Fil-Am actor Van Ferro wins BroadwayWorld Award

In 2022, Van Ferro was one of the busiest actors in Chicago theater. BWAYWORLD

CHICAGO – Actor Van Ferro won his second consecutive award for Best Supporting Performer in a Play for his critically acclaimed performance as John N. Fail in Oil Lamp Theater’s Failure: A Love Story, theater news website BroadwayWorld announced Jan. 24.

Ferro bested 61 other nominees with 16% of the votes as of the last day of voting Dec. 31 last year. Failure also won Best Play, another consecutive win for Oil Lamp Theater, which also won last year  for Shipwrecked: An Entertainment.

“I really appreciate everyone who cast a vote and asked their friends and family to vote for me. I hope that this encourages more people of color to participate in Chicago theater, especially Filipinos,” Ferro said in press statement.

Failure: A Love Story also won runner-up citations for Best Lighting Design of a Play/Musical (Hannah Wien), Best Performer in a Play (Kendal Romero), Best Scenic Design of a Play/Musical (Jay Pastucha and Ellen Markus), and Best Sound Design of a Play/Musical (Jay Pastucha).

The BroadwayWorld win ties Ferro with Rachelle Ann Go’s three BroadwayWorld Awards in 2014, 2015 and 2018 at the UK/West End edition of the BroadwayWorld Awards. Previous acting winners in Chicago include Broadway luminaries such as Patti LuPone, Brian Dennehy, Diane Lane and Santino Fontana.

In 2022, Ferro was one of the busiest actors in Chicago theater, also appearing in A Theater in the Dark’s Murder in the Court of Xanadu, Cock and Bull Arts’ The Octopus; Act Your Page’s productions of Bernard Slade’s Same Time, Next Year (as George), and Lucas Hnath’s The Christians (as Pastor Joshua); and a cameo role in Sigman Brothers’ first play In Memoriam. Ferro also continued his work in commercials and industrials with leading brands such as Sam’s Club, Kohls, and Calypso Lemonade.