Interview: ELLIOT NORTON AWARDS to honor Bobbie Steinbach

The Boston theater community will, for the first time in three years, gather live and in person when the 40th annual Elliot Norton Awards are presented by the Boston Theater Critics Association (BTCA) on May 8 at the Huntington Theatre.

The BTCA includes President Joyce Kulhawik and members Don Aucoin, Jared Bowen, Terry Byrne, Carolyn Clay, Christopher Ehlers, Iris Fanger, Nancy Grossman, Kilian Melloy, Robert Nesti, Ed Siegal, and Jacquinn Sinclair.

For the first time, genderless awards will be presented in 34 expanded and more inclusive categories recognizing achievement in acting, directing, choreography, and musical direction as well as costume, lighting, scenic, and sound design, and more, according to Joyce Kulhawik.

Five awards for visiting productions were previously announced: Outstanding Visiting Play, "On Beckett," an Octopus Theatricals production presented by ArtsEmerson; Outstanding Visiting Musical, "Into the Woods," presented by Ambassador Theatre Group; Outstanding Visiting Design, "The Orchard," produced by Cherry Orchard Festival in association with Arlekin Players and (zero-G) Lab, Groundswell Theatricals, and ShowOne Productions; Outstanding Visiting Performance in a Play, Travis Alabanza in "Burgerz," presented by ArtsEmerson; and Outstanding Visiting Performance in a Musical, Gavin Creel in "Into the Woods," presented by Ambassador Theatre Group.

This year, the Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence will go to actor, director, and acting coach Bobbie Steinbach, who has earned a place as one of Boston's most popular and prodigious performers during her 45-year career on the city's stages.

Over the years, Steinbach has appeared in countless plays and musicals with companies including Lyric Stage Company of Boston, Greater Boston Stage Company, the Boston Pops and Boston Symphony, Overture Productions, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Moonbox Productions, Boston Playwrights' Theatre, and the Huntington.

A founding member of the Charlestown-based Actors' Shakespeare Project (ASP), Steinbach has appeared in some 22 Shakespeare plays. From June 2 to 25, Steinbach will add to that already impressive number when she appears as Jacques in "As You Like It," an ASP and Theatre Offensive co-production being mounted at Balch Arena Theatre at Tufts University in Medford.

In 2001, Steinbach won an Elliot Norton Award in the competitive category of Outstanding Actress, Small Company, for her work in not one but three productions, "Stonewall Jackson's House" at New Repertory Theatre, and "Sailing Down the Amazon (Women on Top)" and "Over the River and through the Woods" at Lyric Stage Company of Boston.

Steinbach is also the winner of three IRNE Awards, including two for her work at Watertown's New Repertory Theatre in "Collected Stories" and "Golda's Balcony."

Married for 57 years and the mother of two daughters, Steinbach makes her home in Newton, Massachusetts. By telephone recently, the veteran performer spoke about her latest honor and more.

What was your first reaction when you learned that you would be receiving this year's Elliot Norton Award for Sustained Excellence?

I was kind of gobsmacked. I just turned 80 and I really haven't thought that much lately about these kinds of things. That said, I'm very, very delighted and thrilled to be honored in this way. So far, the best part has been the outpouring of warmth and love that I've received from so many people in the Boston theater community since this was announced. I've gotten the most wonderful notes, emails, and texts.

What does this honor mean to you?

It's a gift. It's wonderful to be honored for a body of work and a professional commitment that has always both challenged and rewarded me. To do what we do, we have to sustain, commit to excellence, and endure, and that's not always easy.

Coming out of the pandemic last December, I played Mrs. Beckoff in Harvey Fierstein's "Torch Song" for Moonbox Productions. When I was cast, I kept thinking, "Can I still do this?" Fortunately, the answer was "Yes, I can."

Elliot Norton - known as the Dean of American Theater Critics, winner of a Tony Award for distinguished commentary and a Peabody Award for his long-running WGBH-TV program, "Elliot Norton Reviews" - died in 2003 at age 100. He was actively reviewing theater, however, through 1982. Did you know Mr. Norton at all?

My first review was from Elliot Norton in "The Boston Herald American." It was for a play called "The Toothbrush," a two-hander about a married couple that I did for Galaxy Theatre at the old ICA.

I don't even think I knew at the time exactly who Elliot Norton was, but I'll never forget his review. He called me "an uncommonly funny comedienne with a truly rowdy style."

You didn't start acting until you were 35. What did you do before then?

I always wanted to be actor, but I did a lot of other things first. When I was younger, I would call myself a folk singer. I did a couple of years with Arlington Street Women's Caucus, which included about 20 singers between the ages of 15 and 80. I'm so grateful that I got to be part of the group, women committed to women, performing all original material.

In the late 1970s, my husband, Bob, and I took disco dance classes. I was so good at disco dancing that I was asked to teach, which I did at the Joy of Movement Center in Cambridge.

I was also with Loon and Heron Dance and Theatre Company. It was a wonderful company. We toured all over in an old milk truck.

What were some of your earliest experiences as an actor?

I love making people laugh, so at first, I did mostly comedies and musicals. Before long, I wanted to stretch and expand, so I took on a role in a drama, "A Girl's War," by Joyce Van Dyke, with Boston Playwrights' Theatre.

How did you come to be a founding member of Actors' Shakespeare Project?

Almost 20 years ago now, Ben Evett invited several of his fellow actors, including me, to a potluck dinner at his house to talk about forming a New Shakespeare Company. And we did just that, with Ben as founding artistic director. Ben also directed our first ASP production, "Richard III," at the Old South Meeting House in the fall of 2004.

What are some of your favorite roles?

I've done Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's "A Little Night Music" six times over the years, always as Madame Armfeldt, and that's definitely one of my favorite roles. The first time I did it was in 2004 for Spiro Veloudos at the Lyric Stage Company of Boston. I've grown into the role, and I'd love to do it again and again.

I also loved playing Queen Margaret in "Richard III" at Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, and, at ASP, Sir Toby Belch in ""Twelfth Night," Paulina in "A Winter's Tale," and the Fool in the Tina Packer production of "Henry VIII." And at New Repertory Theatre, Golda Meir in William Gibson's "Golda's Balcony," Ruth in Donald Margulies' "Collected Stories," and Ana in Sarah Ruhl's "The Clean House," with Will Lyman, Paula Plum, Cristi Miles, and Nancy E. Carroll.

Not only her family and friends but the entire Boston theater community suffered a big loss when Nancy E. Carroll lost her battle with cancer and passed away last Christmas Eve. As a fellow actor and a longtime friend, I understand you felt Nancy's loss keenly. How are things for you now?

Nancy was a dear friend, and I miss her very much. She was not only a wonderful person, but a truly splendid actor. When we acted together, and when she directed me in a production of Tim Firth's "Calendar Girls" at the Greater Boston Stage Company, I couldn't help but marvel at her. There was no one just like Nancy E. Carroll, and there never will be.

I'm helping to plan a Celebration of Life event for her at the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts on May 15 at 7 PM. It is open to the public, and I hope everyone who loved Nancy will be there.

You've played so many interesting, varied roles. Is there one you still have your eye on?

I would love to play Violet Weston in Tracy Letts' "August: Osage County." I did the role once in a private reading, but I would welcome the chance to play her in a full-out production. It's a great role in a magnificent play.

You coach a lot of young actors for their college auditions. What advice do you give them?

I tell them to leave that nasty demon on your shoulder who tells you that you're not good enough outside the audition, and instead go in and have fun. Even in intense pieces, you have to be able to laugh. You have to entertain. The joy of being an actor and playing for an audience is one of the top things I have ever experienced in my life.

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