The 30th Annual L.A. Weekly Theater Awards

Holy Moly, Lounge Lizards! A Depression? Layoffs? The crisis of the century? Let’s party! The 30th annual L.A. Weekly Theater Awards (The Arts Crisis Edition) is coming to the El Rey, in L.A.’s beautiful Miracle Mile on Monday night, March 30, 2009. That’s 5515 Wilshire Boulevard, two and half blocks west of La Brea.

Okay, James Dean wannabes and Marlon Brando worshippers, or, if you can’t get enough I Love Lucy reruns without needing medication, this is your night! Get out those black leather jackets, shine those saddle shoes, drag out that poodle skirt you found on eBay, and get ready to jive with all the cool cats. ’Cause the El Rey is going to be as sizzling as the Sahara in Las Vegas, circa 1958, as the King and Queen of the Lounge, Louis & Keely (a.k.a. Jake Broder and Vanessa Claire Smith) host the Weekly’s 30th annual celebration of L.A.’s best intimate theater, produced between January 1 and December 31, 2008.

It’ll be cabaret seating, as co-hosts Broder and Smith reprise the repartee and show numbers from their hit prize-winning musical, Louis & Keely: Live at the Sahara.

Nominees get in free, $20 for their guests and the public. All tickets include table service, a pay-as-you-go bar, and a post-show reception.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m., show starts at 7:30 p.m.

Remember, it’s 1958. If you dress like you live in the 21st century or something, you’ll just look like an alien, and people will stare! Don’t be embarrassed, be cool, and be there. ’Cause what will people say if you’re not?

NOMINEES (see list below): To RSVP, call (310) 574-7208.

ALL OTHERS: There will be an online booking link coming this week, stay posted. For more info, call (310) 574-7208.

You’re a nominee if your name appears on the list below, or if you were listed in a program as a producer, artistic director, actor, director, composer, choreographer, stage manager or designer for shows listed in the following categories: Production of the Year, Revival Production, Musical of the Year.

Also, you’re a nominee if you were listed in the program as an actor in any of the shows listed in the ensemble categories or Two-Person Performance category.

Finally, you’re a nominee if you were listed in the program as a producer, artistic director or designer for shows listed in the Production Design category.

The 30th annual nominees are:

PRODUCTION OF THE YEAR

My Antonia, Pacific Resident Theatre

1001, Theatre @ Boston Court

Song of Extinction, Moving Arts at [Inside] the Ford

REVIVAL PRODUCTION OF THE YEAR (of a 20th- or ­21st-­century work)

Betrayal, Andak Stage Company at the New Place Studio Theatre

James Joyce’s The Dead, Open Fist Theatre Company

Klüb, Actors Gang

MUSICAL OF THE YEAR

Assassins, West Coast Ensemble at the El Centro Theatre

Great Expectations, Hudson Backstage Theatre

Gulls, Theatre @ Boston Court

Hedwig and the Angry Inch, MET Theatre

Joe’s Garage, Open Fist Theatre Company

Louis & Keely: Live at the Sahara, Sacred Fools Theatre/Matrix Theatre

Lovelace: A Rock Opera, Hayworth Theatre

Pest Control: The Musical, Open at the Top Productions at the NoHo Arts Center

1776, Actors Co-op

DIRECTION

L. Flint Esquerra, The Bones of Lesser Men, MET Theatre

John Langs, The Sequence, Theatre @ Boston Court

Derek Charles Livingston, M. Butterfly, Chandler Studio Theatre Center

Jon Lawrence Rivera, Sea Change, Gay and Lesbian Center

Stephen Sachs, Victory, Fountain Theatre

Scott Schwartz, My Antonia, Pacific Resident Theatre

Scott Alan Smith, Lady, Road Theatre Company

DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL

Kevin Cochran, R.R.R.E.D. — The Redhead Musical Manifesto, Grove Theater Center

Richard Israel, Assassins, West Coast Ensemble at the El Centro Theatre

Richard Israel, 1776, Actors Co-op

Jessica Kubzansky, Gulls, Theatre @ Boston Court

Scott Leggett, Beaverquest! The Musical, Sacred Fools Theatre Company

Charles Otte, James Joyce’s The Dead, Open Fist Theatre Company

Pat Towne, Joe’s Garage, Open Fist Theatre Company

Ken Sawyer, Lovelace: A Rock Opera, Hayworth Theatre

COMEDY DIRECTION

Darin Anthony, U.S. Drag, Furious Theatre Company at the Pasadena Playhouse

Chris Covics, Fables du Theatre, Unknown Theatre

Ian Forester, Fatboy, NeedTheater at the Imagined Life Theatre

Robert McCaskill, The Common Air, Asylum Theatre

ONE-ACT DIRECTION

Gary Blumsack, Sexy Laundry, The Hayworth Theatre

MUSICAL DIRECTION

Kevin Cochran, R.R.R.E.D. — The Redhead Musical Manifesto, Grove Theater Center

Steven Ladd Jones and Billy Thompson, American Tales, Deaf West Theatre

Dennis Kaye, Louis & Keely: Live at the Sahara, Sacred Fools Theatre/Matrix Theatre

Johanna Kent, 1776, Actors Co-op

Dean Mora, James Joyce’s The Dead, Open Fist Theatre Company

ENSEMBLE

The Bones of Lesser Men, MET Theatre

Bouncers,The Lost Studio

Coffee Will Make You Black, Celebration Theatre

The Friendly Hour, Road Theatre Company

He Asked for It, Theatre of NOTE

James Joyce’s The Dead, Open Fist Theatre Company

The Mission(Accomplished), City Garage

Sea Change, Gay and Lesbian Center

The Sequence, Theatre @ Boston Court

Victory, Fountain Theatre

MUSICAL ENSEMBLE