Celeste Ciulla and Evan Robertson are this year's recipients of the Joe A. Callaway Awards, presented annually by the Actors' Equity Foundation. Ciulla and Robertson will be presented with the award for best performance by a female/male actor in a "professional production of a classic play (one written prior to 1920) in the New York metropolitan area." Ciulla will be honored for her performance in the Pearl Theatre Company's production of She Stoops to Conquer, and Robertson will receive his award for his work in another Pearl production, Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.

Ray Virta, who appeared as Benedick in the aforementioned Pearl mounting of Much Ado, will be presented with the St. Clair Bayfield Award, which honors non-featured actors in a Shakespearean production in the New York metropolitan area. All awards will be presented on Jan. 10, 2003, at the Eastern Regional meeting of the Actors' Equity Association, held at the Equity offices on West 46th Street.

This year's judges' panel includes Irene Backalenick, Back Stage; Betty Corwin, Director of Special Projects, Theatre on Film & Tape Archive of the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts; Charles Isherwood, Variety; Michael Kuchwara, Associated Press; Douglas Watt, The Daily News; and Carl Harms, President of the Actors' Equity Foundation.