Steamy, Steamy Night

Photos by Ted Soqui

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. Weekly Theater 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

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