The Hawai'i State Theatre Council, a statewide organization of theatre producing groups, will award the Pierre Bowman Award for 2007 to Jo Pruden.

The award will be presented at the annual Po'okela Awards banquet on July 23 at the Ko'olau Ballroom in Kane'ohe.

The award, named after Pierre Bowman, the late newspaper theatre critic who wrote for both Honolulu dailies, is given annually to someone whose "lifetime achievement reflects courage and commitment to quality and through whose efforts the life of theatre in Hawai'i has been uplifted."

Pruden has been acting in community theatre in Hawai'i for 40 years, beginning when her husband, Jip, was transferred to Schofield Barracks in 1967. Since then, she has performed more than 75 roles on Island stages. She has been honored with 11 Po'okela Awards, and in 1996, was named Best Actress Working in Local Theatre by the readers of Honolulu Weekly.

Pruden has served on the theatre council, and is a member of Manoa Valley Theatre's Artistic Advisory Committee. She's done numerous roles in Army Community Theatre's Readers Theatre productions. Last month, she, Sylvia Hormann-Alper, Eden-Lee Murray and Shawna Masuda competed as Hawai'i's representatives in AACTFest 2007 in Charlotte, N.C., with a production of "If We Are Women." Pruden also is box-office manager at the Army's Richardson Theatre.

The "Star's Night Out" banquet is an annual event, where the theatre council presents the Po'okela Awards for Excellence in 21 major categories for musicals and dramatic productions.

Each year, an independent panel of three experienced adjudicators sees every show at each participating theater, and at the end of the season, honors performances, technical skills and shows.

Tickets for "Star's Night Out" can be purchased by phoning Kelly Moulson at Diamond Head Theatre, 733-0277, ext. 306.

For groups, a table seating eight costs $400 and a table of 10 is $500. Individual seats, with no guarantee of exact placement, are $40. (Nonpaid reservations cannot be accepted.) No-host cocktails begin at 6 p.m., followed by a buffet dinner at 7, with the awards starting at 8 p.m.