Hamilton, Thriller Live and Tina – The Tina Turner Musical are in the running for the Best Musical Production Award at the 2020 Black British Theatre Awards in late October.
Following on from last year’s inaugural live ceremony, the winner of the Best Musical category will be announced during a special socially distanced event at London’s Young Vic Theatre which will air on Sky Arts as part of the channel’s new free-to-air line-up.
Recognising some of the finest work by black performers and creatives in UK Theatre, the musical theatre categories include four performance awards. Thriller Live’s Jason Brock will go up against Jonathan Andrew Hume (Come From Away) and Noah Thomas (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie) in the Best Male Actor In A Musical category.
Tina – The Tina Turner Musical’s Aisha Jawando, Maiya Quansah-Breed (Six The Musical), and Miriam-Teak Lee (& Juliet) are all in the running for the Best Female Actor In A Musical Award.
& Juliet’s Arun Blair-Mangat, Nicholas McLean (Wicked) and Hamilton’s Tarinn Callender are the nominees for Best Supporting Male Actor In A Musical while the Best Supporting Female Actor Award will go to Melanie La Barrie (& Juliet), Nicole Raquel Dennis (Dear Evan Hansen) or Shanay Holmes (The Bridges of Madison County).
Dreamgirls’ star Dennis’ work as creative director alongside Ryan Carter on July’s star-studded online fundraiser TURN UP! has also been recognised with nominations in the Best Producer category and as the sole nominee in the Best Use Of Innovation And Technology category.
Musical theatre stars, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie’s Layton Williams and Best Supporting Male Actor nominee & Juliet’s Blair-Mangat have been recognised alongside the artistic director of multi-media production company Team Angelica, Rikki Beadle-Blair in the LGBTQ+ Champion category.
Executively produced by Kwame Kwei-Armah, the 2020 Black Theatre Awards programme will be produced by Shantelle Rochester and directed by Charlie Di Placido and Kojey Radical.
Commenting on this year’s awards, BBTA directors Solange Urdang and Omar F Okai said: “This is an important year with UK Theatre coming to a standstill and The Black Lives Matter movement protests. We feel it is important now more than ever to highlight the wonderful Black British talent we have in abundance and hope to bring positivity to such a difficult time.”
Sky Arts’ director Philip Edgar-Jones added: “We are pleased to be able to provide a platform at Sky Arts to showcase the very best of Black British Theatre Talent – particularly at a time of such crisis for the theatre industry. Art and Culture is even more vital at this point and we know the incredible talent on display here will point the way to a brighter future when the recovery begins.”
The Black British Theatre Awards will be broadcast exclusively on Sky Arts in late October. The host and presenters will be announced soon.
Announced in the summer, the change to a free-to-air channel forms part of Sky Arts’ ambitious plans to support and champion the arts as the industry attempts to re-build following the Covid-crisis.
The move to free-to-air includes a new slate of original programmes and increased and deepened partnerships with artists and arts organisations. To support new talent the channel will launch a series of bursaries worth £30,000 each offering access to leading figures from the arts world who will support and mentor diverse and emerging new artists.
Sky Arts is available on Freeview channel number 11 and on Freesat on channel number 147.
Angela Thomas
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