A FULL HOUSE COMBINED WITH A BARELY FUNCTIONING AIR-conditioning system at Los Angeles Theater Center's Tom Bradley Theater made the 23rd annual Lawees a toasty occasion, and an inordinate endurance test for aerialist Montana Miller, who remained precariously suspended above the stage throughout the evening. Still, director Matt Almos and co-hosts/
line producers Burglars of Hamm put on a lean show, clocking in at just over two and a half hours. Testament to the Burglars' skill was the sight, at show's end, of the theater still filled with patrons -- an anomaly for such ceremonies. Part of the reason for this might have been the Burglars' piquant series of video presentations, gently ribbing the fastidiousness of the late archivist Robert B. Richardson, to whom the evening was dedicated. (For 14 years, the man clipped theater reviews for every local production from every major newspaper except -- curiously -- the L.A. Weekly.)
Mary Mara retrieves her award from the
balcony via a “bucket of glory.” |
The Burglars' ironically sugary style was offset by their profanely outrageous co-host, Ronnie Larsen, who arrived as Cathy Rigby in a send-up of her Ovations Awards Lifetime Achievement Award (Peter Pan is Rigby's only recognized role). Director Frederique Michel presented a sardonic scene inspired by Kaufman and Hart's comedy Once in a Lifetime. Being a parody of literary veneer, it featured copious female nudity -- a trademark of Michel's Santa Monicabased company, City Garage. Later in the program, co-directors Tracy Young and Laural Meade struck a very different tone in a riff, based on the same play, that included an opera diva upstaged by her underpaid accompanist, a walnut-cracking crone, and a rambunctious stage technician. The new reigning Queen of the Angels, Luis Alfaro, rocked the house with an impassioned rendition of his own poem about the trials of, and need for, the storyteller. Shon LeBlanc and A. Jeffrey Schoenberg provided gorgeous costumes for a pre-event fashion show on the lobby's curving stairwell, and Edge of the World Theater Festival, in partnership with the Los Angeles Public Library, provided a lobby display on local theater history -- the first phase of a museum now in the planning stages.
A slice of gratuitous beefcake (left)
and a slice of satirical cheesecake
|
The big production awards going to Greenway Court Theater's They Shoot Horses, Don't They?and Deaf West Theater's Big River echoed the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards. Both awards committees share a number of critics, which may account for the replication. Following is the complete list of L.A. WeeklyTheater Awards recipients:
PRODUCTION OF THE YEAR
They Shoot Horses, Don't They?,
Greenway Court Theater
REVIVAL PRODUCTION OF THE YEAR
(OF A 20th-CENTURY WORK)
The Birthday Party, Matrix Theater
MUSICAL OF THE YEAR
Pinafore!, Celebration Theater
LEADING-FEMALE PERFORMANCE (tie)
Maria O'Brien, Mrs. Feuerstein,
Padua Playwrights Productions at
2100 Square Feet
Jacqueline Wright, Clyt at Home,
Ghost Road Theater Company/
Theater of NOTE
LEADING-MALE PERFORMANCE
Dakin Matthews, Mercadet, Antaeus
Company at the Ivy Substation
SUPPORTING-FEMALE PERFORMANCE
Lolly Ward, The Seagull, Actors' Gang
SUPPORTING-MALE PERFORMANCE
Brian McDonald, Edward II,
Circle X Theater Company at
the Actors' Gang Theater
ONE-ACT PERFORMANCE, FEMALE
Mary Mara, Two-Headed, Inside the Ford
ONE-ACT PERFORMANCE, MALE (tie)
Bruno Oliver, Grimm! (Godfather Death),
Sacred Fools
John Rosenfeld, Grimm! (Godfather Death),
Sacred Fools
PLAY WRITING
Austin Pendleton, Orson's Shadow,
Black Dahlia Theater
ONE-ACT PLAY WRITING
Julie Jensen, Two-Headed, (Inside) the Ford
DIRECTION
Rick Sparks, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, 
Greenway Court Theater
DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL
Jeff Calhoun, Big River,Deaf West Theater
ONE-ACT DIRECTION
Veronica Brady, Two-Headed,
(Inside) the Ford
COMEDY DIRECTION
Antony Sandoval, Go True West, Future
Stars of Hollywood and Associates at
the Lillian Theater
ENSEMBLE
They Shoot Horses, Don't They?,
Greenway Court Theater
MUSICAL ENSEMBLE
Pinafore!, Celebration Theater
COMEDY ENSEMBLE
Go True West (one act),
Future Stars of Hollywood and
Associates at the Lillian Theater
SOLO PERFORMANCE
Jon Epperson, Lypsinka! The Boxed Set,
Tiffany Theater
PRODUCTION DESIGN (tie)
Aquitania, Ziggurat Theater
Company at the Gascon
Center Theater
Grendel, Circle X
at the Open Fist Theater
Night of the Iguana,
Fountain Theater
COSTUME DESIGN
Leon Wiebers, Three Sisters,
Interact Theater Company
LIGHTING DESIGN (tie)
Robert Fromer, Edward II, Circle X Theater 
Company at the Actors' Gang Theater
Frederick Wenzlaff, Infinity, Court Theater
SET DESIGN
Gary Smoot, Grendel, Circle X Theater
Company at the Open Fist Theater
SOUND DESIGN
DE3, Infinity, Court Theater
CAREER ACHIEVEMENT
Murray Mednick
MUSICAL DIRECTION
Ron Snyder, Pinafore!, Celebration Theater
QUEEN OF THE ANGELS AWARD
Luis Alfaro
ADAPTATION
Paul Mullin, Grendel, Circle X Theater
Company at the Open Fist Theater
Mark Savage, Pinafore!,
Celebration Theater
CHOREOGRAPHY
Ken Roht, Pinafore!,
Celebration Theater
SPECIAL COMMENDATIONS:
For an ensemble creation:
The collective of Infinity, Court Theater
For a musical performance:
James Barbour, Back From Broadway,
Tiffany Theater
Christopher Sands and Debra Lane,
Pinafore!, Celebration Theater
For translation:
William Page, Diablogues, Tiffany Theater
For puppet design:
Leslie K Gray, Grendel, Circle X Theater
