D’Lo is a finalist for Center Theatre Group’s 2021 Dorothy and Richard E. Sherwood Award. (photo courtesy of CTG)

Three finalists have been selected for Center Theatre Group’s 2021 Dorothy and Richard E. Sherwood Award: D’Lo, Lena Sands and Mikaal Sulaiman.

CTG is recognizing this year’s finalists for their exceptional contributions to the Los Angeles theater landscape and their impressive work as innovative and adventurous artists.

Paying tribute to the memory of Dorothy and Richard Sherwood, the $10,000 award aims to cultivate innovative theater artists working in Los Angeles who push formal and aesthetic boundaries and demonstrate dedication to improving their respective artistic fields. The winner of the $10,000 award will be announced in 2021. The two additional finalists will receive a $2,000 honorarium.

D’Lo is a queer/transgender Tamil-Sri Lankan-American actor, writer and comic. He is currently working on his latest solo called “Queer Noise” with support from Center Theatre Group’s library series and the L.A. LGBT Center.

Sands designs costumes for live performances, installations and films. Her work has been seen at institutions including The Wallis, the Kirk Douglas Theater, the Getty Villa and the Skirball Cultural Center.

Sulaiman works primarily as a sound designer and composer, in addition to writing and directing. He currently hosts the podcast “Black Enso.”

Since 1996, Center Theatre Group has recognized and celebrated local theatre artists with the Richard E. Sherwood Award. In 2018 Dorothy Sherwood, Richard’s wife and fellow champion of innovative and adventurous theatre artists, passed away. To honor the passion and dedication of both patrons of the arts, the award was renamed the Dorothy and Richard E. Sherwood Award. Richard was president and then chairman of the Center Theatre Group Board of Directors from 1980 until his passing in 1993.

Mat Diafos Sweeney is the most recent recipient of the award.

For more information, visit centertheatregroup.org.