Mark Rylance, GREAT COMET & More Win Boston's Elliot Norton Awards!

More than 25 nominations of outstanding actors, directors, designers and ensembles were nominated by The Boston Theater Critics Association (BTCA), with winners announced just last night at the 34th Annual Elliot Norton Awards, at Boston's Citi Performing Arts Center Shubert Theatre.

Among this year's nominees for Outstanding Musical Production by a Large Theater are WAITRESS and NATASHA, PIERRE, AND THE GREAT COMET OF 1812, both at American Repertory Theatre. Tony winner Jessie Mueller and Denée Benton also each received nods for their respective performances.

This year's recipient of the Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence is Steven Maler, Founding Artistic Director, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, which has for 20 years presented free, exhilarating productions of the Bard's works in Boston, the last 19 on Boston Common. These magical evenings, helmed by Maler and enjoyed by thousands, have introduced sundry Bostonians not only to Shakespeare but to professional theater and have played a significant role in making Boston a first-class theater town. A Special Citation will be awarded to Matthew Aucoin, for bringing Walt Whitman to life with his own artful sense of operatic poetry in his opera, Crossing.

The awards are presented annually by The Boston Theater Critics Association (BTCA) (Don Aucoin, Jared Bowen, Terry Byrne, Carolyn Clay, Nick Dussault, Iris Fanger, Joyce Kulhawik, Kilian Melloy, Bob Nesti, and Ed Siegel) to honor the outstanding productions, directors, designers, and performers that audiences have seen on Greater Boston area stages throughout the year.

The Elliot Norton Awards are named for the eminent Boston theater critic Elliot Norton, who remained an active supporter of drama, both locally and nationally, until his death in 2003 at the age of 100. The Boston theater community carries on his legacy and can be proud of its remarkable growth at a time in our nation's history when the arts are struggling to survive.

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34th Annual Elliot Norton Awards Winners

Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence
This year's recipient of the ENP for Sustained Excellence is Steven Maler, Founding Artistic Director of Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, which has for 20 years presented free, exhilarating productions of the Bard's works in Boston, the last 19 on Boston Common. These magical evenings, helmed by Maler and enjoyed by thousands, have introduced sundry Bostonians not only to Shakespeare but to professional theater and have played a significant role in making Boston a first-class theater town.

Outstanding Visiting Production
Needles & Opium (Robert Lepage and Ex Machina, presented by ArtsEmerson)

**Ghost Quartet (presented by American Repertory Theater)

1984 (the Headlong, Almeida Theatre and Nottingham Playhouse production, presented by American Repertory Theater)

Outstanding Production by a Large Resident Theater
**Come Back, Little Sheba (Huntington Theatre Company)

Milk Like Sugar (Huntington Theatre Company)

Nice Fish (American Repertory Theater)

Outstanding Production by a Midsize Theater
Casa Valentina (SpeakEasy Stage Company)

**The Convert (Underground Railway Theater)

Bootycandy (SpeakEasy Stage Company)

Outstanding Production by a Small Theater
The New Electric Ballroom (Gloucester Stage Company)

Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them (Company One Theatre)

**The Diary of Anne Frank (Boston Children's Theatre)

Outstanding Production by a Fringe Theater
**A Beautiful Day in November on the Banks of the Greatest of the Great Lakes (Apollinaire Theatre Company)

Dying City (Happy Medium Theatre)

The Launch Prize (Bridge Repertory Theater of Boston)

Outstanding Musical Production by a Large Theater
Waitress (American Repertory Theater)

**Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 (American Repertory Theater)

A Little Night Music (Huntington Theatre Company)

Outstanding Musical Production by a Midsize, Small or Fringe Theater
Violet (SpeakEasy Stage Company)

Thoroughly Muslim Millie (Gold Dust Orphans)

**My Fair Lady (Lyric Stage Company of Boston)

Outstanding Design, Large Theater
**Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 (American Repertory Theater) Scenic design by Mimi Lien, Costumes by Paloma Young, Lighting by Bradley King, Sound by Matt Hubbs, Wigs and Makeup by Rachel Padula Shufelt

Come Back, Little Sheba (Huntington Theatre Company) Scenic design by Stephen Dobay, Costumes by Sarah Laux, Lighting by Mike Durst, Sound by Jonathan Mastro

1984 (American Repertory Theater) Design by Chloe Lamford, Lighting by Natasha Chivers, Sound by Tom Gibbons, Video by Tim Reid

Outstanding Design, Midsize, Small or Fringe Theater

Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them (Company One Theatre) Scenic design by Cristina Todesco, Lighting by Jen Rock, Costumes by Rafael Jaen, Sound by Ed Young, Properties by Molly FitzMaurice

**Mary Poppins (Wheelock Family Theatre) Scenic design by Janie E. Howland, Lighting by Franklin Meissner Jr., Costumes by Elisabetta Polito, Sound by Roger J. Moore, Props by Marjorie Lusignan

appropriate (SpeakEasy Stage Company) Scenic design by Cristina Todesco, Costumes by Tyler Kinney, Lighting by Wen-Ling Liao, Sound by Arshan Gailus

Outstanding Actor, Large Theater

Derek Hasenstab, Come Back, Little Sheba (Huntington Theatre Company)

Will Lyman, King Lear (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company)

**Mark Rylance, Nice Fish (American Repertory Theater)

Outstanding Actress, Large Theater

**Adrianne Krstansky, Come Back, Little Sheba (Huntington Theatre Company)

Anita Gillette, A Confederacy of Dunces (Huntington Theatre Company)

Ramona Lisa Alexander, Milk Like Sugar (Huntington Theatre Company)

Outstanding Actor, Midsize Theater

Greg Maraio, Casa Valentina (SpeakEasy Stage Company)

Maurice Emmanuel Parent, The Convert (Underground Railway Theater)

**Johnnie McQuarley, Othello (Actors' Shakespeare Project)

Outstanding Actress, Midsize Theater

Adrianne Krstansky, Blackberry Winter (New Repertory Theatre)

Cloteal Horne, Saturday Night, Sunday Morning (Lyric Stage Company of Boston)

**Jennifer Coolidge, Saving Kitty (Nora Theatre Company)

Outstanding Actor, Small or Fringe Theater

Mikey DiLoreto, The Boys in the Band (Zeitgeist Stage Company)

**Brandon Green, An Octoroon (Company One Theatre)

Robert Walsh, Gloucester Blue (Gloucester Stage Company)

Outstanding Actress, Small or Fringe Theater

Stephanie Recio, Dry Land (Company One Theatre)

Debra Wise, Mistero Buffo (Poets' Theatre) and Matchless & The Happy Prince(Underground Railway Theater)

**Zehava Younger, The Diary of Anne Frank (Boston Children's Theatre)

Outstanding New Script

Baltimore, by Kirsten Greenidge (New Repertory Theatre and Boston Center for American Performance)

Blackberry Winter, by Steve Yockey (New Repertory Theatre)

**The Launch Prize, by MJ Halberstadt (Bridge Repertory Theater of Boston)

Outstanding Solo Performance

**Phil Tayler, Buyer & Cellar (Lyric Stage Company of Boston)

Tangela Large, Mr. Joy (ArtsEmerson)

Eugene Lee, August Wilson's How I Learned What I Learned (Huntington Theatre Company)

Outstanding Director, Large Theater

David Cromer, Come Back, Little Sheba (Huntington Theatre Company)

**Rachel Chavkin, Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 (American Repertory Theater)

Robert Icke and Duncan MacMillan, 1984 (the Headlong, Almeida Theatre and Nottingham Playhouse production, presented by American Repertory Theater)

Outstanding Director, Midsize Theater

**Scott Edmiston, Casa Valentina (SpeakEasy Stage Company) and My Fair Lady (Lyric Stage Company of Boston)

Summer L. Williams, Bootycandy (SpeakEasy Stage Company)

Paul Daigneault, Violet (SpeakEasy Stage Company)

Outstanding Director, Small or Fringe Theater

Robert Walsh, The New Electric Ballroom (Gloucester Stage Company)

**Summer L. Williams, Colossal and An Octoroon (Company One Theatre)

Shawn LaCount, Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them (Company One Theatre)

Outstanding Musical Performance by an Actor, Large Theater

Scott Stangland, Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 (American Repertory Theater)

Lucas Steele, Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 (American Repertory Theater)

**Wade McCollum, Ernest Shackleton Loves Me (ArtsEmerson)

Outstanding Musical Performance by an Actor, Midsize, Small or Fringe Theater

Dan Belnavis, Violet (SpeakEasy Stage Company)

John Devereaux, Rent (Fiddlehead Theatre Company)

**Tim Lawton, Thoroughly Muslim Millie (Gold Dust Orphans)

Outstanding Musical Performance by an Actress, Large Theater

Jessie Mueller, Waitress (American Repertory Theater)

**McCaela Donovan, A Little Night Music (Huntington Theatre Company)

Denée Benton, Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 (American Repertory Theater)

Outstanding Musical Performance by an Actress, Midsize, Small or Fringe Theater

**Jennifer Ellis, My Fair Lady (Lyric Stage Company of Boston) and Wonderful Town (Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston)

Alison McCartan, Violet (SpeakEasy Stage Company)

Kathy St. George, Violet (SpeakEasy Stage Company)

Outstanding Ensemble, Large Theater

**Come Back, Little Sheba (Huntington Theatre Company)

Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 (American Repertory Theater)

A Little Night Music (Huntington Theatre Company)

Outstanding Ensemble, Midsize, Small or Fringe Theater

**The New Electric Ballroom (Gloucester Stage Company)

Casa Valentina (SpeakEasy Stage Company)

Saturday Night, Sunday Morning (Lyric Stage Company of Boston)

Photo Credit: Richard Termine