Announcing the first Malone Award recipient: Chuck Drew

The Alamo Theatre Arts Council is excited to announce the creation of the Malone Award, a new honor recognizing exceptional technical contributions in San Antonio theater. 

We invited theater producers to nominate an individual who has made a significant impact behind the scenes at their organizations. The Board reviewed all submissions and selected Chuck Drew as the inaugural recipient, exemplifying the spirit of the Malone Award through his contributions to the arts behind the scenes across San Antonio.

Mr. Drew received nominations from both 100A Productions and The Overtime Theater.

Bio: Chuck Drew – Award-Winning Designer in Lighting, Sound, Projection, and Special Effects

Chuck Drew, arts enthusiast & curious tinkerer, started his journey into arts & entertainment early on in Memphis, TN as a freelance studio technician, advancing to chief engineer for a prominent R&B recording studio.

This led to ventures in live sound & stage work alongside such acts as The Boxtops, The Lovin Spoonful, The Coasters, & Spencer Davis.

After relocating to San Antonio, he managed The Witte Museum’s exhibit department, designing, constructing, installing, & lighting in-house & traveling exhibits.

By day, he works as a professional lighting controls technician, programming lighting systems for commercial, educational, and industrial facilities, as well as performance spaces.

He also handles the programming of exterior color lighting for notable buildings like San Antonio City Hall, The Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, and 300 Convent, along with various other structures and bridges across the city and state.

By night, he can be found on a catwalk or in the grid, working on lighting, sound, projection designs, and technical direction—often handling multiple aspects for various productions and art installations throughout San Antonio and across Texas.

Hobbies include collecting vinyl records, photography, D&D, and learning to play the bass guitar.

Notable works include 39 Steps, Crimes of the Heart, The Lifespan of a Fact, 100A, Cabaret, The Vex, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, True West, and many others for AtticRep at The Tobin. He has also contributed to productions such as Nevermore, Texas Light Opera, Tristan und Isolde, Opera San Antonio with the San Antonio Chamber Orchestra, Edgar Allan Poe, and numerous shows over the past from 2018-2023 for The Overtime Theatre, The Cherry Orchard, The Classic Theatre, Die Zauberflöte, A Little Night Music, Cendrillon, The Verdi Project, Don Giovanni, UTSA Lyric Theatre’s The Nutcracker, Cinderella, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Don Quixote, Ballet San Antonio, and many more. His work also includes content production for the National Park Service, Michael Nye, and The Witte Museum, as well as collaborative light art installations at Palo Alto College, Houston Hobby Airport, and Texas Tech University, alongside projects with Agarita and Anthony Garcia. 

“Without the touch of Godrays, the sky is merely a backdrop.”