Additional honoree announced for June 9 fundraiser event for Trinity Rep 

Trinity Repertory Company announces Francis Parra will receive the Rhode Island Pell Award for Excellence in the Arts at the 2026 Pell Awards Gala. Parra, the Teatro ECAS Founding Artistic Director, joins Trinity Rep’s outgoing Artistic Director Curt Columbus and philanthropist and volunteer Paul J. Choquette, Jr. as the evening’s honorees. Columbus will receive the Pell Award for Outstanding Leadership in the Arts in recognition of his 20 years leading the theater. Choquette will receive the Charles Sullivan Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts.  

“As we celebrate this year’s Pell Awards, we are thrilled to honor two individuals whose impact on Trinity Rep and our community is profound,” said Katie Liberman, Executive Director. “Curt’s 20 years of artistic leadership have left an indelible mark on this theater, our artistry, and our community. Paul’s decades of dedication and philanthropy exemplify the spirit of service that sustains the arts in Rhode Island, including his through role as Co-Chair of The Public Square Campaign—a $40 million construction project that is a transformative investment in Trinity Rep’s future. It is also a special honor to recognize Francis Parra, whose work as co-founder and Executive Artistic Director at Teatro ECAS has been a home to world-class Spanish language theater in Rhode Island for almost 30 years.”  

The 27th Pell Awards Gala will occur on Tuesday, June 9, 2025, in Providence, Rhode Island at The Lindemann Performing Arts Center on Brown University’s campus. The event co-chairs are Alison & Larry Eichler and Joan & Pablo Sorensen. Incoming Artistic Director Meredith McDonough will be in attendance. 

The event will begin at 6 pm with a VIP cocktail reception. All guests can arrive beginning at 7 pm and will enjoy a seated dinner and the awards ceremony starting at 7:30 pm. Attendees will mingle with artists, business, political, and social leaders; savor food by Russell Morin Catering & Events; and experience unforgettable moments as the theater honors individuals committed to bettering the world through art, education, and activism.  

Tickets, sponsorships, and event program tribute ads are on sale now at trinityrep.com/pell or by phone at (401) 453- 9237. Trinity Rep is a 501(c)3 non-profit, and all proceeds from the Pell Awards Gala support the theater’s artistic, educational, and community engagement programs.  

This year’s Pell Awards Committee includes Katie & Malcolm Chace, Susan Chung, Corey Martin Fitzgerald, Lamont Gordon & Jim Donahue, Nancy Smith Greer, Laura Harris, Joe Madden, Suzanne Magaziner, Sara Shea McConnell, Kibbe & Tom Reilly, Mark Sandner-White, Nick Wall, Toots Zynsky. The Honorary Event Committee includes the Rhode Island Congressional Delegation: Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, and Congressmen Gabe Amo and Seth Magaziner. Providence Mayor Brett P. Smiley also joins the honorary committee with Laurie & Oskar Eustis, Sharon & Richard Jenkins, Dr. Tripler Pell, Christina Pell Neal, Nick & Annie Pell, Clay Pell, and Eames Yates, Jr. 

ABOUT THE PELL AWARDS  
Established in 1997 to honor the legacy of U.S. Senator Claiborne Pell (D-RI), Trinity Rep’s Pell Awards recognize excellence in artistry and advocacy, both regional and national. Throughout his life, Senator Pell worked to support the arts: He was the principal sponsor of landmark legislation that established the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities in 1965 and chaired the Senate Education and Arts subcommittee. He also took a lead role in eliminating barriers to higher education with his legislation creating the Basic Educational Opportunity Grants, which Congress named “Pell Grants” in 1980.  

Past recipients of the Pell Award for Outstanding Leadership in the Arts include Jeannine Chartier, Joseph A. Chazan M.D., Trudy Coxe, Mihailo “Misha” Djuric, Michael Gennaro, Roger Mandle, Senator Claiborne Pell, the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, J.L. “Lynn” Singleton, Rosanne Somerson, Charles M. “Chuck” Royce, Lorén M. Spears, and George Wein. 

Past recipients of the Charles Sullivan Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts include Elizabeth Z. Chace, Mayor Vincent A. Cianci, Jr., Martha Douglas-Osmundson, Joe & Sally Dowling, Deloris Davis Grant, Adrian Hall, Mary Paula Hunter, P. William Hutchinson, Virginia Lynch, Suzanne Magaziner, Lowry Marshall, Jane S. Nelson, Christina H. Paxson, Elaine Foster Perry, and Julie Strandberg. 

Past recipients of the Pell Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts include Jane Alexander, Kate Burton, Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen, Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, Viola Davis, Olympia Dukakis, Laurie and Oskar Eustis, Tina Fey, Adrian Hall, The Indigo Girls (Amy Ray and Emily Saliers), Richard and Sharon Jenkins, Jessica Lange, Mary McDonnell, Arthur Miller, Liza Minnelli, Toni Morrison, Kelli O’Hara, Robert Redford, Chita Rivera, Jason Robards, Maurice Sendak, Beverly Sills, Stephen Sondheim, and Octavia Spencer. 

Past recipients of the Pell Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Arts include John Krasinski, Debra Messing, Amy Morton, and the Trinity Rep Resident Acting Company. 

Past recipients of the Rhode Island Pell Award for Excellence in the Arts include John Benson, Howard BenTré, Dan Butterworth, Len Cabral, Charlene Carpenzano, John Chan, Bob Colonna, Robert Coover, Umberto “Bert” Crenca, Richard Cumming, Ruth Frisch Dealy, Bob Dilworth, Tony Estrella, Barnaby Evans, Richard Fleischner, Peter Geisser, Malcolm Grear, Michael Harper, Bunny Harvey, Dorothy Jungels & the Everett Dance Theatre, George Kent, Eugene Lee, David Macaulay, Salvatore Mancini, Marta V. Martínez, Dave McKenna, Barbara Meek, Denny Moers, Morris Nathanson, Timothy Philbrick, Bernadet V. Pitts-Wiley, Ricardo Pitts-Wiley, Duke Robillard, Thomas Sgouros, Sr., Consuelo Sherba, Gretchen Dow Simpson, Maria Spacagna, Judith Lynn Stillman, Valerie Tutson, Chris Van Allsburg, Paula Vogel, Keith and Rosmarie Waldrop, William Warner, Rose Weaver, Steven Weinberg, and Toots Zynsky. 

2026 Pell Award for Outstanding Leadership in the Arts 
Curt Columbus 

Curt Columbus became Trinity Repertory Company’s fifth artistic director in January 2006. He is also the artistic director of the Brown/Trinity Rep MFA programs in Acting and Directing. His directing credits for Trinity Rep include The Roommate, POTUS, Becky Nurse of Salem, Sweeney Todd, Tiny Beautiful Things, Macbeth, Ragtime, Beowulf: A Thousand Years of Baggage, Middletown, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, The Merchant of Venice, His Girl Friday, Camelot, Cabaret, Blithe Spirit, A Christmas Carol, Cherry Orchard, and the world premieres of The Completely Fictional—Utterly True—Final Strange Tale of Edgar Allen Poe and Social Creatures. Trinity Rep has been home to the world premieres of three of his plays, Paris by Night, The Dreams of Antigone, and Sparrow Grass, and produced his translations of Chekhov’s Cherry Orchard and Ivanov, as well as Feydeau’s A Flea in Her Ear and Lope de Vega’s Like Sheep to Water (Fuente Ovejuna). 

Curt’s adaptation of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment (with Marilyn Campbell) has won awards and accolades around the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. His translation of Chekhov’s Three Sisters, developed at the Arden Theatre in Philadelphia, is published by Dramatists Play Service, as is Sparrow Grass and his translations of Chekhov’s Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Cherry Orchard, and Ivanov. Curt lives in Providence, Rhode Island with his husband, Nate Watson.  

2026 Charles Sullivan Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts 
Paul J. Choquette, Jr. 

Paul J. Choquette, Jr. retired in June 2020 as vice-chairman of Gilbane, Inc., the parent company of Gilbane Building Company and Gilbane Development Company, and as director emeritus on Gilbane, Inc.’s board. The sixth consecutive family member to lead the company since its founding in 1870, Paul previously held the positions of chairman and chief executive officer of Gilbane, Inc. and Gilbane Building Company. A trustee emeritus of Brown University serving on numerous Brown committees, he is a former president, director, and board member for the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce and a past chairman for the New England Council. He is a Distinguished Eagle Scout and past president of the Boy Scouts of America’s Northeast Region and continues to serve on the Narragansett Council’s board. He also is a former trustee for Trinity Repertory Company and on the advisory board for Teach for America – Rhode Island. Paul earned his bachelor’s degree in English from Brown University and his law degree from Harvard Law School. He has received honorary degrees from Bryant University, Roger Williams University, and New England Institute of Technology. An honored member of the Brown University Hall of Fame and the Providence Gridiron Club Hall of Fame, Paul received the NCAA Silver Anniversary Award in 1985 and the Distinguished American Award from the Rhode Island Chapter of the National Football Foundation in 1991. 

2026 Rhode Island Pell Award for Excellence in the Arts 
Francis Parra 

Francis is a theater director and actress who graduated from APEC University in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. She is the Artistic/Executive Director and Co-Founder of the ECAS Theater Company (Teatro ECAS), Rhode Island’s premier Latino theater company, and a leading cultural institution dedicated to Spanish-language theater and arts education throughout New England. For nearly three decades, she has used theater as a powerful tool to celebrate Latinidad, inspire reflection, and uplift Latino youth, artists, and communities across the region. ECAS Theater has provided class programming in schools, trained new actors, and created an outdoor summer theater festival and “March Theatrical” series featuring independent groups from the United States and Latin America.  

Francis has led international cultural exchanges, including a partnership with Cuba's Union of Writers and Artists to stage contemporary productions from 2016–2018. She received the Tom Roberts Prize for Creative Achievement in the Humanities. Francis lives in Providence with her husband, Gonzalo Cuervo, and their children, Stephanie and Daniel, who continue to inspire her artistic vision. 

ABOUT TRINITY REPERTORY COMPANY
Founded in 1963, Trinity Repertory Company is one of the nation’s leading regional theaters, recognized for artistic excellence, innovation, and its long-standing resident company of artists. The recipient of the 1981 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theater, Trinity Rep has built a national and international reputation for bold, engaging work.  

Rhode Island’s official State Theater since 2014, Trinity Rep serves as a cultural anchor for its community. Guided by its mission to “reinvent the public square,” the company creates theater that stimulates, educates, and sparks dialogue, presenting a dynamic mix of classic, contemporary, and new works. Trinity Rep has produced more than 75 world premieres and is widely recognized for its distinctive, collaborative style of performance. Its annual production of A Christmas Carol has brought families together for nearly five decades and made memories for over two million audience members. Its 2025-26 season continues this spring with the Pulitzer Prize-winning plays Primary Trust and Next to Normal.  

A national leader in artist training and education, Trinity Rep's robust programs serving learners of all ages and abilities. Its Project Discovery initiative has introduced more than 1.4 million students to live theater since 1966.  Based in the historic Lederer Theater Center in downtown Providence, Trinity Rep is expanding its impact through The Public Square Campaign, a $40 million facility renovation, currently underway, that will enhance accessibility and community engagement. A 501(c)3 non-profit organization, with an annual budget of approximately $9 million, Trinity Rep employs over 300 artists and administrative staff each year. For more information, visit www.trinityrep.com.