Deaf West's SPRING AWAKENING and More Top 2015 Ovation Awards; All the Winners!
By: BWW News Desk Nov. 10, 2015
The 2015 LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Awards, celebrating theatrical excellence and achievement during the past 12 months, were presented on Monday, November 9 at the Ahmanson Theatre at The Music Center. Among the many winners were the stars and creative team of Deaf West's SPRING AWAKENING, now on Broadway. Scroll down for the full list of winners!
Thirty-five awards were bestowed upon 18 different Southern California theatre companies. The most honored companies of the year were The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts/Deaf West Theatre/Cody Lassen (Spring Awakening); Center Theatre Group (Chavez Ravine: An L.A. Revival, The Price, Luna Gale); Circle X Theatre Company (Trevor); Ebony Repertory Company (The Gospel at Colonus); Sacred Fools Theater Company (The Behavior of Broadus, a co-production with Burglars of Hamm and Center Theatre Group); Four Larks (The Temptation of St Antony); and Loft Ensemble (She Kills Monsters).
Other companies honored were 3-D Theatricals, Actors Co-op, Cabrillo Music Theatre, Coeurage Theatre Company, Los Angeles Performance Practice, The Pasadena Playhouse, Rogue Machine, Unbound Productions, and VS. Theatre Company. The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts received the Best Season Award (Enter Laughing, Love, Noel: The Letters and Songs of Noel Coward, Spring Awakening).
For a complete list of winners, scroll down or go to @ This Stage Magazine (ThisStage.LA).
LA STAGE Alliance Board Chair Brian Kite said, "What a night! It is always a thrill to gather the Los Angeles theatre community together to honor excellence. The work on our stages this year was invigorating, riveting, thought provoking, and daring. Congratulations to all the artists that keep LA theatre among the best in the world. Bravo!"
Sarah Lyding, Senior Program Officer for The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation, presented the BEST Awards, including checks totaling $105,000 to the following LA theatre companies: Casa 0101 (also won in 2012), Center Theatre Group, East West Players (also won in 2013 and 2014), The Pasadena Playhouse, and Watts Village Theater Company.
Additionally, Center Theatre Group presented the 2015 Sherwood Award for innovative and adventurous artists to Miwa Matreyek. This award is endowed by the Sherwood family and is accompanied by $10,000 to further Matreyek's artistic work.
The ceremony was hosted by French and Vanessa Claire Stewart, and this year's presenters included LA theatre luminaries (in alphabetical order) Keith Allan, Bekah Brunsetter, Lap Chi Chu, Guillermo Cienfuegos, Tim Dang, Abigail Deser, Robert Egan, Christina Elmore, Ann Closs Farley, Shirley Jo Finney, Brighid Fleming, David and Kiki Gindler, Harry Groener, Sofia Klatzker, Michael Kricfalusi, Deborah Lawler, Alan Mandell, Terence McFarland, Stephen Sachs, Oz Scott, Madhuri Shekar, Trent Steelman, Seema Sueko, Jose Luis Valenzuela, and Kirsten Vangsness.
Founded in 1989, the LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Awards are the only peer-judged theatre awards in Los Angeles. Voters are Los Angeles theatre professionals who are chosen each year, through an application process, by the Ovation Rules Committee. The list of nominees is determined by a tabulation of scores conducted by Green Hasson Janks. This year's Ovation Award eligibility period ran from September 1, 2014 through August 31, 2015.
Since 1975, LA STAGE Alliance has dedicated to building awareness, appreciation, and support for the performing arts in Greater Los Angeles. All of its initiatives aim to serve and strengthen the sector - both at an individual and community level - providing resources that facilitate audience engagement, collaborative marketing, community building, and professional development.
Sponsors for this year's Ovation Awards ceremony were The Sheri & Les Biller Family Foundation, TheaterMania, Goldstar, Walt Disney Imagineering Creative Entertainment, USC School of Dramatic Arts, UCLA School of Theater, Film & Television, Green Hasson Janks, Bakers Man Productions, Performances Magazine, City Tavern, Peter Konerko Photography, and Ken Werther Publicity. Variety was the media sponsor.
For more information, visit lastagealliance.com.
2015 LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Award Winners:
BEST SEASON
WALLIS ANNENBERG CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
ENTER LAUGHING - THE MUSICAL
LOVE, NOEL: THE LETTERS AND SONGS OF NOE?L COWARD
SPRING AWAKENING
BEST PRODUCTION OF A PLAY (INTIMATE THEATRE)
TREVOR
Circle X Theatre Company
BEST PRODUCTION OF A PLAY (LARGE THEATRE)
CHAVEZ RAVINE: AN L.A. REVIVAL
Center Theatre Group
BEST PRODUCTION OF A MUSICAL (INTIMATE THEATRE)
SPRING AWAKENING
Deaf West Theatre
BEST PRODUCTION OF A MUSICAL (LARGE THEATRE)
SPRING AWAKENING
Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Deaf West Theatre, and Cody Lassen
BEST PRESENTED PRODUCTION
LUNA GALE
Center Theatre Group
ACTING ENSEMBLE OF A PLAY
THE TEMPTATION OF ST ANTONY
Four Larks
ACTING ENSEMBLE OF A MUSICAL
SPRING AWAKENING
Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Deaf West Theatre, and Cody Lassen
CHOREOGRAPHY
SPENCER LIFF
SPRING AWAKENING
Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Deaf West Theatre, and Cody Lassen
MUSIC DIRECTION
ABDUL HAMID ROYAL
THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS Ebony Repertory Theatre
BOOK OF AN ORIGINAL MUSICAL
CAROLYN ALMOS, MATT ALMOS,
JON BEAUREGARD & ALBERT DAYAN
THE BEHAVIOR OF BROADUS
Sacred Fools Theater Company, Burglars of Hamm & Center Theatre Group
LYRICS/COMPOSITION OF AN ORIGINAL MUSICAL
BRENDAN MILBURN, MATT ALMOS & BURGLARS OF HAMM
THE BEHAVIOR OF BROADUS
Sacred Fools Theater Company, Burglars of Hamm & Center Theatre Group
PLAYWRITING FOR AN ORIGINAL PLAY
NICK JONES
TREVOR
Circle X Theatre Company
DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL
MICHAEL ARDEN
SPRING AWAKENING
Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Deaf West Theatre, and Cody Lassen
DIRECTION OF A PLAY
MICHAEL MATTHEWS
FAILURE: A LOVE STORY Coeurage Theatre Company
LEAD ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
TODD ADAMSON as Huey
MEMPHIS
Cabrillo Music Theatre
LEAD ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
CHRISTANNA ROWADER as Mother
RAGTIME
3-D Theatricals
LEAD ACTOR IN A PLAY
JIMMI SIMPSON as Trevor
TREVOR
Circle X Theatre Company
LEAD ACTRESS IN A PLAY
LAURIE METCALF as Sandra
TREVOR
Circle X Theatre Company
FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
SAMUEL BUTLER as Balladeer
THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS Ebony Repertory Theatre
FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
NICOE POTTS as Soloist
THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS Ebony Repertory Theatre
FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY
ALAN MANDELL as Gregory Solomon
THE PRICE
Center Theatre Group
FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY
REBECCA MOZO as W
COCK
Rogue Machine
LIGHTING DESIGN (INTIMATE THEATRE)
JARED SAYEG
PICNIC
The Antaeus Company
LIGHTING DESIGN (LARGE THEATRE)
BEN STANTON
SPRING AWAKENING
Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Deaf West Theatre, and Cody Lassen
SCENIC DESIGN (INTIMATE THEATRE)
DARCY SCANLIN
COMPLETENESS
VS. Theatre Company & Firefly Theater & Films
SCENIC DESIGN (LARGE THEATRE)
TOM BUDERWITZ
THE WHIPPING MAN Pasadena Playhouse
SOUND DESIGN (INTIMATE THEATRE)
JOHN ZALEWSKI
THE DAY SHALL DECLARE IT
Los Angeles Performance Practice
SOUND DESIGN (LARGE THEATRE)
DREW DALZELL & NOELLE HOFFMAN
WICKED LIT 2014 Unbound Productions
COSTUME DESIGN (INTIMATE THEATRE)
VICKI CONRAD
THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD Actors Co-op
COSTUME DESIGN (LARGE THEATRE)
CHRISTOPHER ACEBO
CHAVEZ RAVINE: AN L.A. REVIVAL Center Theatre Group
VIDEO/PROJECTION DESIGN
JASON THOMPSON
CHAVEZ RAVINE: AN L.A. REVIVAL Center Theatre Group
2015 OVATION HONORS:
COMPOSITION FOR A PLAY
MAT SWEENEY & ELLEN WARKENTINE
THE TEMPTATION OF ST ANTONY Four Larks
FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHY
MIKE MAHAFFEY
SHE KILLS MONSTERS Loft Ensemble
PUPPET DESIGN
TED BLEGEN
SHE KILLS MONSTERS Loft Ensemble
Videos