On Sunday (June 8), the 2014 Tony Awards recognized the achievements of theater artists working on Broadway productions. Two CalArtians—Chris Barreca and Kevin Adams—joined a roster of winners, which also included performers Audra MacDonald, Neil Patrick Harris and Bryan Cranston.
Barreca, head of Scene Design at CalArts School of Theater, was honored with his first Tony for Best Scenic Design of a Musical for Rocky. In his acceptance speech, posted above, he acknowledged his assistants from CalArts, noting, “You get half my royalties.”
Rocky has been a knockout hit for Barreca. He won the 2014 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design for the production last week (June 1) as well as the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Set Design on May 27.
Alumnus Adams (Theater MFA 86) won the Tony for Best Lighting Design of a Musical for Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Like Barreca, Adams had also won an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Lighting Design (Play or Musical) for Hedwig in May.
The Hedwig win marked Adams’s fourth win in six nominations, having previously won Tonys for lighting design for Spring Awakening (2007), The 39 Steps (2008) and American Idiot (2010).
Here’s Adams’s Tony acceptance speech for Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which took home four awards on Sunday, including Best Revival of a Musical.