ACCA Awards

Actors' Equity Association presented Schmigadoon! with the 2026 ACCA Award for Outstanding Broadway Chorus on June 22. Presented by Equity's Advisory Committee on Chorus Affairs (ACCA), the ACCA Award is the first industry accolade of its kind to honor the distinctive talents and contributions made by the original chorus members of a Broadway musical.

The 16 individual recipients of the 2026 ACCA Award – all of whom were part of the chorus on the musical's April 20, 2026, Broadway opening night – are Clyde Alves, Brandon Block, Joshua Burrage, Maria Briggs, Kaleigh Cronin, Zachary Downer, Afra Hines, Kimberly Immanuel, Jess LeProtto, Nathan Lucrezio, Lauralyn McClelland, Shina Ann Morris, Becca Peterson, Keven Quillon, Lyrica Woodruff and Richard Riaz Yoder.

The award was presented at the Actors' Equity Foundation Awards, which included the distribution of personalized trophies to each chorus member in attendance. This year, a new award design was introduced, a diamond-shaped Lucite trophy. In addition to personalized details, it contains an engraving of the logo for the ACCA Award, a dancing star that was the trophy's shape pre-pandemic.

"The members of this ensemble collectively represent more than 120 Broadway credits," said Actors' Equity Association 2nd Vice President and ACCA chair Sarah Quinn Taylor. "That remarkable number speaks not only to experience but to a level of professionalism that defines the very best of our industry. These are seasoned performers, true triple threats who sing, dance and act at the highest level, while continuing to meet the ever-changing demands of live theatre... They make the impossible look effortless."

"It's just a dream to be able to honor all these golden age musicals that came before us, and the history that came before us. And to be able to share that in a new contemporary way is just bliss," said Lauralyn McClelland, one of the honorees who is a swing, understudy and the dance captain for Schimgadoon! "Being recognized by your peers is the highest honor. So, thank you so much."

This award was voted on by Equity chorus councilors, members of the ACCA and previous recipients of Equity's Legacy Robe, which is awarded to the member of the chorus in each show who has the most Broadway chorus credits. In reviewing each nominated chorus, voters considered the chorus requirements made by each production's director, choreographer and musical director; the caliber of technical skill used to execute those requirements; and the unique contributions made by the entire chorus to the overall production.

Previous recipients of the ACCA Award are the original chorus members of Legally Blonde (2007), In the Heights (2008), West Side Story (2009), Fela! (2010), The Scottsboro Boys (2011), Newsies (2012), Pippin (2013), Beautiful – The Carole King Musical (2014), An American in Paris (2015), Shuffle Along, Or The Making Of The Musical Sensation Of 1921 And All That Followed (2016), Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 (2017), Once on This Island (2018), Hadestown (2019), New York, New York (2023), The Heart of Rock and Roll (2024) and Buena Vista Social Club (2025). In 2022, the ACCA issued two special awards, one to all the Broadway choruses working on the 2019–2020 season disrupted by the pandemic, and one for the choruses of the 2021–2022 season that brought Broadway back.

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/live/nfYMT6fYzNc?si=QmgvLLzG9O9Dgqzw&t=3075

Chorus members from Schmigadoon! after receiving their awards with supporters, including their choreographer and director Christopher Gattelli and castmate McKenzie Kurtz, who received the Actors' Equity Foundation's Clarence Derwent Award that evening. Photo by Austin Ruffer.