KAREN STEPHENS: The perennial audience favorite this year has been nominated for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Lead Female Role, Play, in recognition of her tour de force performance as Clyde, above, in the namesake play written by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage. PHOTO COURTESY OF ZOETIC STAGE

South Florida – The Carbonell Awards, South Florida’s theater and arts honors, has announced the top six finalists in 20 competitive categories for the 20232024 theater season.

A total of 89 professional productions at 29 theatres were evaluated by a diverse group of more than 40 judges representing all three participating counties (Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach).

Slow Burn Theatre Company topped the list with 28 finalists, followed by Maltz Jupiter Theater with 22, 15 for Zoetic Stage, 14 for Miami New Drama, 13 for The Wick Theatre, nine for GableStage, five for Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre, four for Palm Beach Dramaworks, three for both Theatre Lab and Ronnie Larsen Presents/Plays of Wilton!, and one each for Broadway @ LPAC and True Mirage Theater.

Collectively, 120 nominations were distributed among 13 different theaters.

The 47th Annual Carbonell Awards will be presented on Monday, Nov. 11 at 7:30 p.m. at the Lauderhill Performing Arts Center, 3800 NW 11th Pl., Lauderhill.

Tickets are $40 each (including facility fee), available for purchase online at showpass.com/47th-annual-carbonellawards/.

Perennial audience favorite Karen Stephens again has been nominated in the 2023-2024 season awards, this time in the Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Lead Female Role, Play category.

The nomination recognizes Stephens’ tour de force performance as Clyde in the namesake play written by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage.

Zoetic Stage production of "Clyde’s," which humorously explores how kitchen workers at a truck stop sandwich shop seek to rebuild their lives and find purpose after incarceration, featured an all-local cast made up of mostly people of color.

“Thanks to the Carbonell Committee for the nomination,” Stephen said in acknowledgment of myriad congratulations on Facebook. “Congrats to Zoetic Stg., PB Dramaworks, my Clyde’s and Lauren Fein castmates, and Congrats to all the Finalists.”

As part of the 2024 Carbonell Awards, $2,000 Jack Zink Memorial Student Scholarships will be presented to Alexandra Dreszer (Miami-Dade County), Lillian Jones (Palm Beach County), and Morgan Brooke Wilder (Broward County).

The Carbonell Awards fosters the artistic growth of professional theater in South Florida by celebrating the excellence and diversity of local theater artists, providing scholarships, and building audience appreciation and civic pride by highlighting achievements of the theater community.

More than 20 professional theater companies in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach Counties participate in the awards process every year.