ANN ARBOR, Mich.–EncoreMichigan wishes to thank an anonymous donor who is donating $1,000 to offset the costs of this year’s Wilde Award plaques.

Unfortunately, the 2019 Wilde Award ceremony had to be cancelled, which Encore’s team deeply regrets. We announced that each winner would still receive a plaque, and that Encore’s owner would absorb the cost. But a supporter of Encore and of some of the theaters in the Encore network of theaters stepped up and offered to pay for this year’s plaques since the site would not have ticket sales and sponsors to offset the cost.

“We are very grateful for the generosity of this donor, as well as to all of the people who follow Encore, and of all the people who recently contributed to our annual campaign to raise some money to offset our costs,” said Encore Publisher David Kiley.

“People do not always agree with what we write, and that is okay. What is important to us is that we keep providing a place for arts criticism, news, auditions, information, etc. to those in the state who want to celebrate professional theater,” said Kiley. “We do the best we can,” he added.

“This is a big state with so much great theater–from established theaters, recently launched theaters and brand new theaters. It is a rich time for professional theater in the state in so many communities,” said Kiley.

This year’s Wilde Award winners will be announced on Encore at 3PM Sunday, August 18 via post on the website. It is the intention of EncoreMichigan to maintain the Wilde Awards, but the editorial team is currently discussing how best to evolve the criteria for the awards for future years. The team has been reviewing an average of some 225 openings per season for several years, and presently we do not have the resources to keep that up. We will continue to maintain the show calendar and show info, auditions, job postings, etc. for all professional theater openings that it is aware of. But the site will have to review fewer shows out of necessity and limited resources.