*Tony Award-winning actor André De Shields, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Brandon J. Dirden and Emmy Award-winning journalist Cheryl Wills will be honored when the African American Film Critics Association returns to New York City for its fifth annual AAFCA Goes to Broadway Luncheon.
The Oct. 12 gathering at Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse in New York’s Theater District will celebrate artists, creatives and cultural leaders whose contributions reach across theater and the broader entertainment industry.
Four Honorees, Four Broadway Journeys
De Shields will receive AAFCA’s Legacy Award, recognizing a career spanning Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional theater, film and television. His Broadway credits include “The Wiz,” “Ain’t Misbehavin'” and “Hadestown.”
Cephas Jones receives the Horizon Award. She made her Broadway debut in 2015, originating the dual roles of Peggy Schuyler and Maria Reynolds in “Hamilton,” and has since earned Grammy and Emmy honors.
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Wills, an author and Emmy Award-winning journalist with Spectrum News NY1, will receive the Beacon Award. An anchor and host of “Focus with Cheryl Wills,” she has covered major Broadway productions for NY1 and hosted Broadway talkbacks.
Brandon J. Dirden’s Big Broadway Year
Dirden will receive the Salute to Excellence following a particularly notable stretch onstage and behind the scenes.
The actor earned a 2026 Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play for “Waiting for Godot.” His Broadway career dates to “Prelude to a Kiss” in 2007, and his work extends across Broadway, Off-Broadway, television and film. In 2026, Dirden also directed Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of “The Imaginary Invalid.”
AAFCA Builds On Its Broadway Tradition
The annual luncheon has previously honored Broadway figures including James Monroe Iglehart, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Wendell Pierce, Kara Young, producers Debra Martin Chase and Kenny Leon, and writer Branden Jacobs-Jenkins.
Camille A. Brown, the five-time Tony Award-nominated director and choreographer who received AAFCA Goes to Broadway’s Salute to Excellence Award in 2024, described the recognition as personally meaningful.
“As a past honoree, I know firsthand how meaningful it is to have my work be recognized by a community that understands the power of our stories,” Brown said.
She also praised AAFCA’s effort to celebrate Broadway as a launching pad for performers, directors, choreographers, producers and other creatives.
Broadway As a Cultural Launching Pad
AAFCA President and co-founder Gil Robertson IV framed the event as more than an awards luncheon.
“Broadway is more than a stage. It is a place where careers are launched, creative voices are developed, and stories become part of our cultural history,” Robertson said.
For AAFCA, that connection between Broadway and the wider entertainment industry remains central to the luncheon. Robertson said the organization is celebrating the artists and industry leaders who continue to “expand what is possible on Broadway and beyond.”
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