EXCLUSIVE: The honorees of the New York City’s first-ever theater-specific Made In NY Awards have been announced by the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment: Performer and producer LaChanze, public relations exec Ken Sunshine, St. Ann’s Warehouse founder and artistic director Susan Feldman and choreographers Patricia Delgado and Justin Peck will be celebrated in a ceremony at Gracie Mansion on September 15.
The upcoming awards ceremony is the first-ever designed specifically to honor individuals and organizations who have made significant contributions to the theater and live performance industry in New York City. Mayor Eric Adams and Office of Media and Entertainment Commissioner Pat Swinney Kaufman will host the ceremony.
“Whether you’re an eager understudy waiting for your big break, an acclaimed actress at the top of your game, or a long-time theater lover who has seen every show, New York City’s arts and live performance scene is unparalleled,” said Adams in a statement. “It is where barriers have been broken, stars have been born, and generations have been inspired. With this new awards ceremony, we will honor that legacy and the people who have helped build it.”
Said Kaufman, “The contributions of these honorees are widespread, from performing to educating to incubating to promoting, and we look forward to the moment where we can gather the artists, administrators and community leaders of this industry together for a special night.”
The awards were created by the mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment in 2006 to recognize contributions to the city’s film, television and digital media industries. While people in theater have received the award before – including John Leguizamo, Audra McDonald and Lin-Manuel Miranda, among others – the latest group of honorees is the first made up entirely from the live performance field.
The September 15 ceremony at Gracie Mansion will also include an orchestra trio featuring musicians from current Broadway shows Maybe Happy Ending and Hell’s Kitchen. The musicians are participants of the Broadway Musicians Equity Partnership, which aims to support musicians who have historically been underrepresented on Broadway, with access, learning opportunities and resources on playing in the musical theater industry.
Here’s more information on the honorees:
- LaChanze is a Tony-winning actor, four time Tony-winning producer and advocate with nearly 40 years of experience on Broadway. Her Broadway producing credits include The Outsiders, Topdog/Underdog, Kimberly Akimbo, Here Lies Love, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, Buena Vista Social Club and Purpose. As an actor, LaChanze starred in The Color Purple, Once on This Island, Trouble in Mind, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, If/Then, and A Christmas Carol, among others. She is the president of Black Theatre United, an advocacy organization dedicated to protecting Black bodies, Black talent, and Black lives on and off our stages;
- Susan Feldman is the founder and artistic director of St. Ann’s Warehouse, the acclaimed Brooklyn performing arts company and venue. Feldman has built a career converting found spaces into cultural destinations, and she led the conversion of a pre-Civil War Tobacco Warehouse into St. Ann’s permanent home. In the early years in St. Ann’s Church, Susan originated collaborations like John Cale and Lou Reed’s Songs for ‘Drella’, Lou Reed’s Berlin; The Comedian Harmonists: Band in Berlin; and historic concerts by Marianne Faithfull and Jeff Buckley with music producer Hal Willner. In Brooklyn’s DUMBO neighborhood since 2000, St. Ann’s has presented with Britain’s National Theatre (People, Places & Things), the National Theatre of Scotland (Blackwatch), among others.
- Ken Sunshine founded Ken Sunshine Consultants in 1991, later to become Sunshine Sachs and then Sunshine Sachs Morgan & Lylis (SSM&L) in 2022. Over the past three decades, the firm has represented clients ranging from leading corporations, nonprofits, unions, and social impact organizations. Sunshine currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the City University of New York, the External Affairs and Legislative Committees and Cultural Property Task Force at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding and The Public Theater. He is Co-chair of The Mayor’s Theatre/Live Performance Industry Council and is a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences;
- Patricia Delgado was a principal dancer with the Miami City Ballet where she worked for 20 years and is currently a freelance artist living in NYC and a member of the dance faculty at The Juilliard School. Delgado has performed works by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and Twyla Tharp, among others, and has created feature works with choreographers Alexei Ratmansky, Justin Peck, Liam Scarlett, Pam Tanowitz, and more, and she was an Associate Producer on the 2020 Broadway revival of West Side Story and Associate Choreographer on the feature film West Side Story directed by Steven Spielberg. Delgado is currently Co-Choreographer on Buena Vista Social Club on Broadway, and the recipient of the 2024 Lucille Lortel Award, the 2025 Chita Rivera Award, and the 2025 Tony Award for Outstanding Choreography. She is married to her fellow choreographer and co-honoree Justin Peck;
- Justin Peck is a director, choreographer, filmmaker, and dancer based in New York City. He is the Resident Choreographer of the New York City Ballet, only the second person in the institution’s 75-year history to hold this title. He has developed and created over 50 dance and theater works that have been presented on stages around the world, including Lincoln Center, the Palais Garnier, Sydney Opera House, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Broadway. He choreographed the 2021 film West Side Story in collaboration with director Steven Spielberg; and danced with New York City Ballet from 2006-2019, eventually achieving the rank of soloist in 2013. Peck’s is a three -time Tony Award recipient for Best Choreography for the Broadway productions of Carousel (2018), Illinoise (2024) and Buena Vista Social Club (2025). He is married to fellow choreographer and co-honoree Patricia Delgado.
