National TYA Awards

2025 TYA/USA Award Recipients

Harold Oaks Award for Sustained Excellence in TYA: Dr. Manuel A. Morán
MANUEL ANTONIO MORÁN MARTÍNEZ was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and has worked as an actor, singer, writer, composer, puppeteer, theater and film director and producer in his country, Latin America, Europe and the United States. He is the Founder and Artistic Director of SEA, Society of the Educational Arts, Inc., with offices in Puerto Rico, Florida and New York City. Celebrating its 39 years in 2024, SEA’s objective is to offer a real entertainment alternative, with cultural value and educational quality, for kids, the youth and adults through bilingual educational programs like workshops, seminars, theater and other cultural artistic expressions.

TYA Artistic Innovation Award: FORTS! Build Your Own Adventure
Conceived by Julie Ritchey
Co-Created with Eleanor Kahn, Jeffrey Levin, Christian Libonati, Andrew Marikis and Carley Walker
Commissioned and Produced by Filament Theatre

FORTS! Build Your Own Adventure began with the question, ‘What if we created an environment where children’s self-directed creative play was revered and supported and designed the way we would a piece of scripted theatre with professional adult performers?’ Rethinking the hierarchy of whose creative impulse ‘deserved’ rigorous dramaturgy and attention from the best designers in Chicago led us to the work as it exists today. FORTS! is both a play (the noun) and a play (the verb). Just like a play (noun), it’s a carefully built and designed world, an emotional journey, an imaginatively designed story. But instead of watching the actors have all the fun, the audience gets  to really, really play (verb).

FORTS! was commissioned and produced by Filament Theatre, a vital cultural anchor of Chicago’s north side that imagines a world where young people are the experts and adults are allies working to build a just world. A sector leader in innovative new work development and international co-production models, Filament serves approximately 8500 patrons annually through theatre programming, camps, school residencies, and classes. Please visit filamenttheatre.org for more information.

TYA Community Impact Award: ​Andrew Morton – Sofa Stories
Andrew Morton (he/him) is a Queer British immigrant, playwright, and theatre-maker known for his work in arts-integrated education and socially engaged performance. He lives in Detroit, where he works as a teaching artist and consultant with various arts and social service organizations and is the founding producing artistic collaborator at Every Soul Arts, which provides creative arts opportunities for young people experiencing homelessness. Morton’s contributions to the arts and arts education have been recognized with multiple awards, including a 2020 Kresge Artist Fellowship from Kresge Arts in Detroit and the Kennedy Center Gold Medallion for excellence in theatre education. In 2024, he was named one of six Detroit theatre workers you should know by American Theatre Magazine. Morton’s plays have been produced across the US and internationally in the UK, Australia, and Canada. His award-winning play Bloom, inspired by urban gardeners in Flint, Michigan, is available through Dramatic Publishing, Inc.

The awards will be presented in a joint awards ceremony with the Childrens Theatre Foundation of America on May 7th, 2025 as part of the 2025 TYA/USA National Festival & Conference.

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The National TYA/USA Awards honor excellence in the field of Theatre for Young Audiences.

Selected by a committee of peers from nominations made by TYA/USA members, awards are given annually in the following categories:

The Harold Oaks Award for Sustained Excellence in TYA
This award honors the achievements of individual leaders and companies that have made a significant and lasting impact on the field of TYA.

The TYA Artistic Innovation Award
This award honors an individual or company for a single TYA production that has demonstrated innovation and experimentation in content or in form from the current and most recent season.

The TYA Community Impact Award
This award honors an individual or company that has demonstrated community impact through an education program or community engagement initiative related to TYA. Awardees utilize the power of TYA to significantly enrich a surrounding community in creative and meaningful ways. Programs or initiatives honored take place in the current and/or two most recent seasons.

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Previous Awardees

2024

The Harold Oaks Award for Sustained Excellence in TYA: Deborah Wicks La Puma
TYA Artistic Innovation Award: Hiawatha Project
TYA Community Impact Award: ENOUGH! Plays to End Gun Violence

2023

The Harold Oaks Award for Sustained Excellence in TYA: Julia Flood
TYA Artistic Innovation Award: Brave Little Company
TYA Community Impact Award: Caitlyn McCain

2019

The Harold Oaks Award for Sustained Excellence in TYA: Stan Foote & Rosemary Newcott
TYA Artistic Innovation Award: Chicago Children’s Theatre
TYA Community Impact Award: Courtney J. Boddie

2018

The Harold Oaks Award for Sustained Excellence in TYA: Deirdre Kelly Lavrakas & Kim Peter Kovac
TYA Artistic Innovation Award: Drew Petersen
TYA Community Impact Award: Cry Havoc Theater Company

2017

Organization: Stages Theatre Company
Individual: Janet Stanford, Imagination Stage

2016

Organization: Children’s Theatre of Charlotte
Individual: Megan Alrutz, UT Austin
Special Award: Linda Hartzell (Seattle Children’s Theatre) and David Saar (Childsplay) in celebration of their contributions to the field as they retire from their Artistic Directorships of their respective companies.

2015

Organization: Adventure Theatre MTC
Individual: Gayle Sergel, Dramatic Publishing

2014

Organization: Metro Theatre Company, St. Louis
Individual: Scot Copeland, Nashville Children’s Theatre

2013

Organization: People’s Light & Theatre Company
Individual: Joette Pelster, The Coterie

 

About Harold Oaks

Harold Oaks was President of ASSITEJ International (1999-2002); President of ASSITEJ/USA (1988-1995); President, The American Alliance for Theatre and Education (1987-88); and has been an officer of the National Association of Schools of Theatre; The American Theatre Association and The Children’s Theatre Association of America.

Dr. Oaks is an emeritus Professor of Theatre at Brigham Young University where he was Associate Dean of the College of Fine Arts & Communications and Coordinator of the Drama/Theatre for Young People program.  He chaired the BYU Department of Theatre & Film for twelve years. He has also taught and directed at colleges and universities in Minnesota, Maryland, Nebraska and Colorado.

He has directed more than forty-five plays, including performances at festivals in the US, Norway, Austria, and the former Yugoslavia. He has written over one hundred articles, reviews and publications and edited Outstanding Plays for Young Audiences International Bibliography, Volumes 2-6. He was also founding editor of ASSITEJ International Hot Line with circulation to seventy-two international centers, five times a year.

He continues to serve young people throughout the world creating puppet shows that teach about substance abuse and hygiene. They have been translated into over seventeen languages and used in over twenty-five countries.