Bonnie Milligan, Alex Newell, Michael Patrick Thornton Among 2023 Actors’ Equity Foundation Honorees

Several Broadway and Off-Broadway performers will receive 2023 Actors’ Equity Foundation Awards.

Bonnie Milligan and Alex Newell will receive the Clarence Derwent Awards, which recognizes promising performers in supporting roles. Milligan is being celebrated for her role as Debra in Kimberly Akimbo, while Newell is rewarded for their role as Lulu in Shucked. Both Milligan and Newell are nominated for 2023 Tony Awards for these performances.

Michael Patrick Thornton, currently appearing as Doctor Rank in the Broadway revival of A Doll’s House, will receive the Joe A. Callaway Award. Each year, the honor acknowledges performances in classical plays from before the 20th century.

Darius de Haas is the recipient of the St. Clair Bayfield Award, which acknowledges excellence in a supporting role in a Shakespeare play.

The Derwent Callaway and Bayfield Awards go to performers in productions throughout the New York metropolitan area.

The Foundation’s Richard Seff Award specifically celebrates a veteran male and female character actor, 50 years old or older and a member of Equity for 25 years or more, for their work in a supporting role on Broadway or Off-Broadway. This year, Linda Lavin and Francis Guinan will each receive the honor for Off-Broadway performances. The Foundation acknowledged that a new model for these awards is in the works, following suit with many organizations that have adapted genderless categories.

All of the Foundation Awards, including the recipients of the 2021-2023 Paul Robeson Awards, will be presented on June 26 at the Actors’ Equity Association offices in New York City.

The full list of 2023 Actors’ Equity Foundation honorees can be found below.

St. Clair Bayfield Award
Darius de Haas, As You Like It, Shakespeare in the Park

Joe A. Callaway Award
Michael Patrick Thornton, A Doll’s House

Clarence Derwent Award
Alex Newell, Shucked
Bonnie Milligan, Kimberly Akimbo

Richard Seff Award
Linda Lavin, You Will Get Sick
Francis Guinan, Downstate

Paul Robeson Award
Dale Ricardo Shields (2021)
Pearl Cleage (2022)
The Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City (2023)