The Joseph Jefferson Awards Committee said Tuesday that it will suspend giving Jeff Awards in its non-Equity sector for the 2026-27 season.
The decision follows the announcement by several theater companies, including Idle Muse Theatre, Strawdog Theatre, Ghostlight Theatre Ensemble, Factory Theatre and others, that they would not invite the all-volunteer committee to their shows as a protest against an award being given to director Charles Askenaizer of Invictus Theatre at the 2026 Non-Equity Jeff Awards in March.
Askenaizer was accused on social media of inappropriately aggressive and invasive rehearsal behavior during a prior production in 2021. He has denied those allegations, which do not appear to allege sexual misconduct and have not resulted in any formal charges or known lawsuits. The board of Invictus Theatre has not yet announced the results of its ongoing investigation into the situation. Askenaizer stepped away from the theater he co-founded in the interim.
The Invictus production of “Angels in America” was critically acclaimed last summer and ran for some six months, and was named the Tribune’s top show of 2025 across both Equity and non-Equity theaters. At the Jeff Awards in March, numerous cast members and designers accepted their separate Jeff Awards for their work on the show without mentioning their director in their acceptance speeches.
However, many theaters protested the Jeffs’ decision not to retroactively deny the award, both vociferously at the ceremony and by removing themselves from competition, leaving the Jeffs Committee little choice but to either rescind its Jeff (or potentially Jeffs) or suspend its awards. The decision applies to shows opening June 1 or later.
For its part, the committee said Tuesday that it is “not our role to directly monitor or supervise operations behind the scenes at theaters,” although it does seek to “honor the community’s input and ensure that our future policies and procedures reflect a thoughtful evolution.”
Award operations from the Oscars to the Tony Awards have not typically removed or rescinded awards for past artistic endeavors due to subsequent personal conduct, even of a very serious nature. In the case of Britain’s BAFTA awards, rules language added in 2025 allows revocations but only if a winner “is convicted of a serious criminal offense resulting in a prison sentence of at least three months (suspended or not).”
In an interview, Jeff Committee Non-Equity chair Suzanne Ross said there were no current plans to rescind any awards, and that her committee plans to continue to debate the situation and expects to have more to say about the future of the Non-Equity Jeff Awards in the fall. On social media, many theaters have been critical of the Jeff Committee more broadly and at least two Chicago gatherings are scheduled to reconsider the validity of such awards for artistic work, one of which is sponsored by the Theatre Communications Group, a trade organization.
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The non-Equity wing of the Joseph Jefferson Awards (the Jeffs) was established in 1973 as Chicago’s non-Equity community of non-union theaters, famed for its creativity and constituent talent, was taking flight.
Chris Jones is a Tribune critic