The Joseph Jefferson Awards hosts its 49th Anniversary Non-Equity Awards ceremony, Monday, March 27th at Park West in Chicago. Hosts of this year’s program are award-winning entertainers Honey West and Mitchell J. Fain. They are collaborating with the accomplished team of director Adrian Abel Azevedo and music director Dr. Michael McBride in the first live Non-Equity awards ceremony for the Jeff Awards since 2019.
Honey West
West is a beloved Chicago entertainer, cabaret artist and actor who has worked to break through misconceptions about trans performers. She was most recently seen in Clue and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert at Mercury Theater Chicago as Bernadette, the role she first played at PrideArts, receiving a Jeff Nomination for Best Supporting Actress and winning Best Actress from BroadwayWorld.com. She has also appeared in La Cage Aux Folles for Music Theater Works, in Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn at Drury Lane Theater, and Gypsy at Porchlight Music Theater, as well as starring roles in Dirty Dreams of a Clean-Cut Kid, Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, Diva Diaries, Jerry’s Girls, Tony and Tony’s Wedding, As You Like It, and Pussy on the House. West was a 2012 inductee into the “Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame” and is currently working on a new cabaret act and an autobiographical one-woman show.
Michael J. Fain
Fain is an out entertainer, performance artist and actor who has played three dead gay poets, one red queen, and a killer cheerleader named Pepper, among many other roles. Audiences remember him on stage for many years as an elf in Santaland Diaries and for more than a decade at The Second City. Fain also co-hosts “The Queer View” with Alexandra Billings. He has directed circuses and cabarets, and, as an Associate Artistic Director of Chicago’s Midnight Circus, has helped to raise nearly two million dollars to benefit Chicago Park District programs. He is an active part of Chicago’s storytelling community as well as a faithful follower of TheTaoOfBarbra™️, which prompts him to speak often, with an unsolicited academic authority, on any gay icon or film.
Adrian Abel Azevedo
Azevedo is a freelance director, producer, concert curator and teaching artist originally from Southern California. Most recently he directed Rent at Porchlight Music Theatre and Cruel Intentions: the ’90s Musical for Kokandy Productions, where he is an Artistic Associate. Azevedo is an alumnus of Columbia College Chicago who has directed, produced, and taught for Chicagoland theater companies including Goodman Theatre, Porchlight Music Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Steep Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Kokandy Productions, Teatro Vista and Music Theatre Works.
Michael McBride
McBride is a composer, performer, educator and Jeff Award-winning music director. His music has been performed internationally and he is well known to Chicago audiences for his music direction at Drury Lane Theatre, Porchlight Music Theatre, Music Theater Works, BoHo Theatre, Engeman Theater (NYC), Timber Lake Playhouse, Loyola University, Pride Films and Plays, Wallace Bowl, Drake Hotel, and The Cabaret Project. McBride has also served on the faculty of Northwestern University, Loyola University Chicago, and North Park University, where he is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor.
The 49th Anniversary Non-Equity awards spotlight 167 theater artists across 28 categories of excellence in theater production among shows from 30 companies. Award nominations honor the dedicated artists, behind the scenes teams and theater companies producing during the most recent Non-Equity season which was extended due to the pandemic, running from July 1, 2021, to December 31, 2022.
The awards celebration will be held Monday, March 27, 2023, at Park West in Chicago, IL. Doors will open at 6:00pm with light food and a cash bar available, and the awards will begin at 7:30pm.
Festive cocktail attire is suggested, and the public is cordially invited. For more information, contact AJ Wright, Non-Equity Wing Chair, at nonequitywing@jeffawards.org.
General Admission tickets are $65 (includes $50 ticket + required fees) available at www.jeffawards.org. A group rate of $54 (includes $40 ticket + required fees) is available for parties of 10 or more. Information can also be found on social media including Facebook (Jeff Awards), Instagram (@thejeffawards) and Twitter (@josephjefferson).