All of the classroom’s a stage.
A Mattress-Stuy theater instructor gained a particular Tony award final Sunday for serving to carry the enjoyment of Broadway to generations of scholars — changing into the primary in New York to nab the celebrated title.
Gary Edwin Robinson took residence the 2025 Excellence in Theatre Schooling Award ultimately weekend’s Tony ceremony for increasing theater entry to 1000’s of scholars at Boys and Women Excessive College.
“What a lift. What joy it is. Oh, it’s like riding on a carpet — the magic carpet!” Robinson, of Fort Greene, instructed The Submit about receiving the distinction and rubbing elbows with the theater’s elite.
Robinson was nothing in need of “shocked” when he heard the information that he can be this 12 months’s recipient — and even three days after the ceremony, the thrill was nonetheless settling in.
“I always said as a kid, ‘One day I’m going to go to the Tony Awards. I’m going to get a Tony Award.’ And to receive this recognition award is just the tops.”
The pinnacle of the college’s theater program was forged as this 12 months’s winner due to his unwavering dedication to his highschool college students — he developed programming that enables teenagers to shadow Broadway professionals.
He has additionally leaned on the Arthur Miller Basis Fellows Program and Broadway Bridges Program to pack the tutorial 12 months with on- and off-Braodway reveals — this 12 months, they’ve seen “Hell’s Kitchen,” “Gypsy,” “A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical” and “John Proctor Is the Villain.”
Robinson lives and breathes theater: he teaches 5 drama lessons a day and leads a three-year program that explores performing, playwriting, producing, directing and extra.
Lots of his college students have gone on to illustrious careers within the arts — one is on tour in “Moulin Rouge,” one other is a supervisor on the famed Apollo Theater and one other simply completed a TV present.
His main emphasis, nonetheless, is how theater can improve his college students’ lives even when they select to discover profession paths past the stage.
“I tell [athletes], ‘You’re going to be selected for a team and with sports figures, you have to do endorsements. That’s theater right there; you’ve got to sell the product and that’s where the theater comes in and that’s why you’re taking this class,” Robinson defined.
“I have a student who wants to be a nurse . . . You have patients. You might have to sing for the patients and might have to do a little performance with the kids to make people feel better and to heal them. That’s where theater comes in,” he continued.
“Theater really can help you in any walk of life. And I say, ‘I am that bridge to help you get to where you want to be in your career path.’”
Robinson, who has taught at Boys and Women Excessive College for a decade, was bestowed the award on the 78th annual Tonys on Sunday by Carnegie Mellon College President Farnam Jahanian.
It marked the primary time an educator from the Empire State was chosen for the distinction — regardless of the Massive Apple being thought of the “theater capital.”
“I get up and I go to work, and I go in to do theater with my students. To receive an award for what you truly love and enjoy doing — okay, I accept!” Robinson mentioned.
The prize additionally comes with a $10,000 grant for the college’s theater arts program, which Robinson continues to be mulling over what precisely to place it in direction of. His college students can even obtain a visiting grasp class taught by Carnegie Mellon drama professors.
Robinson hopes his success could be one other studying second for his college students, telling them to “find your dream and stick with it.”
“Do all that you can, put your energy into it, and make that a living reality,” he mentioned. “Dreams do come true. Just stick with it and follow through.”
