AUDELCO, theAudience Development Committee, Inc., was established in 1973 by Vivian Robinson to honor excellence in African American theatre in New York City.

AUDELCO presents the Vivian Robinson/AUDELCO Recognition Awards (also known asViv awards) annually. The awards were created to promote “recognition, understanding and awareness of the arts in the African-American community”.

The AUDELCO awards recognize the following (both Broadway and off-Broadway):

AUDELCO has an office inHarlem, and the current president is Grace L. Jones^[1]The board of directors includes: A. Curtis Farrow, Ralph Carter, Toni Peterson, Jacqueline Feffries, Linda Armstrong, Donna M. Mills, Fred R. Powell, Mary Seymour, Dale Richardo Shields, Terrence Spivey, Ronald Stone, and the Mary B. Davis Chair Emeritus.^[2]The organization has thousands of members, a newsletter, and an African-American theater collection including books, photographs, slides, and scripts, as well as an extensive clippings file on African-American theatre.

The AUDELCO awards recognize productions by professional, not-for-profit theater organizations which have existed for at least two years and have had a minimum of 500 hours of rehearsal, performance, and/or training. Productions have to be performed over 12 times within the year (September 1 through August 31). Workshop productions and works-in-progress are not eligible for the awards.

Michael O’Hare was the first white actor to win this award, for his performance in the playShades of Brownwhich examined the effects ofapartheid in South Africa. Previous AUDELCO awardees include: Kerry Washington (AUDELCO’s first rising star award), George Faison, Loretta Abbott, André De Shields,^[3]Samuel L. Jackson, Phylicia Rashad, Debbie Allen,Denzel Washington, Barbara Montgomery,Sanaa Lathan, and others.