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
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Lightware will exhibit several major product innovations at ISE 2026, including the new USB-C BOOSTER-V1, Google Meet. integration for various Taurus UCX models...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Taking the Stage at Carnegie Hall-On a Global Scale Boston Conservatory Orchestra students reflect on their epic concert marking the 80th session of the UN Gene...
23/12/2025
New technique lights up where drugs go in the body, cell by cell Scripps Research scientists developed a technique that maps drug binding in individual cells th...
22/12/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Presidio's Neerav Shah on the Role of Its Captiva...
22/12/2025
Hitting the bullseye: Sky Sports readies itself for the biggest PDC World Darts ...
22/12/2025
Unique skillset: Bringing new directors to the world of darts at The Worlds with...
22/12/2025
Gravity Media prepares for a flight of fancy with the PDC World Darts Championsh...
22/12/2025
One hundred and eighty: Gravity Media on hitting the production bullseye at the ...
22/12/2025
The Famous Group's Jon Slusser on Fascinating Fans Through Immersive Content...
22/12/2025
ESPN's Meg Aronowitz on Continuing High-Quality Broadcasts of Collegiate Spo...
22/12/2025
ESPN Takes Data-Driven Storytelling to New Heights with MNF Playbook with Next ...
22/12/2025
For a decade, popular German podcast Fest & Flauschig has hosted an annual Chris...
22/12/2025
Paramount Scores Largest Share Increase Among Distributors as Paramount and CBS...
22/12/2025
New multi-year deal integrates Roku's data to fuel Nielsen's measurement suite
Roku gains access to Nielsen's streaming ratings, showing The Roku C...
22/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
22/12/2025
Berklee Wrapped 2025: Our Top News and Stories A look back at a year highlighted by faculty milestones, major film and television projects, Bob Dylan's ho...
22/12/2025
The works of Plato state that when humans have an experience, some level of change occurs in their brain, which is powered by memory - specifically long-term me...
22/12/2025
Partnership integrates complementary satellite data and AI analytics to enhance security, infrastructure, and environmental monitoring solutions for global cust...
22/12/2025
Workflows allow you to create a sequence of planned events which may be added to your template(s) or inserted directly into your sequential or background playli...
22/12/2025
Monday 22 December 2025
Sky extends PGA TOUR partnership until 2029, as Sky Spo...
22/12/2025
Back to All News
Global Anime Hits and New Releases Take Center Stage at Jump Festa 2026
Entertainment
22 December 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied to clipboar...
22/12/2025
Siobh n McSweeney, Rory McIlroy, Elon Musk, Catherine Connolly, Jim Gavin, Ivan Yates and Traitor Paudie Moloney lead new characters for Callan Kicks the Year 2...
22/12/2025
Winner announced in the picturesque surroundings of Wicklow's Avondale Tower and Treetop Walk
Andrew Trimble wins the show in his first series as coach
Th...
22/12/2025
The 2025 winners have been announced today, Sunday 21 December, for Ireland's largest choral competition Choirs for Christmas hosted by RT lyric fm.
Ove...
21/12/2025
Back to All News
Legoshi and Haru's Story Reaches Its Finale: BEASTARS Fin...
21/12/2025
John Shortt named Young Sportsperson of the Year Kerry are the Team of the Year
...
20/12/2025
Atomos announced the immediate availability of a new firmware update for its Ninja TX GO and Ninja TX monitor-recorders, unlocking ProRes RAW recording from the...
20/12/2025
CJP Broadcast has completed the digitisation of the European Gymnastics tape archive, converting 328 tapes containing more than forty years of recorded material...
20/12/2025
Bitmovin, the leading provider of video streaming solutions, today announced the launch of the Stream Lab MCP Server, to give AI agents and large language model...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Barack Obama Includes Laufey on His 2025 Favorite Music List The former presidents roundup of books, music, and movies includes a song from the Berklee alums ...
20/12/2025
Study reveals a key hormonal circuit in the kidneys Scripps Research scientists identify the protein that helps kidney cells regulate renin, providing foundatio...
19/12/2025
With Playout Release 2025.4, ToolsOnAir continues to push professional playout w...
19/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Diversified's Jared Timmins on AI for Broadcast Sports and Cre...
19/12/2025
2025 SVG Summit Audio Recap: Say What?The Audio Production and Distribution Workshop at the SVG Summit 20 took on issues including speech intelligibility, Next-...
19/12/2025
Gamified fun: Channel 5 on its NFL Big Game Night ambitions with Hungry Bear Med...
19/12/2025
College Football Playoff Preview: For ESPN, Round 1 is a Fantastic Yet Familia...
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. 
