For Immediate Release: March 29, 2006
Media Contact: Tom Miller, Walnut Street Theatre, 215.574.3555

The Walnut Street Theatre announces that it will honor board Chairman Emeritus Matthew I. Garfield and director Malcolm Black with the 2005 Edwin Forrest Award at its 197th Annual Gala on Saturday April 8 at 6:00 p.m.

The gala will be held at the Benjamin Franklin House, 834 Chestnut Street, in Philadelphia. This black tie event is held every year to honor a member of the business community and the artistic community with the Edwin Forrest Award for their contributions to American Theatre. The award was created in 1990 in honor of American Actor Edwin Forrest, a Philadelphia native who made his debut at the Walnut in 1820.

Mr. Garfield, a lifelong Philadelphia resident, is currently the Chairman Emeritus and member of its Board of Directors and Executive Committee. He is a past President of the International Precious Metals Institute and has also served on the Board of the Philadelphia Jewish Archives Center. Mayor Rendell appointed Matt to the Board of the Free Library of Philadelphia where he is serving the ninth year of his term. In addition to his work with the Walnut Street Theatre, he has recently been elected to the Board of the Arden Theatre Company. In the past he has served on the Boards of the Philadelphia Theatre Company, American Music Theatre Festival and the Wilma Theatre among others.

Over the course of a long association with Broadway, Matt was a partner in the Tony Award-winning production of Angels in America, an investor in On the Waterfront and an Associate Producer of Annie Warbucks. Currently, Matt is an Associate Producer of the off-Broadway hit I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, which is in its ninth year at the West Side Theatre. Nearing its 4000th performance, I Love You… is the second longest running off-Broadway musical after The Fantasticks. Matt is a member of Actor’s Equity, performing under the stage name of Matthew Garrick. In 1992 Matt was honored by the State of Israel Bonds and also received the National Brith Sholom “Man of Courage Citation” for “the courage to support the legacy and righteousness of Raul Wallenberg in Another Kind of Hero.”

Director Malcolm Black has had a long and storied history here at the Walnut Street Theatre. Since becoming a not-for-profit theater in 1983, Malcolm has directed 24 productions at the Walnut alone, including this season’s Finian’s Rainbow and the Walnut’s current production of Trying by Joanna McClelland Glass. In the past Mr. Black has directed for such prestigious venues as the St. Louis Municipal Opera, The Old Globe in San Diego, the Mark Taper Forum in L.A., The Julliard School, Pasadena Playhouse and many, many others.

Malcolm has been honored many times in his illustrious career. Most recently Mr. Black has awarded the Carbonell Award for Best Director in the Stock/Roadshow category for his direction of last season’s production of M. Somerset Maugham’s The Constant Wife. The Carbonell Awards (the Miami, FL equivalent of Philadelphia’s Barrymore Awards) recently created a new awards category for Stock and Roadshow productions due to the high number of collaborative theatrical efforts in the Miami area. The Walnut Street Theatre’s co-production of The Constant Wife (co-produced with the Coconut Grove Playhouse) was chosen Best Production and Malcolm Black as Best Director in balloting by area theatre critics. Mr. Black will be returning to the Walnut Street Theatre next season to direct his 25th production here, Enchanted April.

The gala is being chaired by Walnut Trustees Mr. David Blum, Esquire (Philadelphia, PA) and Mrs. Camille Andrews (Haddonfield, NJ).

Go to News Releases»