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BabsonARTS/CSC’s Steven Maler To Receive Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence

Steven Maler

Steven Maler

This year’s recipient of the Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence is Steven Maler, Director, Sorenson Center for the Arts and Founding Artistic Director of Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, which has for 20 years presented free, exhilarating productions of the Bard’s works in Boston, the last 19 on Boston Common. These magical evenings, helmed by Maler and enjoyed by thousands, have introduced sundry Bostonians not only to Shakespeare but to professional theater and have played a significant role in making Boston a first-class theater town, says the Boston Theater Critics Association.

The Elliot Norton Awards are named for the eminent Boston theater critic Elliot Norton, who remained an active supporter of drama, both locally and nationally, until his death in 2003 at the age of 100. The Boston theater community carries on his legacy and can be proud of its remarkable growth at a time in our nation’s history when the arts are struggling to survive, says the Association. The 34th annual Elliot Norton Awards will be held at the Citi Performing Arts Center Shubert Theatre, Boston, on Monday, May 23 at 7 PM.

Steven Maler

Steven Maler is Director, Sorenson Center for the Arts and the Founding Artistic Director of the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company.

His 2011 production of All’s Well That Ends Well won the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Production – Large Theatre. His CSC production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream won the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Director – Small Resident Theatre Company. His production of Suburbia for the SpeakEasy Stage Company won Best Production – Fringe Theatre Company. Other productions include Coriolanus, The Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew, Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, Macbeth, Henry V, Romeo & Juliet, As You Like It, Julius Caesar, and The Tempest for CSC; Without You, written by and starring Anthony Rapp, which has played New York, Boston, Toronto, Edinburg, London and Seoul; and The L.A. Plays by Han Ong for the American Repertory Theatre, where he was the Artistic Associate for New Plays. He directed the American premiere of Peter Eötvös’ operatic treatment of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, and the New England premiere of Thomas Ades’ Powder Her Face, both for Opera Boston.

Maler is a graduate of the American Repertory Theatre Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University, where he was the Associate Director of Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2 and Henry V. He was also Associate Director for Titus Andronicus and Hamlet in Tokyo. His feature film, The Autumn Heart, starring Tyne Daly and Ally Sheedy, was in the Dramatic Competition at the Sundance Film Festival and won the Audience Choice Award at the Nantucket Film Festival. He is a graduate of the American Repertory Theatre Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University and of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he was a John Motley Morehead Scholar.

Boston Theater Critics Association

The Boston Theater Critics Association is a non-profit organization of Boston theater critics affiliated with area newspapers, web magazines, and television outlets. Individually and throughout the year, we cover the arts for various outlets. Collectively we sponsor and bestow the annual Elliot Norton Awards which honor the outstanding achievements of the Boston theater community.

BabsonARTS

Our mission is to both serve the educational needs of students and enhance Babson’s reputation as an institution that values innovation and creativity. BabsonARTS combines events and exhibitions from three sources:

  • Events programmed by Babson College faculty, aimed at enriching the experience of their students within a particular academic discipline
  • Guest artists, speakers, and productions that are invited to campus by BabsonARTS to further support Babson’s educational mission and tie to key Babson themes of globalism, social responsibility, and entrepreneurialism
  • Student-run performances and exhibitions that give students the opportunity to find self-expression and build capabilities in the areas of teamwork, performance skills, visual literacy, and project management

BabsonARTS also is a member of the Three-College Collaboration, a joint project of Babson College, Wellesley College, and the F.W. Olin College of Engineering that provides additional arts programming throughout the academic year.