Irene Gandy and Woodie King Jr. to Receive Special Tony Award
Voza Rivers, co-founder Harlem’s New Heritage Theatre Group (est. 1964), and Ricardo Khan, co-founder New Brunswick NJ Crossroads Theatre (est. 1978), applaud the announcement that two of their long term collaborators, Irene Gandy and Woodie King Jr., will be receiving the 2020 Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre.
Irene Gandy is the only Black female press agent member of ATPAM (Association of Theatrical Press Agents and Managers) for over 50 years. Working with producer Jeffrey Richards for over three decades, she is a Tony Award-winning Broadway producer for The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, and was a producer for Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill starring Audra MacDonald. She was also co-producer with Voza Rivers of the National tour of South African musical Sarafina.
In 2008, she became the first female press agent to be immortalized with a Sardi’s caricature. A fashionista known for her furs, in 2015 she launched a signature collection featured in Vogue magazine and will debut a Lady Irene Fur line in 2022. Gandy’s recent productions include The Great Society, American Son, China Doll, Fiddler on the Roof, and You Can’t Take It With You.
She began her career in 1968 as a publicist with Douglas Turner Ward and Robert Hooks’ Negro Ensemble Company. Since then, she has worked on over 100 Broadway shows including August: Osage County, Glengarry Glen Ross, Radio Golf, Bubbling Brown Sugar, Smokey Joe’s Cafe, Lena Horne: The Lady and her Music, and The Wiz.
In addition to her work in theatre, she was Associate Director of Special Markets for CBS Records, working with such artists as Earth, Wind and Fire, The Jacksons, Labelle, etc. Her personal music clients include Freddie Jackson and Nona Hendryx. Gandy is the Press Consultant for Harlem Week, recipient of the 1997 National Action Network’s “Woman of Excellence Award,” the 2007 Vanguard Award from Black to Broadway Productions, the 2004 Black Public Relations Society Award, 2013 “Inspire in New York” Award, 2015 Pioneer Award for BLACK PRIDE NYC, and the 2015 Café Mocha “Salute Her” “Media Legend Award.” Other awards include: Project 1 Voice Lifetime Achievement for outstanding achievements and vision to artistic excellence in the American theater; HARLEM WEEK Vivian Robinson Arts and Culture; and “Life Changers” presented by WNBA players Teresa Weatherspoon and Rita Haywood for inspiring, transforming, and empowering others.
In 2018 she was honored with Vivian Robinson/AUDELCO “Pioneer Award” for Recognition Awards for Excellence in Black Theatre. In 2019 she was honored with the NAACP-LGBQT David Weaver Prize for Excellence in the Arts. 2020 Gandy was inducted into New York Public Lincoln Center Performing Arts Library as part of The League of Professional Theatre Women’s Oral History Project. She currently serves on the boards of City College for the Arts, Harlem Week and New Heritage Theater.
New Federal Theatre’s mission is to integrate artists of color and women into the mainstream of American theatre by training artists for the profession, and by presenting plays by writers of color and women to integrated, multicultural audiences – plays that evoke the truth through beautiful and artistic re-creations of ourselves. New Federal Theatre (NFT), founded by Woodie King, Jr. in 1970, is an outgrowth of a theatre program called Mobilization for Youth. This neighborhood-based professional theatre was originally funded by the Henry Street Settlement along with a small grant from the New York State Council on the Arts.
The theatre’s first season was launched in the basement of St. Augustine’s Church on Henry Street. Several early successes brought NFT to national prominence: Black Girl by J.E. Franklin won a Drama Desk Award; The Taking of Miss Janie by Ed Bullins moved from NFT to Lincoln Center and won the Drama Critics Circle Award; For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf by Ntozake Shange performed on Broadway for 10 months and was nominated for the Best Play Tony Award® before embarking on a three-year national tour. It has subsequently been performed regionally and around the world, and was revived off-Broadway in 2019. Both For Colored Girls… and The Taking of Miss Janie were co-produced with the late Joseph Papp. Many performers benefited from early successes on NFT’s stage, including the late Chadwick Boseman, Debbie Allen, Morgan Freeman, Phylicia Rashad, Denzel Washington, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Samuel L. Jackson, Issa Rae, and many more.
NFT has focused on the production of new works, often by young playwrights. Many plays first premiered at NFT have established the reputations of playwrights who have gone on to bigger successes later in their careers. For example, Charles Fuller premiered two plays at NFT, In My Many Names and Days and The Candidate. He was later to win the Pulitzer Prize for A Soldier’s Play. David Henry Hwang premiered The Dance and the Railroad at NFT and was later to win the Tony Award for Best Play for M. Butterfly.
The Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre were established in 1990 and are awarded annually to institutions, individuals and/or organizations that have demonstrated extraordinary achievement in theatre, but are not eligible in any of the established Tony Award categories. The Tony Awards, presented by the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, will host a multi-platform celebration on September 26.
Source: Lainie Cooke