New York (AP) – Special Tony Award The honorary educator goes to a teacher at a public high school in New York to show how theatre skills apply to careers in the arts.
“My platform is focused on careers,” says Gary Edwin Robinson. “So when I work with students it’s always like, “How does the theatre help you grow in every area you go?”
Robinson, director of the Theatre Arts Program at Boys and Girls High School in Brooklyn, will be awarded the 2025 Theatre Education Award at the Tony Awards in New York City on June 8th.
“I love my job, I wake up and go to work every morning and go to the theatre. It’s a black box theater, the theatre just happens to be in school, but it’s a theatre to me.
Robinson teaches five drama classes a day, providing a 45-minute three-year sequence to an average of 95-100 students. “My point is to ‘find myself in this called theatre,'” he says.
In his first year, he teaches and performs the basics of theatre art. “Every time students come to class, I encourage them to leave the box, explore and try something new today.”
Second graders are more text-based as students explore playwriting and perform character analysis. In the third year, we’ll put it all together at the school’s black box theater.
Even as students are poised for life in athletics, Robinson says theatre skills can help. Theatre can even help you become a better communicator and make commercial advocacy.
Robinson with students from Boys and Girls High School in New York’s Brooklyn area on May 7, 2025 (via Pam Wigley/Carnegie Mellon University AP)
Theatre Education Awards awarded with the Tony Awards, Carnegie Mellon University is recognising US educators who “expert exemplary impact on students’ lives and embody the highest standards of their profession.”
“Edwin’s dedication to empowering the next generation of artists on and off stage is profound and inspiring,” Carnegie Mellon president Farnham Jahanian said in a statement.
“Carnegie Mellon University is thrilled to recognize its impact on arts education and celebrate its record of equipping students with the skills, confidence and community they need for lifelong success.”
Robinson graduated from Andrew Jackson High School in Queens and focused on music and art. He played the flute and was the second baritone in the school choir. Robinson went to the dance theatre in Harlem and then to Howard University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in theater education. He won the honorable mention in Tony’s Education category in 2023.
He relied on the Arthur Miller Foundation Fellow Program and the Broadway Bridges program to take students to the Broadway Show. This season they watched “Hell’s Kitchen” “Gypsy,” “Amazing World: Louis Armstrong Musical” “John Proctor is the villain.”
“We don’t call them a trip. I call them a theatrical experience,” says Robinson. “It’s not a trip, it’s not a day. You’re exploring what you’ve learned in your class through drama books and textbooks. Do you see what’s going on on stage? What did you learn in your class?
After watching the show, Robinson is often asked when students return, so the eye-opening is experience.
“A lot of them are walking around all day long with playvilles. I said, ‘You can put it away.’ But it’s like this little Broadway treasure they have in their hands, as they know they’ve had a huge impact on them. ”
The award includes a $10,000 award for the Theater Arts program and tickets for the Tony Ceremony and Gala. Robinson students will also receive visiting master classes taught by Carnegie Mellon’s Drama Professor.
A panel of judges made up of American Theatre Wing, the Broadway League, Carnegie Mellon and other leaders in the theatre industry, selects the winner from candidates submitted by the public.
Many of Robinson’s students are moving forward into careers in the arts. One is on the tour with “Moulin Rouge.”
“What teaches theatre, that’s the gift for me,” he says. “When you have these students who hold jobs in professional theatre, film and television organizations, that’s another award. I work, connect with them and let them know that it worked.”
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