SELECTION COMMITTEE
Peter Filichia
Chair, Selection Committee
Host, Annual Ceremony
Peter is the theater critic emeritus for the Star-Ledger in Newark, New Jersey, and a columnist for www.masterworksbroadway.com, www.mtishows.com and www.kritzerland.com.
He wrote Peter Filichia's Diary for www.theatermania.com for 10 years; Theatergoer’s Diary for www.theater.com for two years; Stagestruck for Theater Week magazine for its entire nine-year run, and for three years on Playbill-on-Line. He was the theater critic for television station News 12 New Jersey from 1995-2010.
Filichia is the author of Let's Put on a Musical, now in its third printing (Back Stage, 2007); Broadway Musicals: The Biggest Hit of the Season / The Biggest Flop of the Season: The Last 50 Years (Applause, 2010;, Broadway Musical MVPs 1960-2010: The Most Valuable Players of the Last 50 Seasons (Applause, 2011) and Strippers, Showgirls and Sharks: A Very Opinionated Look at the Musicals that Lost the Best Musical Tony (St. Martin’s Press, 2013).
Before joining the Theatre World Awards in 1996 as host and head of the selection committee, Filichia served four terms as president of the Drama Desk, where he wrote and hosted its annual awards ceremony.
In addition, Filichia has served on an assessment panel for the National Endowment for the Arts; has written liner notes for many Broadway cast albums; is the critic-in-residence for the University of Cincinnati-Conservatory of Music; annually serves on the ASCAP Awards program; and is a Theatre Hall of Fame voter.
He can be reached at pfilichia@aol.com
Linda Armstrong
Linda Armstrong has been a theatre critic for 38 years and counting. She writes for the New York Amsterdam News, Harlem Community News, where she is theatre editor, her work has been in ShowBusiness Weekly, Broadwaysbestshows.com, Headliner Magazine, Theatre Week and Our Time Press. She is an AUDELCO 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient.
David Cote
David Cote’s reviews appear in Observer, The A.V. Club, and 4 Columns. His companion books about Broadway musicals include Moulin Rouge! The Musical: The Story of the Broadway Spectacular, Wicked: The Grimmerie, Jersey Boys, and Spring Awakening: In the Flesh. As an opera librettist, David’s work has been produced in New York, London, and around the U.S.
Joe Dziemianowicz
Joe Dziemianowicz has been a theater critic and feature writer for two decades. From 2006 to 2018, he was the theater critic for the New York Daily News. He currently writes for New York Theatre Guide.
David Finkle
David Finkle is a New York City-based critic who's covered theater for over fifty years. He is also a novelist and story writer, whose most recent novel is Keys to an Empty House.
Elysa Gardner
Elysa Gardner is a critic for the New York Sun and a contributor to The New York Times, and hosts "Stage Door Sessions" for Broadway Direct. She has also written for the Los Angeles Times, the New Yorker, the Village Voice, Time Out New York, Rolling Stone and Town & Country, among other publications, and served on the drama jury for the Pulitzer Prize twice, most recently as chair. She's the author of Magic to Do: Pippin's Fantastic, Fraught Journey to Broadway and Beyond.
Harry Haun
Currently Entertainment Columnist at Observer.com; 37 years with Playbill, New York Daily News, Film Journal, Broadway World, TheatrePizazz. Current Nominator for Outer Critics Circle and Actors Equity Awards. Pulitzer Prize Finalist for Film Criticism. Author of The Movie Quote Book, The Cinematic Century and the upcoming TinselTime.
Frank Scheck
Frank Scheck has been covering film, theater and music for more than 30 years. He is currently a New York correspondent and arts writer for The Hollywood Reporter and a critic for New York Stage Review. He was previously the editor of Stages Magazine, the chief theater critic for the Christian Science Monitor, and a theater critic and culture writer for the New York Post. His writing has appeared in such publications as the New York Daily News, Playbill, Backstage, and various national and international newspapers.
Cary Wong
Cary Wong writes theater and film reviews for The Interested Bystander. He also writes for Film Score Monthly Online (columnist) and Broadway World Cabaret (reviewer). He has served on the Lucille Lortel Awards Committee and received a National Entertainment Journalism Awards citation for criticism. Member of GALECA.
Instagram: @theinterestedbystander