Booth Award: Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir

FREE + Open to public. First come, first served.

WELCOME TO THE CHURCH OF STOP SHOPPING! Reverend Billy & The Stop Shopping Choir is the winner of this year’s Edwin Booth Award. This iconic New York ensemble is a radical performance community with 50 performing members and a congregation in the thousands. “We are wild anti-consumerist gospel shouters and Earth loving urban activists who have worked with communities all over the world defending community, life, and imagination. We compel action in those who have never been activist, revive exhausted activists, and devise new methods for future activism. We also put on a great show.”

The Edwin Booth Award was established in 1983 by the Doctoral Theatre Students Association (DTSA) to honor a person, organization, or company for their outstanding contribution to the New York City/American Theatre and Performance Community. Recipients of the Booth Award are nominated and elected exclusively by students in the program. Named after the nineteenth- century tragedian Edwin Booth, renowned for his intellectual curiosity, the award promotes integration of the professional and academic theatre communities. Past honorees include: The Royal Shakespeare Company (‘83), Ellen Stewart (‘84), Joseph Papp (‘89), Arthur Miller (‘92), Richard Foreman (‘97), Tony Kushner (‘02), Karen Finley (‘08), The Living Theater (‘09), Charles Mee (‘10), Woodie King, Jr. (’13), Elevator Repair Service (14), and others.

Presented in collaboration with the DTSA Second Vice President Alison Walls.