Sullivan’s Little Theater Wins Theater Awards

SULLIVAN — The theater world has recognized Sullivan’s Little Theater On the Square with multiple honors.

On Monday, executive director John Stephens was told the local theater was the recipient of four awards presented by Chicago-area BroadwayWorld.

“It’s the first time we’ve been nominated,” he said.

Awards include Best Musical for “Always Patsy Cline,” Best Director Clint Hromosco for “La Cage Aux Folles,” Best Actor in a Musical for Brittany Ambler in “Always Patsy Cline,” and Best Neighborhood Theater.

BroadwayWorld has been distributing awards for several years. This year’s nominations had their first performance between October 1, 2021 and September 30, 2022. “The audience voted and made their selections for Best Theater and Best Performances,” the theater agency said in introducing the recipients.

“I’ve seen other theaters get nominated and win awards,” Stephens said. “I never saw us being nominated.”

Voting ended on December 31. Little Theater was nominated in nine categories. “We were just sitting around, waiting to see if we were going to win anything,” Stephens said.

The local theater competition included Chicago’s Goodman Theater, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Aurora’s Paramount Theater and other larger historic theaters. “People voted for us and we won,” Stephens said. “It took 66 years.”

Best Neighborhood Theater is the Executive Director’s Favorite Award. “There are all these small and big theaters everywhere, hundreds of them,” Stephens said. “And we won.”

The awards will provide various opportunities for directors and actors. “Because we’re in a town of 4,400, that doesn’t mean anything about the quality of the performances we’re doing,” Stephens said. “Having all the money the big venues have doesn’t mean anything. It all depends on the support you get from your community. And we’re just as good if not better than some of these other theaters.

Stephens didn’t know how BroadwayWorld had heard of the Sullivan Theater. “Anyone can name people,” he said. “But they’re a bit vague in telling us how it all works together.”

In the meantime, Little Theater continues to prepare for the 2023 season. Subscription sales are on sale. Beginning February 15, individual tickets will be available for “Jersey Boys”, “The Great American Trailer Park Musical”, “Driving Miss Daisy”, “Escape to Margaritaville”, “Million Dollar Quartet” and “Church Basement Ladies Two” .