CHICAGO: The Jeff Awards Committee has announced the winners of its 47th Annual Equity Awards, with top honors going to the newly Equity-eligible company the Hypocrites for All Our Tragic, a 12-hour adaptation of 32 Greek tragedies, which earned six awards, among them Best Play at a Midsize Theatre, Best Ensemble, Best Director, and Best New Adaptation. Paramount Theatre, also in its first year of Equity eligibility, followed close behind, winning five awards for productions of Les Misérables and The Who’s Tommy.
The Equity Jeff Awards were originally established in 1968 with the aim to celebrate Chicago-area theatre and reward local productions for their artistic accomplishments. This year’s awards gala, directed by Porchlight artistic director Michael Weber, was held at Drury Lane Oakbrook on Monday, Oct. 6 and featured live and video performances from nominated productions. A non-Equity awards ceremony will be held on June 6, 2016.
Actors Jerod Haynes, Nicholas Dantes, Kate Fry, and Heidi Kettenring were recognized for their performances in plays and musicals, and Anthony Fleming III took home the prize for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Play for his role as harpooner Queequeg in Lookingglass Theatre Company‘s Moby Dick. Coproduced with the Actors Gymnasium, the adaptation of Melville’s epic novel also received the award for Best Play for a Large Theatre.
The late PJ Paparelli and Joshua Jaeger received the honor for Best New Play for The Project(s), a look at Chicago’s public housing, at American Theater Company. Mat Smart received the same award for The Royal Society of Antarctica at the Gift Theatre. Paul Gordon’s musical version of Sense and Sensibility at Chicago Shakespeare Theater received Best New Musical.
A complete list of winners is below.
PRODUCTION — PLAY — LARGE
Moby Dick — Lookingglass Theatre Company in association with The Actors Gymnasium
PRODUCTION — PLAY — MIDSIZE
All Our Tragic — The Hypocrites
PRODUCTION — MUSICAL — LARGE
Les Misérables — Paramount Theatre
PRODUCTION — MUSICAL — MIDSIZE
The Addams Family — Mercury Theater Chicago
PRODUCTION — REVUE
Sondheim on Sondheim — Porchlight Music Theatre
DIRECTOR — PLAY
Sean Graney — All Our Tragic — The Hypocrites
DIRECTOR — MUSICAL
Jim Corti — Les Misérables — Paramount Theatre
DIRECTOR — REVUE
Nick Bowling — Sondheim on Sondheim — Porchlight Music Theatre
ENSEMBLE
All Our Tragic — The Hypocrites
ACTOR IN A PRINICPAL ROLE — PLAY
Jerod Haynes — Native Son — Court Theatre and American Blues Theater
ACTOR IN A PRINCIPAL ROLE — MUSICAL
Nicholas Dantes — Billy Elliot, the Musical — Drury Lane Productions
ACTRESS IN A PRINCIPAL ROLE — PLAY
Kate Fry — Outside Mullingar — Northlight Theatre
ACTRESS IN A PRINCIPAL ROLE — MUSICAL
Heidi Kettenring — The King and I — Marriott Theatre
ACTOR OR ACTRESS IN A REVUE
Cory Goodrich — Ring of Fire, The Music of Johnny Cash — Mercury Theater Chicago and Theatre at the Center
SOLO PERFORMANCE
Ronald Keaton — Churchill — SoloChicago Theatre and Greenhouse Theater Center
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE — PLAY
Anthony Fleming III — Moby Dick — Lookingglass Theatre Company in association with The Actors Gymnasium
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE — MUSICAL
Matthew Crowle — A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum — Porchlight Music Theatre
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE — PLAY
Kate Buddeke — Airline Highway — Steppenwolf Theatre Company
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE — MUSICAL
Michelle Aravena — West Side Story — Drury Lane Productions
NEW WORK — PLAY
PJ Paparelli and Joshua Jaeger — The Project(s) — American Theater Company
Mat Smart — The Royal Society of Antarctica — The Gift Theatre
NEW WORK — MUSICAL
Paul Gordon — Sense and Sensibility — Chicago Shakespeare Theater
NEW ADAPTATION
Sean Graney — All Our Tragic — The Hypocrites
CHOREOGRAPHY
Rachel Rockwell — Billy Elliot, the Musical — Drury Lane Productions
ORIGINAL MUSIC IN A PLAY
Henry Marsh — Pericles — Chicago Shakespeare Theater
MUSIC DIRECTION
Austin Cook — Sondheim on Sondheim — Porchlight Music Theatre
SCENIC DESIGN — LARGE
Kevin Depinet and Jeffrey D. Kmiec — Les Misérables — Paramount Theatre
SCENIC DESIGN — MIDSIZE
John Holt — Accidentally Like a Martyr — A Red Orchid Theatre
LIGHTING DESIGN — LARGE
Greg Hofmann — The Who’s Tommy — Paramount Theatre
LIGHTING DESIGN — MIDSIZE
Brian Sidney Bembridge — The Royale — American Theater Company
COSTUME DESIGN — LARGE
Dede M. Ayite — Marie Antoinette — Steppenwolf Theatre Company
COSTUME DESIGN — MIDSIZE
Alison Siple — All Our Tragic — The Hypocrites
SOUND DESIGN — LARGE
Rick Sims — Moby Dick — Lookingglass Theatre Company in association with The Actors Gymnasium
SOUND DESIGN — MIDSIZE
Victoria Deiorio — The White Road — Irish Theatre of Chicago
PROJECTIONS / VIDEO DESIGN
Mike Tutaj — The Who’s Tommy — Paramount Theatre
ARTISTIC SPECIALIZATION
Isaac Schoepp — Rigging Design — Moby Dick — Lookingglass Theatre Company in association with The Actors Gymnasium
SPECIAL AWARD
Paula Scrofano and John Reeger
