Richard Foreman, Mariah McCarthy & More Win 2013 IT Awards
By: Nicole Rosky Oct. 01, 2013
On Monday, September 30, 2013, The New York Innovative Theatre Awards (IT Awards), the organization dedicated to celebrating Off-Off-Broadway,and host comedian and Andy Kauffman Award winner, Harrison Greenbaum, announced the 2013 award recipients at the ninth Annual IT Awards Ceremony atMason Hall @ Baruch Performing Arts Center, 17 Lexingont Avenue, NYC. The ceremony was directed by Tim Butterfield, Artistic Director of the Straphanger Collective, and written by playwright Donnetta Lavinia Grays, 2013 Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award recipient. Those unable to attend joined the OOB theatre community's biggest night virtually by following Molly Marinik of TheatreIsEasy and TravSD (OOBR writer, producer, actor) at nyitawards.com/live
Presenters for the evening included: Stephen Schwartz (music/lyrics Godspell, Pippin...), Gaby Alter (songwriter/composer Nobody Loves You), Carl Andress(director The Divine Sister), C. Andrew Bauer (theatrical video designer The Diary of a Teenage Girl), Dan Bianci (independent theatre artist), Christopher Borg(performer, writer and director), Stephen Cabral (director of the TDF costume collection), Jack Davidson (actor Grace), Kelly Devine (choreographer Rocky), David Drake (playwright and performer The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me), Jules Fisher (lighting designer Assasins), Donnetta Lavinia Grays (playwright and actor Bdwy: In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play), David Herskovitz (Target Margin Theater), Cynthia Hopkins (writer, composer, multi-instrumentalist and theater artist), Tina Howe(playwright), Jayne Houdyshell (actor Well), Ari Laura Kreith (Artistic Director of Theatre 167), Greg Kotis (Neo-Futurist and book/lyrics Urinetown the Musical), Julia Murney (actress Wicked), Nicky Paraiso (actor musician, writer, performance artist and curator The Club at La MaMa), Kris Stone (set designer), Dael Orlandersmith(playwright and actress Stoop Stories), and Amy Van Nostrand (actress).
Over the past nine years, the IT Awards has honored over 1,800 individual artists, over 510 productions, and 410 theatre companies; having collected over 42,000 ballots and disseminated more than 7,400 judges. The 2013 Nominees include 134 individual artists, 60 different productions and 60 Off-Off-Broadway theatre companies.
2013 Recipients:
Richard Foreman to receive the Artistic Achievement Award
The Dramatist Guild Fund to receive the Ellen Stewart Award
terraNOVA Collective to receive the Caffé Cino Fellowship Award
Abbey Bay outstanding Stage Manager Award
Mariah McCarthy 2013 Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award
Outstanding Ensemble
-The Window:4 ALICE, PopUp Theatrics in association with the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York
Inés Garcia, Robin Johnson, Nick Smerkanich
Outstanding Solo Performance
-Erin Treadway
Spaceman, Loading Dock Theatre Company
Treadway on Spaceman "The play runs the actor through the gamut of human experience, emotion and thought. Not many roles allow the opportunity to ride that ride, which expands your whole range of feeling, thinking and moving."
Outstanding Actor in a Featured Role
- Justin Danforth
The Thirteenth Commandment, Libra Theater Company
Outstanding Actress in a Featured Role
-Lauren Pennline
The Thirteenth Commandment, Libra Theater Company
Outstanding Actor in a Lead Role
-Nick Smerkanich
The Window:4 ALICE, PopUp Theatrics in association with the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York
Outstanding Actress in a Lead Role
-Amara Haaksman
That Lady from Maxim's, Isle of Shoals Productions, Inc.
Outstanding Choreography/Movement
- Jessica Burr and Sonia Villani
Eurydice's Dream, Blessed Unrest in association with The InterArt Theatre
Outstanding Director
The Rise And Fall Of A Teenage Cyberqueen, LabRats Theatre Company
Outstanding Lighting Design
Will Elliott's The Pilo Family Circus, Godlight Theatre Company
Outstanding Costume Design
- Daniela Codarcea Kamiliotis
The Window:4 ALICE, PopUp Theatrics in association with the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York
Kamiliotis on The Window:4 ALICE "The most challenging, but most fulfilling part of the production was hand creating all costumes and sets, dyeing, and painting. This was a very visual production where the set and costumes add much more than in a traditional production."
Outstanding Set Design
-Daniela Codarcea Kamiliotis
The Window:4 ALICE, PopUp Theatrics in association with the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York
Outstanding Sound Design
- Leegrid Stevens
Spaceman, Loading Dock Theatre Company
Outstanding Innovative Design
Mask Design & Construction
Oedipus Rex XX/XY, The Faux-Real Theatre Company
White on Oedipus Rex XXIXY ""I love the rich language and the timelessness of the story. The Production team and I all started making art together at Antioch college, thirty years ago. Oedipus Rex is the perfect crucible to exercise our particular sensibility of the horrors and humor of humanity. As a mask maker I act as a translator, creating a visual vocabulary that spells out the emotion that language has no words for."
Outstanding Original Music
That Lady from Maxim's, Isle of Shoals Productions, Inc.
Outstanding Original Short Script
-Jonathan Draxton
Soldier, The Plowmen
Outstanding Original Full-length Script
That Lady from Maxim's, Isle of Shoals Productions, Inc.
Outstanding Performance Art Production
-Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights, Production Workshop in association with Kickstarter Backers
Outstanding Production of a Musical
-That Lady from Maxim's, Isle of Shoals Productions, Inc.
Amara Haaksman (who was in the workshop production as well) on The Lady from Maxim's "I was so excited to get to return to the free-spirited shoes of La mome Crevette. It was thrilling to get a second chance to explore the character even more. It was also wonderful playing with all the new dialogue and music that was created for the second version. It is very exciting getting to be the person to bring an authors new work to life."
Outstanding Premiere Production of A Play
-The Rise And Fall Of A Teenage Cyberqueen, LabRats Theatre Company
Outstanding Revival of A Play
-Macbeth, The Crook Theater Company
The New York Innovative Theatre Foundation is a not-for-profit organization recognizing the great work of New York City's Off-Off-Broadway, honoring its artistic heritage, and providing a meeting ground for this extensive and richly varied community. The organization advocates for Off-Off-Broadway and recognizes the unique and essential role it plays in contributing to American and global culture. They believe that publicly recognizing excellence in Off-Off-Broadway will expand audience awareness and foster greater appreciation of the New York theatre experience. www.nyitawards.com
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