Actor-singer Celia Keenan-Bolger will obtain the 2025 Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award for what the Tony Administration Committee calls her “unwavering dedication to advocacy work by means of the humanities.”
The Isabelle Stevenson Award is introduced yearly to a member of the theater neighborhood who has made a considerable contribution of volunteered effort and time on behalf of a number of humanitarian, social service or charitable organizations. Earlier recipients embody Billy Porter, Jerry Mitchell, Julie Halston, Judith Mild, Nick Scandalios, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Stephen Schwartz, Larry Kramer, Rosie O’Donnell, Bernadette Peters, Eve Ensler, and David Hyde Pierce, amongst others.
Amongst Keenan-Bolger’s advocacy work cited by the committee: In 2008 she moved to Pennsylvania the place she volunteered for months as a subject organizer for the Obama marketing campaign. Then in 2012 she co-founded Broadway For Obama, organizing occasions to cellphone financial institution, canvass and register voters. She served on the advisory board of Broadway Affect, which labored to advocate for same-sex-marriage rights all through the nation, in addition to the Leisure Neighborhood’s Wanting Forward Advisory Committee, and TDF’s Younger Patron’s Committee. She is an “artist-ambassador” for the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), successful the primary ever Michael Friedman Freedom Award in 2019 and presently serves on the New 42 Artists Council.
On the onset of the Covid pandemic, Keenan-Bolger co-founded “Broadway Feeds Bellevue,” a meal practice service for nurses working within the ravaged NYC public healthcare system. She additionally created and hosted the podcast “Sunday Pancakes,” conducting intimate, candid interviews with theater artists concerning the magnificence and battle of humanity, and what retains them feeling linked throughout lockdown.
Alongside Gavin Creel, Keenan-Bolger created the Activist Artist Endowed Scholarship Fund, which supplies scholarship assist to college students within the Division of Musical Theatre on the College of Michigan who’re devoted to service and social justice.
Keenan-Bolger additionally serves as an end-of-life doula, offering counsel to these dealing with the top of their lives, in addition to their households and family members. She “helped ease the transition for Creel and his household throughout his premature passing final yr.”
“Celia’s star shines far past the Broadway phases, illuminating her friends, passions and functions with generosity of spirit, integrity and compassion,” stated Heather Hitchens, President & CEO of the American Theatre Wing and Jason Laks, President of the Broadway League. “She is really an inspiration, and we’re thrilled to honor her with the Isabelle Stevenson Award.”
Keenan-Bolger portrayed Scout Finch within the Broadway play To Kill a Mockingbird (2018), which earned her a Tony Award. Most just lately, she appeared in Paula Vogel’s Mom Play on the Helen Hayes Theater, reverse Jessica Lange. Keenan-Bolger was nominated for a Tony Award for Finest Efficiency by an Actress in a Featured Function in a Play and gained a Drama Desk Award Excellent Featured Efficiency in a Play on this position.
Subsequent up, Celia will seem within the AMC collection Satan in Silver produced by Scott Free Productions. Movie credit embody M. Night time Shaymalan’s The Go to, Diana and Breakable You. TV credit embody Blue Bloods, NCIS: New Orleans, The Good Spouse and Elementary, and she will most just lately be seen on HBO Max’s The Gilded Age as Mrs. Bruce, for which she was nominated for a SAG Award.
The 78th Annual Tony Awards will air dwell from Radio Metropolis Music Corridor in New York Metropolis on Sunday, June 8, 2025 (8:00 – 11:00 PM ET/5:00 – 8:00 PM PT) on the CBS Tv Community, and streaming on Paramount+ within the U.S.
