Boston: The Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE) Awards, held in April, gave top prizes to New Repertory Theatre’s production of Camelot and Nora Theatre Company’s Operation Epsilon by Alan Brody. Camelot won for best actress in a musical (Erica Spyres), best actor in a musical (Benjamin Evett) and best supporting actor in a musical (Robert D. Murphy). Operation Epsilon won best new play for a midsize company and for its set design (Janie E. Howland) as well as for best midsize ensemble.
More Boston-area accolades, the venerable Elliot Norton Awards, were given out in May. Company One’s production of Annie Baker’s The Flick earned the most honors, with three Nortons: for small theatre production, overall design and actor (Alex Pollock).
Florida: At the Carbonell Awards in March, celebrating South Florida theatre, two small companies got the majority of the prizes╤Island City Stage and Actors’ Playhouse took six and five, respectively. ICS won for its production of The Timekeepers by Dan Clancy, which tallied up the honors for play production, direction (Michael Leeds), actor (Michael McKeever), scenic design (Michael McClain), lighting design (Preston Bircher) and sound design (David Hart). Actors’ Playhouse won for the musicals In the Heights (best production, musical director Emmanuel Schvartzman and actor Nick Duckart) and Ruthless! (actress Amy Miller Brennan and supporting actor Gabriel Zenone).
Los Angeles: The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle recognized both large and small theatres in the L.A.—Orange County area at its annual awards ceremony in March. The biggest winner was Son of Semele Ensemble’s production of the Holocaust drama Our Class, which took four awards╤for production, ensemble, featured performance (Michael Nehring) and direction (Matthew McCray).
The L.A. Weekly honors small theatres with its LA Weekly Theater Awards, this year naming Matrix Theatre Company’s production of We Are Proud to Present a Presentation… by Jackie Sibblies Drury as production of the year. The show also won for supporting female performance (Julanne Chidi Hill), supporting male performance (Phil LaMarr) and set design (John Iacovelli).
San Francisco: The San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle divides its winners into three categories: houses under 100, 100- to 300-seat houses and houses over 300 seats. Top honors in the big-theatre category went to Spreckels Theatre Company’s production of Young Frankenstein, which won for production, choreography (Michella Snider), ensemble, featured musical actress (Mary Gannon Graham), music direction (Sandy and Richard Riccardi) and principal musical actress (Denise Elia-Yen). In the small-size theatre category, the big winner was Impact Theatre’s production of As You Like It (with four). Among mid-size theatres, Marin Theatre Company’s production of Matthew Lopez’s The Whipping Man dominated, also with four prizes.
Washington, D.C.: The most-honored productions at the Helen Hayes Awards, with three trophies each, were Round House Theatre’s Glengarry Glen Ross, the Kennedy Center’s The Book of Mormon and Ford’s Theatre and Signature Theatre’s co-production of Hello, Dolly! Glengarry won for direction (Mitchell Hebert), lead actor in a play (Rick Foucheux) and ensemble. Book of Mormon won for lead actor (Christopher John O’Neill), best visiting production and best supporting performer (Samantha Marie Ware). Hello, Dolly! won a best resident musical prize and additional awards for its choreography (Karma Camp) and its ensemble.
(Go to americantheatre.org for more complete information.)
