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| Paul Tazewell (Courtesy Photo) |
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| Delroy Lindo (Courtesy Photo) |
Black Theatre United’s 2026 Gala honors George Cheeks, Delroy Lindo, and Paul Tazewell — with work still to do
Black Theatre United (BTU) is not gathering simply to celebrate.
On Monday, October 5, 2026, the organization will hold its fourth annual gala at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York City to honor three major figures whose work has shaped television, film, Broadway, design, and cultural advocacy: George Cheeks, Delroy Lindo, and Paul Tazewell.
The evening’s theme is “Work to Do.” It is direct. It is pointed. In this moment, it also feels less like a gala theme and more like a call across the footlights.
Founded in 2020, at a time when American institutions were being forced to examine who had been left out, who had been blocked, and who had been asked to wait, Black Theatre United has built its mission around access. Not symbolic access, but real access. Pathways. Internships. Scholarships. Industry conversations. Educational programs. Pressure where pressure is needed.
This year’s gala arrives when those conversations have grown more urgent, not less. The gains that African American and Brown artists fought for throughout generations are still — or again — being challenged. The rooms they helped build can still feel contested. The opportunities remain uneven. The theater community, like the country around it, is still deciding what kind of future it is willing to fight for.
BTU’s answer is clear: Keep going.
The 2026 gala will honor Paramount Chair of TV Media George Cheeks with the Accountability Award, Academy Award-nominated actor Delroy Lindo with the Advocacy Award, and Tony and Academy Award-winning costume designer Paul Tazewell with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Performers and appearances by members of the Broadway community and BTU founders will be announced at a later date.
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| George Cheeks (Courtesy Photo) |
Cheeks, who now oversees Paramount’s broadcast and cable television businesses, has spent more than three decades moving through the entertainment industry as a legal mind, executive leader, and creative force. His portfolio includes CBS Television Network, CBS News and Stations, CBS Sports, CBS Studios, BET Studios, Nickelodeon TV Studios, See It Now Studios, and Paramount Media Networks, home to MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, and BET.
Before his current role, Cheeks served as co-CEO of Paramount Global and as president and CEO of CBS. Since joining Paramount in 2020, he has helped expand CBS from a traditional broadcast network into a broader content engine for both broadcast and streaming. Under his leadership, CBS has continued its run as America’s most-watched network, reaching an industry record 17 consecutive seasons, while adding programs including “Tracker,” “Fire Country,” “Ghosts,” and “Matlock.”
His career has also included senior leadership at NBCUniversal, where he served as co-chair of NBC Entertainment, overseeing primetime, late-night, and scripted daytime programming.
Before becoming one of the most influential executives in television, Cheeks began his career in entertainment law. He worked at Loeb & Loeb, Castle Rock Entertainment, and later the boutique entertainment firm Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren & Richman in Beverly Hills. He has an undergraduate degree from Yale University and a Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School.
Lindo’s honor speaks to a different kind of longevity. His career carries weight because he has never treated performance as decoration. Whether on stage or screen, Lindo brings gravity, intellect, and force.
On Broadway, he earned a Tony Award nomination for his portrayal of Herald Loomis in August Wilson’s “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,” and a Helen Hayes Award nomination and NAACP Image Award for playing Walter Lee in Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun.”
In film, Lindo has been recognized by the New York Film Critics Circle, National Society of Film Critics, and Critics’ Choice Super Awards. His collaborations with Spike Lee, especially “Da 5 Bloods,” deepened his already commanding screen legacy. More recently, his work in Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” brought him wide recognition and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Lindo will next appear in the upcoming “Godzilla v. Kong” sequel for Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures. He is also preparing to make his feature directorial debut with “Jabari’s People.”
Tazewell’s work has altered the visual language of Broadway, film, television, and fashion. He is now one of the defining designers of his generation. His costumes for the film adaptation of “Wicked,” released in November 2024, drew wide acclaim — Glinda’s pink bubble dress alone required more than 225 hours of work, a reminder that costume design is not merely what an audience sees. It is character. It is labor. It is architecture for the body.
In spring 2025, Tazewell made history as the first African American man to win the Academy Award for Best Costume Design. That same awards season also brought him a BAFTA Award, Critics’ Choice Award, and Costume Designers Guild Award for Excellence in Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film.
His Broadway career includes more than 30 credits. He won a Tony Award in 2016 for “Hamilton” and a second in 2025 for “Death Becomes Her.” His stage work also includes “In the Heights” and “The Color Purple.” On screen, his designs have appeared in “West Side Story,” “Harriet,” and “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” as well as television events including “The Wiz Live!” and NBC’s “Jesus Christ Superstar Live.”
Tazewell’s reach now extends well beyond theater and film. At the 2025 Met Gala, he collaborated with Janelle Monáe and Thom Browne on Monáe’s sculptural look. That same evening, he partnered with eBay to create an upcycled ensemble for Chappell Roan, using more than 830 leather pieces to construct a pink patchwork suit and cape.
His current work moves through fashion, interiors, product design, publishing, and architecture while the center still holds: story, craft, and the human hand. That makes Tazewell exactly the kind of artist BTU was built to honor.
Black Theatre United was founded by a powerhouse group of theater artists and professionals, including Lisa Dawn Cave, Darius de Haas, Carin Ford, Capathia Jenkins, LaChanze, Kenny Leon, Norm Lewis, Audra McDonald, Michael McElroy, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Wendell Pierce, Billy Porter, Anna Deavere Smith, Allyson Tucker, Tamara Tunie, Lillias White, NaTasha Yvette Williams, Schele Williams, and Vanessa Williams.
That founding list is not just impressive. It is a statement of collective responsibility.
Theater has always been more than a stage. It is a workplace. A classroom. A memory bank. A place where power is visible, even when people pretend not to see it. BTU’s 2026 gala seems built around that truth.
The night will celebrate achievement, yes, but the deeper point is not applause. The point is the work, and according to Black Theatre United, there is still work to do.
Proceeds from the gala will support BTU’s growing list of programs, including the BTU Rise Marketing and Press Internship, New Deal for Broadway, Business of Show discussion series, community town hall events, BTU Designer Initiative, Marva Hicks Musical Theatre Scholarship, and Broadway Bound Educational Program.
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