Lexington teacher will be honored at the Tony Awards for ‘doing what I enjoy most’
A Lexington teacher will be recognized at the 2024 Tony Awards on Sunday, she confirmed to the Herald-Leader.
Alberta “Bert” Labrillazo, who has taught at SCAPA at Bluegrass for 33 years and 31 years at SCAPA Lafayette, will receive an honorable mention for this year’s Excellence in Theatre Education Award, according to the Tony Awards website. She teaches theater to fourth through 10th graders.
Labrillazo’s honorable mention and position at SCAPA are listed on the Tony Awards website and in the playbill given to the audience.
“I won’t be attending the Tony Awards on Sunday because I’m teaching drama at an arts camp on Monday morning. I’m exactly where I need to be,” Labrillazo said.
The Tony Awards are given each year to theater professionals for distinguished achievement on Broadway.
The Excellence in Theatre Education Award, sponsored by Carnegie Mellon University, is presented each year by the Tony Awards.
The award honors a K-12 educator “in the United States who has demonstrated monumental impact on the lives of students and who embodies the highest standards of the profession,” the Tony Awards website states.
“The Tony Award is the gold standard in live theatre excellence, so it is an honor, as a theatre teacher, to be recognized,” Labrillazo said in a statement on the Fayette County Public Schools’ website. “It is lovely to receive recognition for doing what I enjoy most — teaching students to be the best version of themselves in doing good theatre.”
Labrillazo told the Herald-Leader she didn’t know anything about her students’ efforts to nominate her for the award.
“During our end of the year school assembly, it took me a while to realize what was happening. To my surprise, I had made it to the finals out of all the applicants in the United States. My SCAPA drama major Caitlyn Douglas, who spearheaded this nomination, announced that I had received an honorable mention for the Tony Award Excellence in Theatre Education,” she said. “It was a pretty sweet moment for me at this point in my teaching career.”
The Tony Awards will be broadcast live from the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts at 8 p.m. Sunday on CBS and streaming live and on demand on Paramount+.
Caitlyn, a rising eighth-grader who organized the award submission, got letters of recommendation from SCAPA alumnus and Tony nominee Colton Ryan, SCAPA Principal Beth Randolph and rising Lafayette sophomore Lydia Dever, the school district statement said. Labrillazo said she was Ryan’s first musical director.
Caitlyn and her classmates created a video featuring Labrillazo to submit for the award.
“In addition to sharing a lifetime of theatre experience and advice, Labrillazo helps her students see how their skills can transfer to most any career or occupation — public speaking, creative collaboration, project management, and growth mindset,” the district statement said.
