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Tonea Stewart

Tonea Stewart

Actress; Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Alabama State University

1999 Gabriel Award Winner Tonea Stewart, a native of Greenwood, Mississippi,

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1999 Gabriel Award Winner Tonea Stewart, a native of Greenwood, Mississippi, has lived in Montgomery, Alabama, since 1990. Tonea Stewart is a tenured professor and is the director of theatre arts at Alabama State University. Also, she is also a professional actress.

After receiving a B.S. degree in speech and theater from Jackson State University and an M.A. in theater arts from the University of California at Santa Barbara, Tonea Stewart completed her Ph.D. in theater arts at Florida State University in 1989. She was the first African-American female to receive a doctorate from the FSU School of Theater and the first McKnight Doctoral Fellow in theater arts. During her study at FSU, Tonea also received a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

As an actress, Tonea Stewart is perhaps best known for her reoccurring role in, “In the Heat of the Night.” More recently, she earned an NAACP Image Award nomination for her role in the film adaptation of John Grisham’s “A Time to Kill” and The Gold Medal Award for narration of Public Radio Internationals Series “Remembering Slavery.” Tonea Stewart began her acting career in 1969 and became the first African American to direct and appear on stage at New Stage Theatre, the most prestigious equity theater in Mississippi.

Tonea Stewart is a spokesperson for “One Church, One Child” of Alabama and for NOSAP, a Texas-based organization aimed at youth development. In 1995, she was inducted into the National Black College Alumni Hall of Fame. She has honorary doctorates from Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa and Jarvis Christian College in Hawkins, Texas and ha.

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An Evening With Tonea Stewart. 

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Montgomery Focus - Dr. Tonea Stewart
Tommie "Tonea" Stewart honored for her work

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