Boston Conservatory Plays a Leading Role at the 41st Annual Elliot Norton Awards With six wins and eight additional nominations, the Conservatory's theater community fared well at the 2024 awards ceremony.
By
Sarah Godcher Murphy
May 24, 2024
Jack Mullen, shown here in Oklahoma!, received his first Elliot Norton Award less than two weeks after graduating from Boston Conservatory.
Robert Pascucci
Recognizing the best of Boston-area theater, the Elliot Norton Awards are named for a well-known local critic who-like the Boston theater scene itself-wielded an unusually high degree of influence on the art form in America. From the 1930s through the 1980s, Norton was often the first to review new works by prominent playwrights, as their Broadway-bound productions were given tryouts with Boston's sophisticated audiences.
Boston Conservatory at Berklee makes itself at home in the city's still-thriving theater community, with alums, faculty, and students consistently winning Norties for performance, directing, choreography, and technical production. Year after year, the awards shine a spotlight on the theater artists and companies that have shaped Boston's reputation as a standout in regional theater-including several companies helmed by Theater Division faculty, such as SpeakEasy Stage Company (founded by Paul Daigneault, professor of theater) and Arlekin Players Theatre (founded by Igor Golyak, associate professor of theater).
At this year's Elliot Norton ceremony, members of the Boston Conservatory community won six awards for their work in the plays The Gaaga and Fat Ham as well as the musicals Oklahoma! and The Band's Visit. A current student, three alums, and three faculty members received an additional eight nominations for their work in local productions that included The Color Purple, Sister Act, and How I Learned to Drive.
Alum Rachel Bertone won an Elliot Norton Award for choreographing Oklahoma! at the Reagle Music Theatre.
Robert Pascucci
The Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston's production of Oklahoma! earned Norties for one Boston Conservatory staff member and two alums. The award for Outstanding Musical Direction was presented to Dan Rodriguez, who works as a voice accompanist in the Music Division and recently served as music director for the Center Stage production of Something Rotten.
Contemporary dance alum Rachel Bertone (B.F.A. 07) earned a win for Outstanding Choreography. She also directed Oklahoma! for the Reagle, where she has served as artistic director since 2022. Bertone previously taught in Boston Conservatory's Musical Theater Department, including courses in jazzdance and 20th-century popular vocal styles.
Jack Mullen (B.F.A. 24, musical theater) took home the award for Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical-less than two weeks after graduating from the Conservatory with a bachelor's degree in musical theater. In addition to playing Will Parker, Mullen served as fight captain for the production.
Mullen's costar and fellow Boston Conservatory alum Jared Troilo (B.F.A. 08, musical theater) played Curly McClain and received a lead acting nomination for that role-in addition to being nominated for his featured performance as Itzik in The Band's Visit, which was coproduced by the Hungtington and SpeakEasy Stage.
Daigneault directed The Band's Visit, which won the award for Outstanding Musical and earned him Outstanding Director honors in the large theater category. Two additional Boston Conservatory faculty who collaborated with Daigneault on the production were recognized with nominations. Jos Delgado, associate professor of theater, was nominated for Outstanding Musical Direction, and Daniel Pelzig, professor of dance, for Outstanding Choreography.
Golyak won Outstanding Director in the small theater category (with codirector Sasha Denisova) for The Gaaga, produced by his Arlekin Players Theatre. He also was credited for virtual design and technical direction of the innovative play, which was presented in both live and online formats simultaneously.
Former Boston Conservatory student Marshall W. Mabry IV (22) won the award for Outstanding Lead Performer in a Play (large theater category) for his starring role in Fat Ham, a contemporary adaptation of Hamlet, produced by the Huntington in association with Alliance Theatre and the Front Porch Arts Collective.
Two members of the Boston Conservatory community were nominated for their work on The Color Purple at the Umbrella Stage Company: Nathanael Wilkerson (B.F.A. 23, musical theater) was recognized for Outstanding Musical Direction and current student Shy'Kira Allen (B.F.A. 25, musical theater) for Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical. Allen faced off in this category against Troilo and yet another Boston Conservatory alum: Yewande Odetoyinbo (M.F.A. 18, musical theater), who was nominated for her role in Sister Act at Lyric Stage Company of Boston.
Rounding out the list of Conservatory nominees, Dennis Trainor Jr., associate professor of theater, was nominated for Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play (midsize theater category). Trainor received the nomination for his role as Uncle Peck in How I Learned to Drive at Actors' Shakespeare Project.
Learn more about Boston Conservatory's top-ranking theater programs.
Most Popular
Image by Michael D. Spencer
Meet Graduates from Berklees Class of 2024 Members of this years graduating class reflect on their proudest moments at Berklee and look ahead to whats next.
Latest
Dr. Trineice Robinson-Martin
Dr. Trineice Robinson-Martin Named Chair of the Ensemble Department A renowned vocalist, arranger, and educator, Robinson-Martin is known for developing innovative resources for vocal instruction.
LGBTQ+ Student Group to Hold Inaugural Pride Music Festival Lavanda,
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
In a live broadcast from the Reagan National Defense Forum, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher Kubasik joined Morgan Brennan on CNBCs Closing Bell: Overtime. Ku...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Introducing New Perks to Help You Get Even More from LinkedIn Premium Published on Dec 5, 2025 Categories: Company News, Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Co...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
04/12/2025
SBS launches Future Frames initiative to support emerging First Nations video ed...
Boston Conservatory Plays a Leading Role at the 41st Annual Elliot Norton Awards With six wins and eight additional nominations, the Conservatory's theater community fared well at the 2024 awards ceremony. 
