Barrymore's 2024-2025

Award programming is very important to media.  It’s a way to recognize the work done in a year.  We’ve all heard about the big ones…the Oscars, the Grammy’s, and very importantly to theatre, the Tony Awards.  But that doesn’t mean there aren’t smaller and other very important awards.  I’m talking about the Barrymore Awards, which is sort of like the Tony Awards for Philadelphia and the surrounding areas.  They’re a pretty big deal.  Having grown up in a theatre outside of Philadelphia, I’ve been hearing about the Barrymore’s since I was a kid.  And it’s always exciting to scan the list of nominees.

Philadelphia theatre is gorgeous.  It’s rich with culture and diversity and art.  I think it’s extremely important to recognize what’s going on around here.  This year was even more exciting to me, since I’ve been to a lot more theatres and seen a lot more shows thanks to this blog.  I knew a lot more of the shows and people involved in them.  It was exciting to look over the nominee list and go, “Oh, I know them!” or, “Yeah, that show definitely deserved that!” or, “Oh no, that show definitely deserved more.”  It was exciting for me in a way that it never has been before.

I’m hoping to cover more about the Barrymore Awards as we progress towards them, but I wanted to start out by recognizing some of my favorite shows and the people involved in them.  I can only imagine how exciting it must be to be nominated for an award like this…even I’m excited for friends and the phenomenal productions I’ve gotten to see over this past season.  With all of the excitement that comes along with being in the theatre community at this time, I wanted to talk about some of my personal favorite nominations.  The ones I really cheered for.  Keep an eye out…you might be hearing from some of these people!

Tyler Elliott

Nominated for Outstanding Leading Performance in a Play in Square Go (Inis Nua Theatre Company & Tiny Dynamite)

Nominated for Outstanding Supporting Performance in a Play in It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play (Hedgerow Theatre Company)

I do hope you’re reading this, my friend.  I’ve known Tyler Elliott for some time now, and I was definitely excited to see him get not one, but two, nominations.  I didn’t get the chance to see him in Square Go, but he was absolutely dynamite in It’s a Wonderful Life.  If any young, emerging actor deserves this, I’d definitely say it’s Elliott.  Everyone better look out for this up and coming actor.  He’s definitely doing great things.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Nominated for Outstanding Ensemble in a Play at Quintessence Theatre Group

This was the first play I saw at Quintessence, and it made me fall in love with this company right away.  They are more than extremely deserving of this nomination, as the large ensemble of this play were fantastic together.  As someone who has done a lot of ensemble plays, I can definitely say that they’re not always easy.  You have to have the right people, and the right people to work with each other, and to be in the right roles…there are a million things to consider when you’re doing an ensemble piece like this.  I was truly blown away by the ensemble of Midsummer, and I am most definitely cheering on everyone involved in this show.  It absolutely rocked.

J. Alex Cordaro

Nominated for Outstanding Movement/Choreography in a Play for Archduke (The Wilma Theater)

Nominated for Outstanding Movement/Choreography in a Play for Square Go (Inis Nua Theatre Company & Tiny Dynamite)

J. Alex Cordaro was one of the first people I interviewed for this blog who wasn’t an actor or director.  But his choreography in Archduke was insanely amazing, and I knew I had to interview him for that.  He was a really interesting person to talk to, and what he did for this show was awe inspiring.  I think it says a lot about him that he was nominated for two shows in the same category.  This is absolutely someone who knows what he’s doing, and it shows in everything he does.  It’s truly astounding when someone has that much of a grip on what they do, and truly inspiring as well.  Cordaro knows what he’s doing, and he absolutely loves doing it.

Suli Holum

Nominated for Outstanding Leading Performance in a Play in Archduke (The Wilma Theater)

I have been a fan of Suli Holum’s since I was fifteen years old and given a script that she wrote.  Since then, I have seen her perform her own content, as well as others.  This is such a big nomination for her, and it’s one of those nominations that I’m not at all surprised by.  Her performance in Archduke was both comedic, tragic, and everything in between.  I felt like I had gotten so much, but after the show, I just wanted more.  The way she worked on her own, but with her costars as well, really speaks to her talent and love of what she does.  Holum is an extremely talented actor, and I love seeing her name on this list.

Matteo Scammell & Jered McLenigan

Nominated for Outstanding Leading Performance in a Play in Rift, or White Lies (InterAct Theatre Company)

This is one of those weird cases where it makes sense that both of these actors were nominated for the same play.  And actually, for the same roles.  Rift, or White Lies was such an amazing piece.  I was blown out of the water by this show, and I wish I had gotten to see it a second time…because these actors switched roles back and forth every performance.  They not only had to master one, but two roles for this show.  The way they worked together was inspiring, and with how intense this show was, I can’t even imagine playing both roles, back and forth.  There are so many reasons as to why they both deserve this nomination, but I’m certainly glad they got it!

Morgan Green

Nominated for Outstanding Direction of a Play for The Comeuppance (The Wilma Theater)

Seeing Morgan Green’s nomination was super exciting for me on a personal level.  She was the first non-actor I had ever interviewed for this blog…her work on The Comeuppance was so stunning, and I knew then that I had to talk to her.  That show was absolutely stunning, and it definitely wouldn’t have been so without her.  This nomination is extremely deserved.  Green took some really heavy and deep material and made it something so much more than that.  The show was truly a work of art, and I really think we have Green to thank for that one.  The Comeuppance took true talent, so I’m glad Green got this recognition.

What a fun finish to the season!  Stay tuned for more Barrymore content from me!