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ATDS Awards

Award recipients will be recognized at ATDS’s annual membership meeting, which will be held in person during the ATHE Conference (August 1-4, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia).

 

Betty Jean Jones Award

Black and white picture of Betty Jean Jones smiling

Due Date: March 31, 2024

Purpose: To honor and remember Dr. Betty Jean Jones, a founding member of the American Theatre and Drama Society and highly respected and admired educator, the American Theatre and Drama Society accepts nominations each year for the Betty Jean Jones Award.

Jones received her B.A. in English from Bennett College, her M.F.A in Directing from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and her Ph.D. in American Theatre and Drama from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Internationally recognized for her scholarly expertise in American theatre and film, Dr. Jones was also an avid and internationally recognized director. After teaching at her alma maters, Dr. Jones was a Professor of Theatre and an Associate Dean at the University of Michigan until her untimely death from a plane crash. In honor of Dr. Jones’ memory and meaningful membership in ATDS and the field of American theatre, the Betty Jean Jones Award honors individuals who have achieved excellence as college/university teachers and mentors in the profession.

Award Amount and Additional Benefits: The Honoree will receive a travel stipend (up to $750) to attend the annual membership meeting and awards ceremony, a $200 Honorarium, and Lifetime Honorary Membership in ATDS (or if they already hold a lifetime membership, they may nominate up to ten student or contingent colleagues for one year’s membership).

Eligibility:

  • Nominees should have taught on the college level (either full or part time) for at least 10 years. These need not have been consecutive.
  • Nominees should have had an impact on students and the profession as a teacher and mentor, contributing to the field of theatre and drama in and of the Americas as a scholar and/or artist.
  • Nominees should have demonstrated exceptional teaching and mentorship of undergraduates, graduate students, or early career colleagues within academic, artistic, and professional development settings.

Nominations: Nominees need not be members of either ATDS or ATHE, but the individual making the nomination must be a member of ATDS. Nominations from students, colleagues, and other members of the academic community are welcomed.

Recognizing that notions of America and the U.S. encompass migrations of peoples and cultures that overlap and influence one another, we especially encourage nominations of individuals whose mentorship cultivates knowledge production of and about the global majority.

Submissions: The ATDS nominating member must submit a letter of nomination with no more than three supporting letters. These submission letters should clearly describe the meritorious efforts, activities, and recognitions that provide evidence of the nominee’s distinctive contributions as a teacher and mentor.

Nominations should be sent by March 31, 2024, to Vanessa Campagna at vcampagna@monmouthcollege.edu. Email submissions with attachments are preferred. Please use the email heading: “Betty Jean Jones Award.”

The American Theatre and Drama Society will generally honor one person each year, but a nominee’s file will be considered for up to two subsequent years.

2023-2024 Committee: Vanessa Campagna (Monmouth College), Bethany Hughes (University of Michigan), and James Wilson (The Graduate Center, CUNY)

You can learn more about Dr. Jones and her legacy at the Gaines-Jones Foundation (https://www.gaines-jones.org/).

Previous Award Winners

Betty Jean Jones Award

Annabelle Winograd, 2023
Brian Herrera, 2022
Cheryl Black, 2021
Brenda Murphy, 2020
Faedra Chatard Carpenter, 2019
Bruce McConachie, 2019
Heather Nathans, 2018
David Savran, 2017
Jonathan Chambers, 2016
Tice Miller, 2015
Robert A. Schanke, 2014
Dorothy Chansky, 2013
Laurence Senelick, 2012
Felicia Londré, 2011
John Frick, 2010
Elinor Fuchs, 2009
David Krasner, 2008
James Fisher, 2007
Christopher Bigsby, 2006
Harry Elam, 2006
Brooks McNamara, 2005
Marc Robinson, 2004
Barry Witham, 2003
Patti Gillespie, 2002
Linda Dorff, 2001
Esther Jackson, 2000
Don Wilmeth, 1999
Rosemarie Bank, 1998
Geri Maschio, 1997

John W. Frick Book Award

Esther Kim Lee, 2023: Made-Up Asians: Yellowface During the Exclusion Era

Christin Essin, 2022: Working Backstage: A Cultural History and Ethnography of Technical Theater Labor

Sean Metzger, 2021: The Chinese Atlantic: Seascapes and the Theatricality of Globalization

Julie Burelle, 2019: Encounters on Contested Lands: Indigenous Performances of Sovereignty and Nationhood in Quebec

Shane Vogel, 2019: Stolen Time: Black Fad Performance and the Calypso Craze 

Heather Nathans, 2018: Hideous Characters and Beautiful Pagans: Performing Jewish Identity on the Antebellum American Stage

Hillary Miller, 2017: Drop Dead: Performance in Crisis, 1970s New York

Henry Bial, 2016: Playing God: The Bible on the Broadway Stage

Paige A. McGinley, 2015: Staging the Blues: From Tent Shows to Tourism

Barry Witham, 2014: A Sustainable Theatre: Jasper Deeter at Hedgerow

John Frick, 2013: Uncle Tom’s Cabin on the American Stage and Screen

Koritha Mitchell, 2012: Living with Lynching: African American Lynching Plays, Performance, and Citizenship, 1890-1930

Vera Mowry Roberts Award for Research and Publication

Amanda Reid, 2023
Ariel Nereson, 2022
Catherine M. Young, 2021
Maya Cantu, 2020
Donatella Galella, 2019
Sebastián Calderón Bentin, 2018
Patrick McKelvey, 2017
Jacob Gallagher-Ross, 2016
Emma Willis, 2015
Michelle Granshaw, 2014
Joseph Falocco, 2013

Publication Subvention Award

Jieun Lee, 2023
Ryan Donovan, 2022
Ariel Nereson, 2021
Dani Snyder-Young, 2020
Donatella Galella, 2019
Andrew Gibb, 2017
Chrystyna Dail, 2016
Maya Cantu, 2015
Jonathan Shandell, 2014
Aaron Tobiason, 2013
Ann Folino White, 2013

Faculty Travel (Research/Presentation) Award

Nick Fesette, 2023
Benjamine Gillespie, 2023
Patrick McKelvey, 2022
Kate Busselle, 2021
Dan Venning, 2020
Ariel Nereson, 2019
Sarah Orem, 2018
Lisa Jackson-Schebetta, 2017
Rashida K. Braggs, 2016
Beth Osborne, 2015
Michelle Granshaw, 2014
Amy Brady, 2013

Contingent Faculty Travel/Research Award

Lynn Deboeck, 2023
Scott Bradley, 2023
Drew Eisenhauer, 2022
Beto O’Byrne, 2021
Danielle Rosvally, 2020
Angela Iannone, 2019
Catherine Young, 2018

Graduate Student Travel/Research Award

Mariah Horner, 2023
Alejandro Bastien Olvera, 2022
Victoria LeFave, 2022
Stephanie Lim, 2021
Alexis Riley, 2020
Shelby Brewster, 2019
Elyse Singer, 2018
Vicki Hoskins, 2017
LaRonika Thomas, 2016
Christiana Molldrem Harkulich, 2015
David Bisaha, 2014
Mary McAvoy, 2013

Emerging Scholars Award

Carlina Perna, 2023
Gabrielle Lewis, 2023
Charissa Bertels, 2022
Melissa Lin Sturges, 2022
Evan Duncan, 2021
Jay Kimberly, 2021
Steven D. Cullen, 2020
Julia Moriarty, 2019
Amy B. Huang, 2018
Carrie Winship, 2017
Liz Ivkovich, 2016
Mimi Hedges, 2016
Jennifer Schmidt, 2015
Sara Galloway, 2014
Asantewa Sunni-Ali, 2013
Elynne Whaley, 2013