This is the year that the Jeff Awards, given every year for excellence in Chicago theater, kissed their venerable best actor and best actress categories goodbye and created a controversy.
Shortly after that, the committee commissioned a no-holds-barred study of the Jeffs and their reputation, and in February announced that it was making changes: ramping up public communication and outreach; cutting in half the enormous time commitment for new committee members (who had been required to see 150 shows in the first year); and actively recruiting “younger and minority candidates” for the committee (which is capped at 55 members and has a waiting list).
But after the Equity nominations were announced in August, there were protests on social media. It looked like gender parity had been collateral damage: the gender-neutral categories had produced a list of nominees that was markedly dominated by male-identified performers.
The winners of the 2018 Jeff Equity Awards will be announced at Drury Lane Oakbrook on October 22. v
