Group memorial marquee dimmings will be held at all 41 Broadway theatres quarterly beginning June 10. The ceremony will be held going forward annually on the second Tuesday of September, December, March, and June. Those wishing to submit an industry member for inclusion in the ceremonies can do so at BroadwayMarqueeInMemoriam.org. Submissions require the individual's name, year of birth and death, a description of their work on Broadway, and a digital photo.
However, the new group memorials do not preclude a more traditional solo affair. The newly established Broadway In Memoriam Committee will still be able to honor single individuals with their own ceremony should they be deemed to have had "a profoundly significant and lasting impact on Broadway," according to press notes, which also cite Stephen Sondheim and Chita Rivera as examples. The organized event will also not prevent individual theatre owners planning their own tributes at their own theatres.
The June 10 event will celebrate Broadway veterans who have passed away this year, with a list of honorees to be released in advance.
The committee was formed in November following a number of controversies around Broadway marquee dimming ceremonies, considered one of the top theatrical honors. Formerly coordinated by The Broadway League, the honor was bestowed on major theatre artists after their passing, with ceremonies in recent years given for the aforementioned Sondheim and Rivera, among others.
What is murkier is when artists have been passed over for the honor, either completely or by only receiving partial dimming ceremonies. Online outcry followed the announcement of partial dimming ceremonies for Gavin Creel, Hinton Battle, and Adrian Bailey, with outrage so strong that all three were later adjusted to include all 41 theatres. In the wake of this string of controversies, confusion and commentary arose around a lack of transparency in terms of the criteria for being given the honor, a question that could well be impossible to answer.
The quarterly group ceremonies seem to be the committee's way of preventing these controversies, though with the remaining possibility of standalone events for the "profoundly significant," only time will tell if that comes to pass.
