The L.A. Weekly goes pre-adolescent for the 32nd annual L.A. Weekly Theater Awards, celebrating what our idiosyncratic and contentious awards committee regards as the best of L.A. theater's small stages in the calendar year 2010. The awards bash takes place Monday, April 4, at El Rey Theatre in the Miracle Mile. It's being staged as a junior high sleepover featuring spin-the-bottle and Ouija in the lobby and, onstage, a live goose named Gertrude Stein. Come in your pajamas, and bring a permission letter from your parents.

Tickets are $20, with one comp for each nominee. The online box office opens March 3 at laweekly.com. RSVPs for nominees are now being accepted at (310) 574-7208. Limit of 10 comps per production.

You are a nominee if your name appears below, or if your name was in the program in any of the “Ensembles” categories named below, or if your name was in the program in any of the “Production” categories (except production design) as a producer, playwright, performer, director, designer or stage manager. Nominees for “Production Design” include producers, directors and designers.

We did notice a groundswell of fine new plays last year, but the eight nominees include not one woman, when women are running so many of our best companies: Theatre@ Boston Court, Open Fist Theatre Company, City Garage and Ensemble Studio Theatre–L.A., not to mention the Colony Theatre (too large to qualify for Weekly awards). So what's up with that?

And the nominees are:

 

PRODUCTION OF THE YEAR

Hyperbole: Origins, Rogue Artists

Ensemble at [Inside] the Ford

Influence, Katselas Theatre Company

at the Skylight Theatre

Oedipus El Rey, Theatre@Boston Court

La Razón Blindada (Armored Reason),

24th Street Theatre

 

REVIVAL PRODUCTION OF THE YEAR

(of a 20th- or 21st-century work)

The Autumn Garden, Antaeus Company

A Prayer for My Daughter, Crown City Theatre

Take Me Out, Celebration Theatre

Wit, Actors Co-op

 

MUSICAL OF THE YEAR

Hoboken to Hollywood, Reasoner Productions

at the Edgemar Center for the Arts

See What I Wanna See, Blank

Theatre Company

 

DIRECTION

Benjamin Burdick, A Wolf Inside the Fence,

Open Fist Theatre Company

Guillermo Cienfuegos, Julia,

Pacific Resident Theatre

Nick DeGruccio, Caught, Buttermilk

Productions and Drumfish Productions

at the Zephyr Theatre

Peter Haskell, Kataki, Prince Livingston

Players at the Lex Theatre

Simon Levy, Opus, Fountain Theatre

Travis Preston, Brewsie and Willie,

Poor Dog Group and the Center for New

Performance at CalArts

at the 7th Floor Penthouse

Diane Rodriguez, Sick, Playwrights'

Arena and Latino Theatre Company

at the Los Angeles Theatre Center

Stephen Sachs, The Train Driver,

Fountain Theatre

 

DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL

Jeremy Aldridge, Hoboken to Hollywood

Daniel Henning, See What I Wanna See

L. Flint Esquerra, Head: The Musical,

Met Theatre

Amanda Marquardt, Schmutzigen Deutsche

Kabarett, Zombie Joe's Underground

 

COMEDY DIRECTION

Larry Biederman, Wirehead, Echo Theater

Company at Stage 52 Theatre

Daniel Henning, Why Torture Is Wrong, and

the People Who Love Them, Blank Theatre

Company at the Stella Adler Theatre

Jaime Robledo, Watson,

Sacred Fools Theater Company

Ron Sossi, The Arsonists, Odyssey

Theatre Ensemble

Barbara Schofield, Stage Door,

Open Fist Theatre Company

Richard Tatum, The Girl Who Would Be

King, Absolute Theatre/Full Circle

Theatrics at El Centro Theatre

 

MUSICAL DIRECTION

Robert Shaw, Head: The Musical

Paul Litteral, Hoboken to Hollywood

Gregory Nabours, The Women of Brewster

Place, Celebration Theatre

David O, See What I Wanna See

 

ENSEMBLE

Anton's Uncles, Theater Movement Bazaar

at 24th Street Theatre/Bootleg Theater

Caught

Holy Ghost, Theatre of NOTE

Influence

Oedipus El Rey

A Prayer for My Daughter

Supernova, Elephant Theatre Company

A Wolf Inside the Fence

 

MUSICAL ENSEMBLE

Head: The Musical

Schmutzigen Deutsche Kabarett

The Women of Brewster Place

 

COMEDY ENSEMBLE

Dirty Pooh, Zombie Joe's Underground

The Girl Who Would Be King

Looking for Trouble, White Buffalo Theatre

Company at the Lost Studio

Paradise Park, City Garage

Stage Door

Why Torture Is Wrong, and the People

Who Love Them

Yellow, Coast Playhouse

 

LEADING FEMALE PERFORMANCE

Nike Doukas/Alicia Wollerton, Cousin Bette,

Antaeus Company at Deaf West Theatre

Allegra Fulton/Kirsten Potter, King Lear,

Antaeus Company

Taylor Gilbert, Madagascar, Road Theatre

Company at the Lankershim Arts Center

Nan McNamara, Wit

Roses Prichard, Julia

 

LEADING MALE PERFORMANCE

Sam Anderson, Madagascar

Kevin Brief, A Prayer for My Daughter

Harry Groener/Dakin Matthews, King Lear

Justin Huen, Oedipus El Rey

Christian Lebano, Opus

Jeremy Maxwell, Wirehead

Gregory Sims, Baal, Sacred Fools Theater

Jack Stehlin, More Lies About Jerzy,

Circus Theatricals at the Hayworth Theatre

 

SUPPORTING FEMALE PERFORMANCE

Anne Gee Byrd, The Autumn Garden

Ann Gee Byrd, Four Places,

Rogue Machine at Theatre/Theater

Charlotte Chanler,A Wolf Inside the Fence

Diana Cignoni, The Arsonists

Jia Doughman, Opus

Agatha Nowicki, Parasite Drag,

Elephant Theatre Company

Zoe Perry, The Autumn Garden

Jeanne Syquia, Sidhe,

Road Theatre Company

 

SUPPORTING MALE PERFORMANCE

Tony Amendola/Michael McShane,

Cousin Bette

Tom Costello, Take Me Out

Gregory Itzin/Morlan Higgins, King Lear

Boyd Kestner, Parasite Drag

Garrett Matheson, Take Me Out

Thomas James O'Leary, Take Me Out

Winston J. Rocha, Oedipus El Rey

Cooper Thornton, Opus

Colin Walker, A Wolf Inside the Fence

 

TWO-PERSON PERFORMANCE

Tony Duran/Arturo Diaz de Sandy

and Jesus Castaños Chima,

La Razón Blindada (Armored Reason)

Morlan Higgins and Adolphus Ward,

The Train Driver

Robert Mammana and Will Bradley,

The Twentieth-Century Way,

Theatre@Boston Court

A.K. Murtadha and M.D. Walton,

Topdog/Underdog, Lillian Theatre

Tucker Smallwood and Ron Bottitta,

The Sunset Limited,

Rogue Machine at Theatre/Theater

 

SOLO PERFORMANCE

Paul Dillon, The Event,

needtheater at Son of Semele Ensemble

Anna Khaja, Shaheed,

Stephanie Feury Studio Theatre

Michael McGee, St. Nicholas,

Stephanie Feury Studio Theatre

Ann Randolph, Loveland,

Santa Monica Playhouse

 

FEMALE COMEDY PERFORMANCE

Christine Estabrook, Why Torture

Is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them

Beth Hogan, The Arsonists

Jonica Patella, Schmutzigen Deutsche

Kabarett

Cynthia Mance, The Marriage of Figaro,

City Garage

Amanda Weier, Stage Door

 

MALE COMEDY PERFORMANCE

John Achorn, The Arsonists

Henry Dittman, Watson

Arthur Hanket, Stage Door

Norbert Weisser, The Arsonists

 

ONE-ACT PERFORMANCE

Candice Afia, Blood and Thunder,

Moving Arts

Keith Robinson, Looking for Trouble

Tony Williams, Blood and Thunder

 

PLAYWRITING

Matthew Benjamin and Logan Brown,

Wirehead

Shem Bitterman, Influence

Joseph Fisher, A Wolf Inside the Fence

Timothy McNeil, Supernova

Vince Melocchi, Julia

Tom Jacobson, The Twentieth Century Way

Erik Patterson, Sick

John Steppling, Phantom Luck,

Gunfighter Nation at the Lost Studio

 

PRODUCTION DESIGN

Brewsie and Willie

Hyperbole: Origins

Oedipus El Rey

Paradise Park

A Tale Told By an Idiot, Psittacus

Productions at Son of Semele Ensemble/

Lounge Theatre

Wirehead

 

ADAPTATION

Tim Acito, The Women of Brewster Place

Luis Alfaro, Oedipus El Rey

Richard Alger and Tina Kronis,

Anton's Uncles

 

LIGHTING DESIGN

Efren Delgadillo Jr. and Adam Haas Hunter,

Brewsie and Willie

Jeremy Pivnick, Oedipus El Rey

Dan Weingarten, A Tale Told By an Idiot

Dan Weingarten, Wirehead

 

COSTUME DESIGN

Shon LeBlanc, Stage Door

Josephine Poinsot, The Marriage of Figaro

Teresa Shea, Project: Wonderland,

Bootleg Theater

Christina Wright, The Good Woman of

Setzuan, Open Fist Theatre Company

 

SET DESIGN

Potsch Boyd, Kataki

Efren Delgadillo Jr., Wirehead

Jeff McLaughlin, The Train Driver

Birgitte Moos, The Arsonists

James Spencer, Stage Door

 

SOUND DESIGN

Drew Dalzell, Wirehead

John Nobori, Hyperbole: Origins

Robert Oriol, Oedipus El Rey

Alex Wright, The Good Woman of Setzuan

John Zalewski, King Lear

 

CHOREOGRAPHY

Ameenah Kaplan, The Women of

Brewster Place

Tina Kronis, Anton's Uncles

Natasha Norman and Ceasar F. Barajas,

Watson

Aristides Vargas, La Razón Blindada

(Armored Reason)

 

PUPPET DESIGN

Lynn Jeffries, Project: Wonderland

 

ORIGINAL MUSIC

Andrew Conrad and Andrew Gilbert,

Brewsie and Willie

Ryan Johnson, Watson

Dean Mora, The Good Woman of Setzuan

Robert Oriol, Oedipus El Rey

 

FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHY

Andrew Amani, Watson

Louis Roth, Kataki

Jennings Turner, Holy Ghost

 

PROJECTION DESIGN

Jesse Bonnell, John Kern, Jeffrey Elias

Teeter, Brewsie and Willie

Hana Sooyeon Kim, Futura,

Theatre@Boston Court

Steven Calcote, The Limitations of Genetic

Technology, Off-Chance Productions at

Theatre of NOTE

Dave Mickey, Lianne Arnold,

Sean T. Cawelti, Hyperbole: Origins

Charles Otte, The Good Woman of Setzuan

 

TRANSLATION

Frédérique Michel and Charles Duncombe,

The Marriage of Figaro

 

CAREER ACHIEVEMENT

Lee Kissman

 

QUEEN OF THE ANGELS

Jessica Kubzansky and Michael Michetti

 

SPECIAL CITATION

Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble's trilogy of original plays presented in repertory at the Powerhouse Theatre: Gospel According to the First Squad, Wounded and Survived, collectively titled The War Cycle. Each concerned the U.S. military presences in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The citation is given for breadth of vision and clarity of purpose by an ensemble.

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