experimental movement theatre company, New Paradise Laboratories, under the artistic direction of Whit MacLaughlin. She has also performed, directed and/or choreographed for The Children's Theatre Company of Minneapolis, Pig Iron Theatre Company, Headlong Dance Theater, Arden Theatre Company, and The Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival, among others. In 2005, she received a Barrymore nomination for Outstanding Original Music for Brat Productions' Grease and Desist, and is the recipient of a 2004 Barrymore for her role as a member of the Outstanding Ensemble in a Play in Lantern Theatre Company's The Comedy of Errors. Etzold is an Independence Foundation Fellow which supported the research for her first original work P's & Q's which will be performed at the 2006 Philadelphia Live Arts Festival.
  
  
• Matt Saunders
  A 2005 F. Otto Haas Award finalist, Matt Saunders is a designer, performer and co-founder of New Paradise Laboratories, an OBIE award-winning theatre company. As a performer and/or designer, he has also worked with InterAct Theatre Company, Brat Productions, Mum Puppettheatre, The Wilma Theater, Walnut Street Theatre, Pig Iron Theatre Company, Headlong Dance Theatre, and MOXIE Dance Collective, among others. He is nominated for a 2006 Barrymore for his role as Chris Smith in Theatre Exile's Killer Joe, a production for which he was also scenic designer. Saunders has designed sets for the upcoming productions by Brat Productions, Nichole Canuso and Subcircle and will be seen this season in the Arden's A Prayer For Owen Meany.
  
  
• Charlotte Cloe Fox Wind
  Costume designer Charlotte Cloe Fox Wind has designed extensively within the Philadelphia theatre community and most recently designed costumes for InterAct's Reinventing Eden and Act II Playhouse's Syncopation. She has also worked 1812 Productions, Pig Iron Theatre, the Arden, the Wilma, and Philadelphia Theatre Company, among others. As an educator, Wind has instructed graduate, undergraduate, and high school students on the basic principles and process of costume design. Wind hopes to inspire the next generation of designers and currently teaches Costume Design at the University of Pennsylvania. Though she considers herself a designer at heart, Wind is the 2002 recipient of a Barrymore for Outstanding Actress in a Musical for her role as Roxie Hart in Chicago.

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

• Programs for Youth - Delaware Theatre Company
  Educational outreach has been at the heart of the Delaware Theatre Company's mission since its founding in 1978. Each year, DTC's Programs for Youth's four main initiatives provide classes, student matinees, workshops, and programs for over 5,000 young people in the tri-state region. Programs for Youth aims to work with the region's students and youth-at-risk, seeking to inspire young people to become creative thinkers, as well as expose them to the arts and humanities.
  
  
• InterAction - InterAct Theatre Company
  InterAction, InterAct Theatre Company's educational outreach program uses the art of theatre as a tool of empowerment. Working primarily with at-risk youth and children with disabilities, InterAct uses theatre to examine participants' lives and encourage reflective thinking versus impulsive action, providing skills which young people can use in everyday life. InterAction is committed to exposing and engaging marginalized populations to acting, playwriting and live performance.
  
  
• Illumination - Lantern Theater Company
  Illumination aims to reach the culturally underserved students of the Philadelphia region, offering meaningful, ongoing programming that utilizes theater arts to enrich students' education, deepen their understanding of the world, and unlock their creative potential. With a curriculum-based approach, Lantern Theater Company teaching artists work closely with educators to design programs that are integrated into the classroom curriculum, using theater to teach the curriculum in new ways. Emphasizing visual, aural, physical, social and verbal learning, Illumination encourages students' creativity and self respect, creating a sense of ensemble, and community.
  
  
• PTC Drama Contact - Philadelphia Theatre Company
  In partnership with the School District of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Theatre Company's Drama Contact program seeks to enhance the theatre experience beyond what is presented on stage. Since its inception, the program has worked in over twenty public schools in Philadelphia, offering free multi-session, in-school and on-site workshops for students. Working together with school teachers, the Drama Contact performance enrichment program challenges students to become active audience members and to use theater as a responsive tool to explore themselves, their peers and current social mores.

The Ted and Stevie Wolf Award for New Approaches to Collaborations

• Arden Theatre Company and Vertigo String Quartet for Opus
  Arden Theatre Company and Vertigo String Quartet (formerly Addison String Quartet) collaborated on the soundtrack for Opus, a new play by Michael Hollinger that had its world premier production at the Arden. The theatre sought out the Vertigo String Quartet, a group of graduating students from Philadelphia's Curtis Institute of Music, to create a custom soundtrack that would accurately depict moments from a world-class string quartet's intensive rehearsal process. The working relationship between the musicians and the Arden had a notable impact on the production. In rehearsal, the musicians provided the Arden's actors with a present-tense example of a young quartet, giving insight into the play's critical back story. The Vertigo String Quartet recording has since been featured in a production of Opus at the City Theatre in Pittsburgh and will next be heard at the Everyman Theatre in Baltimore for a fall 2006 production of Opus.
  
  
• Lantern Theater Company and Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts for The Trial of Richard III
  Lantern Theater Company and Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts collaborated to create a unique and entertaining educational experience and to cultivate new audiences among Philadelphia's artistic and legal communities. In March, they held a mock trial of Richard III, to complement the Lantern's production of Richard III. Exploring the discrepancies between historical record and Shakespeare's dramatization of events offered a unique opportunity for both the legal community and the Lantern's audiences to gain new insights into the play. Attendance of the mock trial and discussion that followed were offered to the legal community as credits toward their Continuing Legal Education (CLE) requirement. Participants included the cast of Richard III, Federal Judge Stewart Dalzell, ADA Scott Perrine for the prosecution, and Jim Pagliaro from Morgan Lewis for the defense.

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