Longtime Washington theater patrons José Alberto Uclés and husband Tom Noll will receive the Gary Maker Audience Award at a special ceremony Saturday, May 3, 2025 at GALA Hispanic Theatre for their enthusiastic support of and ubiquitous, vital, and colorful presence at Washington area theaters.
The Gary Maker Audience Award is the only recognition given by any theater community in the nation to an audience member. It was established by DC Theatre Scene in 2011 to be bestowed not for large financial contributions but in recognition of outstanding audience members “who are passionate, involved, informed, and grounded in their love for theater and who lend their time and personal support to encourage other audience members and who see that theater in the Washington area not only survives, but thrives,” DC Theatre Scene publisher Lorraine Treanor remarked.
Uclés and Noll will receive the award having been nominated this year by both GALA Hispanic Theatre and Theater Alliance. The nominees “bring incredible social cheerleading to the whole theater community…their energy and positivity encourage others to engage with our work,” Theater Alliance noted in its nomination. GALA pointed out that they “advocate for all theaters.”
In addition to their enthusiastic support, Uclés and Noll are well known for their extraordinary haberdashery, often on display in theater and non-theater settings alike.
On May 3, the award ceremony will commence at 7:30 p.m., preceding a performance of Choke by Emilio Infante, which begins at 8 p.m. Following the performance, GALA will host a reception in the lobby. All in attendance that evening are invited to join the celebration.
Previous Gary Maker Audience Award recipients are David Tannous, Alison Drucker and Tom Holzman, Barbara Bear, David Kessler, and the late Joel Markowitz. Louis Altarescu and the late Alan Friedman were the last to receive the award from DC Theatre Scene before it closed in December of 2020.
Alliance for New Music-Theatre gathered a team representing the DC theater community, including DC Theater Arts, to re-establish the award in 2024. Greg Williams, an avid theatergoer with multiple subscriptions and who follows the development of productions from start to full production and especially champions new works, was the first recipient of the revived award.
The 2025 Gary Maker Award Ceremony begins at 7:30 p.m., followed by Choke at 8:00 p.m., Saturday, May 3, 2025 at GALA Hispanic Theatre, 3333 14th Street NW, Washington, DC 20010. A reception will follow. Tickets are $50 ($35 seniors and military). To purchase tickets, call the box office at 202-234-7174.
About José Alberto Uclés and Tom Noll
Both Uclés and Noll are true proud outgoing and caring gay renaissance men, who have lived in the DC Metro area for over 40 years and are known as “DC Artsy Fashion Peacocks,” connectors of people, sought after advisors and supporters, thought provocateurs, and ‘advocates and influencers’ in the DMV arts, theater, cultural, LGBTQ+, fashion, diplomatic and philanthropic scenes, as they stay current and purposeful in their love and support of diverse, eclectic small or large organizations, established and emerging creative artmakers. The gregarious and passionate arts aficionados are frequently seen at local theater openings in their colorful and whimsical attire, as they believe that “Fashion is an art form and the best way to express one’s personality, joy of life and connect with others.”
Uclés and Noll have been been together for 19 years and married since 2013. They both love, pay tribute and gratitude to their forever home, Washington, DC, for the engaging abundance it offers everyone in its many diverse, eclectic, and creative offerings. They became quickly aware that it takes a village to make all this creativity happen and became enthralled by and drawn to this close-knit DC metro area community of art makers, theater creators, advocates, and LGBTQ+ family.
Due to their outgoing personalities and whimsical fashion style, they have been featured in articles in the Washington Post, Washingtonian, DC Modern Luxury, District Fray and Copa Style magazines. They have also served as special guests, speakers, and judges at various events in the DC metro area. They both have been asked to be on the Host Committees for the National Cherry Blossom Festival’s popular Annual Pink Tie Benefit Party, Theatre Washington’s Helen Hayes Awards, IN Series Gala, Olney Center Stage Gala and others.
Uclés is currently on the World Pride DC 2025 Arts, Culture and Theatre Committee.
Last year Uclés and Noll received the Global Couture USA “2024 Fashionista Award” at their annual fashion show at the Organization of American States (OAS). Last June they received the DC Capital Pride Honors Hero Award 2024 for their Alliance for New Music-Theatre contributions to the DC metro area, and the Latin Fashion Week “2023 Arts & Fashion Advocates Award.” In June 2022, the DC Mayor’s 202 Creates Office honored Uclés and Noll as the DC Artsy Fashion Peacocks with a special hour-long Pride Edition Video featuring them on a 202 Creates Masterclass.
José Alberto Uclés is originally from Honduras and has worked for the past 24 years at the U.S. Department of Transportation as the Hispanic Outreach Spokesperson, and Public Affairs Specialist for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). His passion is to provide life-saving traffic safety messages and much needed materials to the more than 62 million Spanish-speakers living in the US. To this end, he helped create the first NHTSA en Español website. He is a sought-after Spanish expert on traffic safety with Univision, Telemundo and other Hispanic radio and media outlets. He is the recipient of the NHTSA- National Diversity Accomplishment Award. After a 10-year Mayoral Appointment as Commissioner to the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, Alberto stepped down in July. This tenure in the Arts Commission delighted him as he got to know the immense and diverse creative community of artmakers and art supporters in DC and metro area. He was one of few Commissioners to show up to tons of events to be supportive with his spouse Tom – hence their popularity.
Before that, he was a 3-year Helen Hayes Theatre Award Judge with Theatre Washington. Uclés and Noll also support the DC area’s fantastic drag and leather community and help host Pride Nights with Washington National Opera, IN Series and others.
Previously Uclés was Assistant Director of Development at the Whitman-Walker Clinic (’96- ‘99) the premier clinic for HIV/AIDS in WDC, and the first Latino to be Director of the famed DC Capital Pride Festival (’97-’99). He was also on the Board of Directors for the Millennium March on Washington for Equality 2000.
Uclés is a graduate of American University (WDC) with a Master’s degree in Public Relations and of Goshen College (Goshen, IN) with a BA in Communications and a Minor in Business Administration.
Tom Noll, originally from Somerset, Ohio, is a multi-media artist, an award-winning children’s book author, and storyteller with his “Trash to Treasure: Recycling Creatively with L.T.” series. He has taken two of the stories, “The Bicycle Fence” and “Selling Eggs,” to area libraries and schools to read to children with the puppets he created for his series. Noll is also a sculptor, who uses recycled rebar and stone. He is an artist and creator of whimsical “Fairy Boxes.” He has been involved in the popular Mid-Atlantic Artomatic Art & Performance Exhibition for almost two decades; he also enjoys mentoring others in the arts & craft-making. He is the stylist in the pair, an interior decorator, landscape designer, and creator of the popular White Bicycle Fence Art Installation at Bloomingdale’s corner park on Rhode Island Avenue, First, and T Streets, NW that he whimsically decorates for major holidays and seasons.
They both say: “We believe in the positive, inclusive, transformative, and nurturing power of the arts, theater, humanities, culture, diversity, and community involvement to improve and elevate the quality of life of us all. The creative industries have been and will continue to be critical factors in our city’s economic development, revitalization, richness and keep on making our Nation’s Capital region a vibrant and rich world-class destination!”