“These awards celebrate our incredulity that things ever go right,” said playwright John Patrick Shanley Robert, one of the presenters for the seventh annual New York Innovative Theater Awards, the organization that celebrates Off-Off Broadway, aka independent theater, a community made up of some 40,000 artists.
The big winner of the night was “The Drowsy Chaperone,” a revival of the Tony-winning musical by the Gallery Players, the 44-year-old Brooklyn-based theater company, triumphing in four categories
Below is a list of those among the 166 individual artists, 55 different productions and 45 Off-Off-Broadway theater companies nominated, that got it most right.
The ceremony itself had some winning remarks, including theater light bulb jokes told by Roman Fesser, NYIT president: Sample: “How many producers does it take to change a light bulb? None. Why do we need another light bulb?”
*The most significant work I have done over 40 years is Off-Off Broadway.I haven’t ‘moved on’-director Richard Foreman
*Directors come in many forms, traffic cop, shrink, magician, etc.– Susan Stroman director/choreographer
*Choreographers have to be composers without notes, and playwrights without words–choreographer Julie Atlas Muz
Honorary Awards:
Robert Patrick received the Artistic Achievement Award
Horse Trade Theater Group received the Ellen Stewart Award, the first year there is an award named after the late founder of La MAMA.
Flux Theatre Ensemble received The 2011 Caffé Cino Fellowship Award.
Production of a Musical
(oh my god I am so) THIRST(y), Little Lord (a theater company)
A Christmas Carol, Literally Alive
Reefer Madness the musical, The Gallery Players
*The Drowsy Chaperone, The Gallery Players
The Human Comedy, Astoria Performing Arts Center
The Walk Across America For Mother Earth, LaMaMa Experimental Theater Club
Production of a Play
*Balm in Gilead, T. Schreiber Studio
Benefactor s, Retro Productions
Circus of Circus, the House of Yes
St. Nicholas, Theatre of the Expendable
The Navigator, WorkShop Theater Company
The Revival, Project Y Theatre Company
Actor in a Lead Role
DJ Canaday, A Christmas Carol
Trent Dawson, The Revival
Kevin Kane, Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me
*Nick Paglino, An Impending Rupture of the Belly
Jeff Paul, Interchange
Craig E. Treubert, The Drowsy Chaperone
Actress in a Lead Role
Virginia Bartholomew, Macbeth
Jill Bianchini, Balm in Gilead
Kelly Anne Burns, The Navigator
Belle Caplis, Balm in Gilead
Heather E. Cunningham, Benefactors
Daphne Gaines, The Walk Across America For Mother Earth
*Kristen Vaughan, Benefactors
Actor in a Featured Role
Daniel Abeles, Keep Your Baggage With You (at all times)
*David Darrow, The Revival
Gregory Konow, An Impending Rupture of the Belly
Jeff Pagliano, Fracturing
Colin Pritchard, The Drowsy Chaperone
Brent Vimtrup, Sight Unseen
Actress in a Featured Role
Becky Byers, Dog Act
*Deanna McGovern, An Impending Rupture of the Belly
Elizabeth Neptune, Weekend at an English Country Estate
Lauren Roth, Billy Carver and the Children in Mind
Nicole Taylor, The Navigator
Laura von Holt, (oh my god I am so) THIRST(y)
Solo Performance
Andrea Caban, Questions My Mother Can’t Answer
*Nat Cassidy, Things At The Doorstep: An Evening of Horror Based on the Works of H.P. Lovecraft
Elaine Del Valle, Brownsville Bred
Monica Hunken, Blondie of Arabia
Darrell James, St. Nicholas
Grant Neale, Polanski, Polanski
Director
Gyda Arber, Theater of the Arcade: Five Classic Video Games Adapted for the Stage
Michole Biancosino, The Revival
Hans Friedrichs, The Drowsy Chaperone
Robert Z. Grant, Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me
*Leslie Kincaid Burby, The Navigator, Workshop Theater Company
Rachel Klein, Circus of Circus
Paul Zimet, The Walk Across America For Mother Earth
Choreography/Movement
Karina Casiano and Daniel Irizarry, The Orphans
Angela L. Harriell, Rachel Klein and Ashley Morgan Monroe, Circus of Circus
Aaron Haskell, Wake Up, You’re Dead
Austin McCormick, Nutcracker Rouge
*Christine O’Grady, The Drowsy Chaperone
Elisabetta Spuria, disOriented
Lighting Design
Joie Bauer, Brownsville Bred
Alex Fabozzi, Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me
Ben Hagen, The Revival
Ryan Metzler, St. Nicholas
*Duane Pagano, The Navigator
Stan Pressner, Pass The Blutwurst, Bitte
Eric Southern, The Caucasian Chalk Circle
Costume Design
Krista Amigone, Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me
Kae Burke, Circus of Circus
Hwi-won Lee, The Country Wife
Machine Dazzle, The Walk Across America For Mother Earth
*Ryan J. Moller, The Drowsy Chaperone
Zane Pihlstrom, Nutcracker Rouge
Anne Wingate, Balm in Gilead
Set Design
Matt Brogan, Balm in Gilead
*Kevin Judge, The Revival
Duane Pagano, The Navigator
Jason Paradine, Dog Act
Jeff Stander, Dear Ruth
Hal Tine, The Changing Room
Sound Design
Tim Boyce, The Spring Fling
Quentin Chiappetta, The Navigator
Andy Cohen, Balm in Gilead
M.L. Dogg, The Land Whale Murders
Christopher Loar, (un)afraid
*Aldo Perez, Radio Purgatory
Amit Prakash, The Revival
Innovative Design
Matt Acheson and Tom Lee, Puppet Design, The Secret History of the Swedish Cottage
*Kae Burke, Aerial & Circus Rigging Design, Circus of Circus
Volodymyr Klyuzko and Mikhail Shraga, Projection Design, Raven
Alex Koch, Video and Projection Design, Feeder: A Love Story
Hugh Morris, Art Installation, Michael & Edie
Tatsushi Tahara, Film and Cinema Design, Radio Purgatory
Original Music
*Cormac Bluestone, The Caucasian Chalk Circle
Chris Chappell and Frank Padellaro, Theater of the Arcade: Five Classic Video Games Adapted for the Stage
Live Footage, Displaced Wedding
George MacDonald, The Country Wife
Aldo Perez, Radio Purgatory
Colonna Sonora, Woyzeck
Original Short Script
Vincent Marano, My Baby
Clay McLeod Chapman, Diary Debris
Clay McLeod Chapman, Sixteen Again
*Isaac Oliver, Come Here
Aaron Wigdor Levy, Monroe, Illinois: Over Here/Townie Anna Ziegler, If
Original Full-Length Script
Eddie Antar, The Navigator
*Jonathan Blitstein, Keep Your Baggage With You (at all times)
Jeff Lewonczyk, Theater of the Arcade: Five Classic Video Games Adapted for the Stage
Sara Montgomery, Weekend at an English Country Estate
Matt Pelfrey, An Impending Rupture of the Belly
Matt Wilson, Play America (Life is Short, Wear Your Party Pants)
Performance Art Production
(un)afraid, New York Neo-Futurists
Hold Music, PegLeg Productions / Culture Project’s Women Center Stage 2011
*Locker #4173b, New York Neo-Futurists
Radio Purgatory, Theater THE
The Bitter Poet: Looking For Love In All The Wrong Black Box Performance Spaces, The Bitter Poet
Wake Up, You’re Dead, LaMaMa Experimental Theater Club
Woman of Leisure and Panic, terraNOVA Collective
Ensemble
(oh my god I am so) THIRST(y)
Tonya Canada, Megan Hill, Polly Lee, Michael Levinton, Hugh Sinclair, Laura von Holt, Donya K. Washington, Stephanie Weeks, Merlin Whitehawk
Balm in Gilead
Seth Allen, Ian Bell, Esteban Benito, Jill Bianchini, Dennis Brito, Tommy Buck, Lowell Byers, Ian Campbell Dunn, Belle Caplis, Amanda Catrini, Lawrence Crimlis, Jordan Feltner, Brad Martocello, Mariel Matero, Jevon McFerrin, Erica Lauren McLaughlin, Alona Metcalf, Sebastian Montoya, Michael Murray, Jason Pumarada, Orlando J. Rivera, Olivia Roric, Stephanie Seward, Lisa Sobin, Eric Spear, Christine Vega, Stewart Villilo, Jonathan Wilde, Richard Zekaria
Benefactors
Heather E. Cunningham, David Ian Lee, Matthew Semler, Kristen Vaughan
Radio Purgatory
Richard Ginocchio, Jenny Lee Mitchell, Matt Muszynski, Aldo Perez, Jonathon Roberts, Matthew Talmage
*The Drowsy Chaperone
Whitney Branan, Jennifer DiDonato, Tauren Hagans, Robert Anthony Jones, Edward Juvier, Lorinne Lampert, Aaron J. Libby, Jake Mendes, Trey Mitchell, Jan-Peter Pedross, Colin Pritchard, Megan Rosenblatt, Chloe Sabin, Dawn Trautman, Craig Treubert, Tyler Wallach, Eric Weaver
The Tremendous Tremendous
Marc Bovino, Joe Curnutte, Michael Dalto, Henry Vick, Stephanie Wright Thompson
Theater of the Arcade: Five Classic Video Games Adapted for the Stage
Fred Backus, Hope Cartelli, Stephen Heskett, Kent Meister, Josh Mertz, Robert Pinnock, Shelley Ray
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Jonathan Mandell
Jonathan Mandell, who tweets as New York Theater, is a native New Yorker and third-generation journalist with diverse experience on newspapers, magazines and websites.He has ...
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