The following productions and individuals have been nominated for the L.A. Weekly’s 23rd Annual Theater Awards, to be held at the Los Angeles Theater Center, 514 S. Spring St., downtown, on Monday, April 22. Doors open at 7 p.m.; show starts at 7:30 p.m. A catered reception follows the event. There is complimentary admission for nominees; all others, $5 at the door. For more information or to RSVP, please call (323) 993-3693 or go to the event information page.


—Steven Leigh Morris


PRODUCTION OF THE YEAR Nosferatu . . . Angel of the Final Hour, Zoo District at the Evidence Room; Orson’s Shadow, Black Dahlia Theater/Tiffany Theater; They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, Greenway Court Theater; The Wooden Breeks, Open Fist Theater Company


REVIVAL PRODUCTION OF THE YEAR (20th-CENTURY WORK) The Birthday Party, Matrix Theater; Don Carlos, Evidence Room; Fen, Open Fist Theater Company; Joe Louis Blues, Tiffany Theater; Happy Birthday, Wanda June, Page 93 at the Elephant Theater


MUSICAL OF THE YEAR Back From Broadway, Tiffany Theater; Big River, Deaf West Theater; Pinafore!, Celebration Theater


LEADING FEMALE PERFORMANCE Robyn Cohen, Three Sisters, Interact Theater Company; Liz Jemielita, The Crackwalker, Company of Angels; Maria O’Brien, Mrs. Feuerstein, Padua Playwrights Productions at 2100 Square Feet; Angela Paton, The Birthday Party, Matrix Theater; Shelley Robertson, Joe Louis Blues, Tiffany Theater; Jacqueline Wright, Clyt at Home, Ghost Road Theater Company/Theater of NOTE


LEADING MALE PERFORMANCE Orson Bean, The Scarecrow, Pacific Resident Theater; David Clennon, American Iliad, Victory Theater; David Grammer, Grendel, Circle X at the Open Fist; Jonathan Higgins, On an Average Day, Rocking Chair Test at the Coast Playhouse; Dakin Matthews, Mercadet, The Antaeus Company at the Ivy Substation; Connor Trineer, Edward II, Circle X Theater Company at the Actors’ Gang Theater


SUPPORTING FEMALE PERFORMANCE Alley Mills, The Scarecrow, Pacific Resident Theater; Lolly Ward, The Seagull, Actors’ Gang; Drea Weber/Mina Dillard-Gits, Orson’s Shadow, Black Dahlia Theater/Tiffany Theater


SUPPORTING MALE PERFORMANCE Darryl Armbruster, Dearboy’s War, Lillian Theater; Ralph Drischell, Mercadet, The Antaeus Company at the Ivy Substation; Roscoe Freeman, Black Leather Soles, Stage Lee Theater; Travis Michael Holder, American Iliad, Victory Theater; Roy Lee, Black Leather Soles, Stage Lee Theater; Brian McDonald, Edward II, Circle X Theater Company at the Actors’ Gang Theater; Robert Symonds, The Birthday Party, Matrix Theater


ONE-ACT PERFORMANCE, FEMALE Sarah Fleming, Village Wooing, The Classic Theater Lab at Glaxa Studios; Colette Kilroy, Two-Headed, (Inside) the Ford; Mary Mara, Two-Headed, (Inside) the Ford


ONE-ACT PERFORMANCE, MALE Bruno Oliver, Grimm! (Godfather Death), Sacred Fools; John Rosenfeld, Grimm! (Godfather Death), Sacred Fools


PLAY WRITING Luis Alfaro, Bitter Homes and Gardens, Playwrights Arena at the Los Angeles Theater Center; Glen Berger, Underneath the Lintel, Actors’ Gang; Glen Berger, The Wooden Breeks, Open Fist Theater Company; Murray Mednick, Mrs. Feuerstein, Padua Playwrights Productions at 2100 Square Feet; Austin Pendleton, Orson’s Shadow, Black Dahlia Theater/Tiffany Theater; Sally Stover/Jennifer Leach, Selling Breasts, St. Genesius Theater


ONE-ACT PLAY WRITING Eydie Faye, The Pages of My Diary I’d Rather Not Read, 3dp Productions at the Complex; Julie Jensen, Two-Headed, (Inside) the Ford


DIRECTION Bart DeLorenzo, Don Carlos, Evidence Room; Dan Fields, The Wooden Breeks, Open Fist Theater Company; Stefan Novinski, Fen, Open Fist Theater; Roxanne Rogers, Mrs. Feuerstein, Padua Playwrights Productions at 2100 Square Feet; Andrew J. Robinson, The Birthday Party, Matrix Theater; Matt Shakman, Orson’s Shadow, Black Dahlia Theater/Tiffany Theater; Rick Sparks, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, Greenway Court Theater


DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL Jeff Calhoun, Big River, Deaf West Theater; Mark Savage, Pinafore!, Celebration Theater; Rick Sparks, A Charlie Brown Commercial Christmas, Greenway Court Theater


ONE-ACT DIRECTION Veronica Brady, Two-Headed, (Inside) the Ford; Ben Davis, Grimm! (Godfather Death), Sacred Fools; Richard Hess, The Pages of My Diary I’d Rather Not Read, 3dp Productions at the Complex


COMEDY DIRECTION Wendy McClellan, Antigone. Tertiary. Sexxx., Oasis Theater Company at the Actors Lab; Antony Sandoval, Go True West, Future Stars of Hollywood and Associates at the Lillian Theater; Ron West, The Knacker’s ABC, Open Fist Theater Company


ENSEMBLE The Birthday Party, Matrix Theater; Delirium Palace, Evidence Room; Fen, Open Fist Theater; Infinity, The Collective at the Court Theater; Orson’s Shadow, Black Dahlia Theater/Tiffany Theater; They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, Greenway Court Theater


MUSICAL ENSEMBLE A Charlie Brown Commercial Christmas, Greenway Court Theater; Big River, Deaf West Theater; Pinafore!, Celebration Theater


COMEDY ENSEMBLE Antigone. Tertiary. Sexxx., Oasis Theater Company at the Actors Lab; Go True West, Future Stars of Hollywood and Associates at the Lillian Theater; Happy Birthday, Wanda June, Page 93 at the Elephant Theater; The Knacker’s ABC, Open Fist Theater Company


SOLO PERFORMANCE Maria Costa, Afrospic, Mambo Jumbo at Mi Gente/Hudson Theater; Brian T. Finney, Underneath the Lintel, Actors’ Gang; David Pevsner, To Bitter and Back, Tamarind Theater; Jon Epperson, Lypsinka! The Boxed Set, Tiffany Theater


PRODUCTION DESIGN Aquitania, Ziggurat Theater Company at the Gascon Center Theater; Grendel, Circle X at Open Fist Theater; Frederick of Prussia/George W's Dream of Sleep, City Garage; A Mislaid Heaven, The Road Theater Company; Night of the Iguana, Fountain Theater


COSTUME DESIGN Shon LeBlanc, Antigone. Tertiary. Sexxx., Oasis Theater Company at the Actors Lab; Robert A. Prior, The Imperialists at the Club Cave Canem, Evidence Room; Leon Wiebers, Three Sisters, Interact Theater Company; Pat Tonnema and Byron Batista, A Charlie Brown Commercial Christmas, Greenway Court Theater; Sara Foster, Grendel, Circle X Theater Company at the Open Fist Theater


LIGHTING DESIGN Mike Durst, Orson’s Shadow, Black Dahlia Theater/ Tiffany Theater; Robert Fromer, Edward II, Circle X Theater Company at the Actors’ Gang Theater; Robert Fromer, Two-Headed, (Inside) the Ford; Robert L. Smith, A Mislaid Heaven, The Road Theater Company; Frederick Wenzlaff, Infinity, The Collective at the Court Theater; Dan Reed, Fen, Open Fist Theater


SET DESIGN Maria Bahrer, The Man Who Never Saw Woman’s Nakedness, Odyssey Theater; James Eric, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, Greenway Court Theater; Desma Murphy, A Mislaid Heaven, The Road Theater Company; Cecil H. Schmidt III, The Slow and Painful Death of Sam Shepard, Zoo District at the Sacred Fools Theater; Gary Smoot, Grendel, Circle X at the Open Fist Theater


SOUND DESIGN Drew Dalzell, Fen, Open Fist Theater Company; DE3, Infinity, The Collective at the Court Theater; Rick Sparks, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, Greenway Court Theater; Mitchel Young Evans, Diablogues, Tiffany Theater; John Zalewski, The Scarecrow, Pacific Resident Theater; John Zalewski, Delirium Palace, Evidence Room


CAREER ACHIEVEMENT Murray Mednick


QUEEN OF THE ANGELS AWARD Luis Alfaro


MUSICAL DIRECTION Jef Bek, The Slow and Painful Death of Sam Shepard, Zoo District at the Sacred Fools Theater; Ron Snyder, Pinafore!, Celebration Theater


ADAPTATION Haynes Brooke, Grimm! (Godfather Death), Sacred Fools; Robert Cornthwaite, Mercadet, The Antaeus Company at the Ivy Substation; Christopher DeWan/ Katharine Noon, Clyt at Home, Ghost Road Theater Company/ Theater of NOTE; Charles A. Duncombe, Frederick of Prussia/George W's Dream of Sleep, City Garage; Paul Mullin, Grendel, Circle X Theater Company at the Open Fist Theater; Mark Savage, Pinafore!, Celebration Theater


CHOREOGRAPHY Rolondas Hendricks/Toby Harris, Black Leather Soles, Stage Lee Theater; Brian Reynolds, Macbeth, Quantum Theater Company at the Whitefire Theater; Ken Roht, The Imperialists at the Club Cave Canem, Evidence Room; Ken Roht, Pinafore!, Celebration Theater; Randy Schulman, Infinity, The Collective at the Court Theater;


SPECIAL COMMENDATIONS


For an ensemble creation: Infinity, The Collective at the Court Theater


For 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 Company at the Open Fist Theater

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