2016 Central Ohio Theatre Critics Circle Announces 22nd Annual Citations for Outstanding Achievements - Andy Batt, Short North Stage and More!

The Central Ohio Theatre Critics Circle has presented its 22nd annual citations for outstanding achievements in theater. Rather than focusing on competitive annual "best" categories, the circle annually honors local individuals or groups whose work "promotes the higher values of theater" or "expands the possibilities of theater. All citations, presented Sunday night, January 31, 2016 during the Theater Roundtable's 16th annual Theater Awards Night at the Jewish Community Center, reflect a consensus of central Ohio theater critics:

To Evolution Theatre Company and managing artistic director Mark Phillips Schwamberger for a lineup of 2015 productions that entertained viewers while fulfilling the troupe's refocused mission of advancing the understanding of gender issues and exploring gay and lesbian themes.

To Andy Batt, who stepped down as MadLab Theatre's artistic director at the end of 2015, for leading the troupe through 15 years of growth and development that included its 2012 launch of an annual festival for high-school playwrights and its 2010 purchase and renovation of a performance space and gallery that has helped to nurture both the performing and visual arts in Downtown Columbus.

To Short North Stage for making a major commitment to nurturing new musicals in 2015 with successful world premieres of The Great One, The Last Night of Disco and Krampus: A Yuletide Fable.

To Shadowbox Live, for celebrating its 25th anniversary season by stretching itself with inventive rock tribute shows and collaborations, both local and international.

A Roy Bowen Lifetime Achievement Award to Ed Graczyk, an accomplished director and nationally known playwright who led Players Theatre Columbus from the 1970s into the early 1990s and wrote Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, a pioneering transgender comedy-drama that premiered at Players in 1976, ran on Broadway and became a Robert Altman film in 1982 and is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2016.