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WHAT ARE THE LEON RABIN AWARDS? The Leon Rabin Awards are named on behalf of the late arts patron, Leon Rabin, who devoted his business and private life to the development of both art and artists in Dallas. Nominations are made by a two five-member committees (one for plays and one for musicals, each with two alternate members). The committees are made up of local playwrights, actors, directors, designers and dramaturges. HOW DOES THE VOTING TAKE PLACE? For the 2004-05 season, the Rabin
winners will be decided
by the nominators plus a small group of "voting patrons"
who will volunteer to see all of the shows (4 people for plays and
4 for musicals - as many people as possible see the new works).
The nominators will send in rating sheets each month, rating each category on a scale of one to ten. At the end of the year, the rating sheets will determine the six nominees in each category. Each play will have a total number of points for each category, divided by the number of nominators who saw the show. The winners will then be voted on by the nominators plus the designated voting patrons. No one will vote in a category unless he/she has seen all of the nominees in that category.
1915 -1993 Born in Philadelphia in 1915, businessman and avid theatre enthusiast Leon Rabin came to Dallas in 1945 as a community organizer for the USO. Along with his wife, Idelle, he devoted his life to Dallas arts - particularly, the theatre. Leon was at the first organizational meeting in the Adolphus Hotel that launched the Dallas Theater Center. He was on the original advisory committee for the Dallas Arts Magnet High School. He helped underwrite the first visit of the Royal Shakespeare Company to Dallas. His behind-the-scenes influence extended from the Junior Black Academy to the Dallas Women's Foundation - the American Jewish committee to the city's Cultural Affairs Commission. Leon was known by his peers to be a gifted conversationalist - keen on debating the finer points of the arts, business, religion, values, interracial tolerance and the community. He was present at the beginning of everything in Dallas arts and has served, at one time or another, on virtually every board. His zest for principle and purpose lives on today in the outstanding theatres of the Metroplex. |
