Winners announced for 47th Annual Awards - Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle

The evening’s MC – Jake Broder – performing with Musical Director Corey Hirsch; Kenny Elliot; Geoff Rakness.

The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle named the multi-nominated Hit the Wall and Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles as 2015’s Outstanding Productions at the organization’s 47th annual awards event, held on Monday evening, March 14 at the Moss Theatre of New Roads School in Santa Monica.

Hit the Wall, playwright Ike Holter’s immersive recreation of the 1969 Stonewall Inn riots produced by the LA LGBT Center and Sixth Avenue, won honors for Lead Performer Matthew Hancock and Featured Performer Charlotte Gulezian. The show’s entire cast shared in an Ensemble Performance award, and Ken Sawyer was cited for Direction.

Another directing honoree was Jessica Kubzansky for Mojada at The Getty Villa. Luis Alfaro took Outstanding Adaptation for his transposition of the Euripides tragedy to America’s southern border, and Sabina Zuniga Varela was cited in the pivotal part of the betrayed wife.

The next largest number of plaques was earned by the Odyssey Theatre’s Anna Christie. The Westside company’s reinterpretation of the 1920 Eugene O’Neill classic received the Tom McCulloh Award for Outstanding Revival, and also won for Kim Rubinstein’s direction and Zoe Perry’s performance in the title role.

L.A.’s largest producing organization, Center Theatre Group, saw double honors go to Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella (William Ivey Long’s costume design, and Josh Rhodes’ choreography) and Luna Gale (Lead Performance to Mary Beth Fisher, and Rebecca Gilman’s writing). Tim Minchin was cited for his Matilda score, Julie Wolf for musical direction for Girlfriend, and Mimi Lien for the set of Appropriate. CTG sponsored the Margaret Harford Award for sustained excellence, and artistic director Michael Ritchie spoke in praise of this year’s recipient, Deaf West Theatre.

Representing another major regional theater, South Coast Repertory, John Glore accepted the LADCC’s Ted Schmitt Award for an outstanding world premiere play on behalf of Qui Nguyen’s Vietgone.

But the evening was a triumph for intimate local stages first and foremost.

Veteran star Orson Bean sailed off with Solo Performance honors for his memoir Safe at Home at Pacific Resident Theatre. Among double winners were Circle X’s Trevor (lead performer Jimmi Simpson, and Nick Jones’ writing); Rogue Machine’s A Permanent Image (featured performer Tracie Lockwood, and Nicholas Santiago’s projections); Sacred Fools’ Astro Boy and the God of Comics (Aviva Pressman’s live art direction, and projections by Anthony Backman and Jim Pierce); and The Theatre @ Boston Court’s My Barking Dog (Tom Ontiveros’ lighting and John Zalewski’s sound design).

In 2015, international sensations from Spain, Kulunka Teatro, brought to the LA Theatre Center Andre & Dorine, a wordless mask-theater exploration of an elderly couple faced with Alzheimer’s. The troupe was honored for Garbine Insausti’s exquisite mask work, and was also named an Outstanding Ensemble.

Actor, playwright and raconteur Jake Broder served as an elegant host for the evening, which included an award to him for his musical score for Miravel at Sacred Fools Theatre Company.

Long Beach’s International City Theatre won the Polly Warfield Award for the best season by a small-to-midsize theater, and previously announced special awards to longtime local director Michael Matthews, director-choreographer Janet Miller and projection designer Jason H. Thompson were presented in the beautiful Moss theater space, part of the Capshaw-Spielberg Center for Arts and Educational Justice on the campus of the Herb Alpert Educational Village. A complete list of honorees follows.

Production:

Hit the Wall, The Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center and Sixth Avenue at The Los Angeles LGBT Center.

Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum and The Theatre @ Boston Court at Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman Theater at the Getty Villa.

McCulloh Award for Revival (plays written between 1920 and 1980):

Anna Christie, Odyssey Theatre Ensemble at Odyssey Theatre. (previously announced)

Lead Performance:

Mary Beth Fisher in Luna Gale, Goodman Theatre’s World Premiere Production, Center Theatre Group at Kirk Douglas Theatre.

Matthew Hancock in Hit the Wall, The Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center and Sixth Avenue at The Los Angeles LGBT Center.

Emily Lopez in Carrie the Musical, Bruce Robert Harris and Jack W. Batman, The Transfer Group, Michael T. Cohen/Robin Reinach, Kraige Block and Joe Everett Michaels, in association with La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts and The Los Angeles Theatre.

Zoe Perry in Anna Christie, Odyssey Theatre Ensemble at Odyssey Theatre.

Jimmi Simpson in Trevor, Circle X Theatre Co. at Atwater Village Theatre.

Sabina Zuniga Varela in Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum and The Theatre @ Boston Court at Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman Theater at the Getty Villa.

Featured Performance:

Richard Fancy in Awake and Sing!, Odyssey Theatre Ensemble at Odyssey Theatre.

Charlotte Gulezian in Hit the Wall, The Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center and Sixth Avenue at The Los Angeles LGBT Center.

Charlie Hofheimer in Bent, Center Theatre Group at Mark Taper Forum.

Tracie Lockwood in A Permanent Image, & Dorine.

Ensemble Performance:

André & Dorine, Kulunka Teatro at Los Angeles Theatre Center.

Hit the Wall, The Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center and Sixth Avenue at The Los Angeles LGBT Center.

Solo Performance:

Orson Bean in Safe at Home: An Evening With Orson Bean, Pacific Resident Theatre.

Direction:

Jessica Kubzansky, Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum and The Theatre @ Boston Court at Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman Theater at the Getty Villa.

Kim Rubinstein, Anna Christie, Odyssey Theatre Ensemble at Odyssey Theatre.

Ken Sawyer, Hit the Wall, The Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center and Sixth Avenue at The Los Angeles LGBT Center.

Writing:

Rebecca Gilman, Luna Gale, Goodman Theatre’s World Premiere Production, Center Theatre Group at Kirk Douglas Theatre.

Nick Jones, Trevor, Circle X Theatre Co. at Atwater Village Theatre.

Writing (Adaptation):

Luis Alfaro, Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum and The Theatre @ Boston Court at Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman Theater at the Getty Villa. (previously announced)

Musical Score:

Jake Broder, Miravel, Sacred Fools Theater Company at Sacred Fools Theater.

Tim Minchin, Matilda the Musical, Royal Shakespeare Company and the Dodgers, Center Theatre Group at Ahmanson Theatre.

Music Direction:

Abdul Hamid Royal, The Gospel at Colonus, Ebony Repertory Theatre at Nate Holden Performing Arts Center.

Julie Wolf, Girlfriend, The Actors Theatre of Louisville Production, Center Theatre Group at Kirk Douglas Theatre.

Choreography:

Josh Rhodes, Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Robyn Goodman, Jill Furman, Stephen Koos, Edward Walson, Venetian Glass Productions, The Araca Group, Carola Productions, Roy Furman, Peter May/Sanford Robertson, James Spry, Eric Schmidt, and Blanket Fort Productions, Center Theatre Group at Ahmanson Theatre.

Angela Todaro, American Idiot, DOMA Theatre Company at The MET Theatre.

Set Design:

Tom Buderwitz, The Whipping Man, South Coast Repertory and The Pasadena Playhouse.

Mimi Lien, Appropriate, Center Theatre Group at Mark Taper Forum.

Lighting Design:

Tom Ontiveros, My Barking Dog, The Theatre @ Boston Court.

Matt Richter, Hit the Wall, The Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center and Sixth Avenue at The Los Angeles LGBT Center.

Costume Design:

Jessica Ford, These Paper Bullets!, Geffen Playhouse in association with Atlantic Theater Company presents the Yale Repertory Theatre Production at Geffen Playhouse.

William Ivey Long, Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Robyn Goodman, Jill Furman, Stephen Koos, Edward Walson, Venetian Glass Productions, The Araca Group, Carola Productions, Roy Furman, Peter May/Sanford Robertson, James Spry, Eric Schmidt, and Blanket Fort Productions, Center Theatre Group at Ahmanson Theatre.

Sound Design:

John Zalewski, My Barking Dog, The Theatre @ Boston Court.

CGI/Video Design:

Anthony Backman and Jim Pierce, Astro Boy and the God of Comics, Sacred Fools Theatre Company at Sacred Fools Theatre.

Nicholas Santiago, A Permanent Image, Rogue Machine Theatre at Theatre/Theater.

Specialty:

Garbiñe Insausti, André & Dorine, Kulunka Teatro at The Los Angeles Theatre Center. (Masks)

Aviva Pressman, Astro Boy and the God of Comics, Sacred Fools Theatre Company at Sacred Fools Theatre. (Live art direction)

The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle was founded in 1969. It is dedicated to excellence in theatrical criticism, and to the encouragement and improvement of theatre in Greater Los Angeles. The 2015 membership consisted of:

Pauline Adamek, ArtsBeatLA.com, Stage Raw

Paul Birchall, Stage Raw, Stage and Cinema

Shirle Gottlieb, Gazette Newspapers, StageHappenings.com

Margaret Gray, Los Angeles Times

Hoyt Hilsman, The Huffington Post

Deborah Klugman, LA Weekly, ArtsBeatLA.com, Stage Raw

Jenny Lower, Stage Raw, LA Weekly

Jon Magaril, CurtainUp.com

Dany Margolies, ArtsInLA.com, LANG (Los Angeles News Group)

Myron Meisel, Stage Raw

Terry Morgan, TalkinBroadway.com, Stage Raw

Steven Leigh Morris, LA Weekly, Stage Raw