One of the most diverse and unpredictable Helen Hayes awards in recent memory culminated last night with big triumphs for two big productions – the Kennedy Center’s Ragtime and Shakespeare Theatre’s King Lear.
Ragtime, which followed its triumphant Kennedy Center appearance with a Broadway run, won awards for Outstanding Costume Design for a Resident Production (Santo Loquasto and Jimm Halliday), Outstanding Direction for a Resident Musical (Marcia Milgrom Dodge), Outstanding Lead Actress in a Resident Musical (Christiane Noll), and Outstanding Resident Musical.
King Lear, which had its origins in Chicago but featured DC actors in its Shakespeare Theatre production, won the Outstanding Director for a Resident Play Award for Robert Falls and the Outstanding Resident Play award. Stacy Keach, who played Lear, shared the Robert Prosky Award for Outstanding Actor in a Resident Play with Karl Miller, who played the heroic Prior Walter in Forum’s Angels in America. (Miller had received separate nominations for his work in both plays in Tony Kushner’s two-play cycle; he received his award for Part I – Millennium Approaches.)
It is not at all a denigration of Stacy Keach’s skills to say that the split award was made to two actors of roughly equivalent abilities. It is generally thought among students of the Washington stage that, should he chose to pursue it, Miller has an excellent chance of having a stage career that matches Keach’s both in quality and success.
Miller’s award was the second that night for Millennium Approaches. Colin K. Bills won for his lighting design as well – a triumph, Bills noted in crediting the entire production, for the idea that quality is possible even with a low budget.
Shakespeare Theatre was also spotlighted by James Noone’s set for Design for Living, which received the Outstanding Set Design for a Resident Play Award. Noone created three sets for Noel Coward’s upwardly-mobile ménage-a-trois; the last of which was so spectacular that it often received spontaneous applause all by itself.
Holly Twyford, thrice-nominated as Outstanding Actress in a Resident Play this year, received the award for her work in Signature’s The Little Dog Laughed. Parker Drown won the Outstanding Actor in a Resident Musical award for his performance as Angel in Keegan’s Rent.
The Canadian Embassy Ensemble Award went to Keegan Theatre’s Rent in the Musical category. In its Play category, the judges’ votes were tied, and awarded the largest ensemble (Synetic Theater’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and one its smallest (MetroStage’s three person Heroes.)
Synetic’s Family Theater won the inaugural award for outstanding Production of Theatre for Young Audiences for The Tale of the Fisherman and the Golden Fish, against stiff competition from Imagination Stage and the Kennedy Center.
The remaining awards were fairly evenly divided among companies, reflecting one of the most open Helen Hayes awards in years. Folger’s Arcadia won awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor (Eric Hissom) and Outstanding Supporting Actress (Erin Weaver) in a resident play. Eleasha Gamble won Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Resident Musical for her work in Ford Theater’s The Civil War and Laurence O’Dwyer received the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Resident Musical Award for his performance in Arena’s The Fantasticks.
Tom Teasley won Constellation Theatre’s first award for his sound design of Crazyface, in which he produced all music and sounds live through the use of percussion instruments in view of the audience. Teasley is also doing the soundscape for Constellation’s upcoming The Ramayama.
Woolly Mammoth’s pioneering work with new plays received significant acknowledgment when two of its productions — Robert O’Hara’s Antebellum and Danai Gurira’s Eclipsed — tied for the Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play or Musical. The MacArthur Award, named after Helen Hayes’ husband, the playwright Charles MacArthur, was presented by their son James MacArthur.
For the first time in recent memory, Irina Tsikurishvilli did not win the award for Outstanding Choreography – although it took Maurice Hines to break the string. Hines received his award for his work in MetroStage’s Cool Papa’s Party. (William Knowles was also honored for Outstanding Musical Direction of that play). Hines graciously accepted the award, which immediately fell apart in his hands. (The awards handed out at the ceremonies are placeholders while the real awards are inscribed – a point Executive Director Linda Levy Grossman cleverly underscored by also gifting winners with plastic leis which she purchased, she said, at $6.98 a dozen).
Hines was only one of several theater celebrities who personally accepted their awards. In addition to Hines and Keach, Jim Brochu left his currently running Off-Broadway production to come in and accept the award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Non-Resident Production for Zero Hour, a meditation on the life of Zero Mostel, which appeared last year at Theater J.
The most compelling celebrity appearing at last night’s celebration was Edward Albee, who received the Helen Hayes Tribute for his half-century of theater artistry and for developing playwriting talent. Albee, who was born in Washington, was introduced by fellow playwright (and long-ago protégé) Terrence McNally, who hinted at, but did not tell, a story involving Albee, Bette Davis, and a police lock which kept the two of them in Albee’s apartment. Albee did not elaborate, but he did explain how he was drawn to theater – by seeing, at the age of six, a play in which Jimmy Durante was followed around the stage by a small elephant. The running joke, Albee explained, was that characters would ask Durante what the deal was with the elephant, and Durante, pushing his elbow back and finding no elephant, would reply “What elephant?” It was his first introduction, Albee said, to absurdism.
The Washington Post honored Busboys and Poets proprietor Andy Shallal with an award for “Innovative Leadership in the Theatre Community.” The award celebrated Shallal’s work in founding The Peace Café along with Theater J, to promote Arab and Jewish dialogue and promote understanding.
As in the recent past, there was no Master of Ceremonies, but a team of performers, including Kurt Boehm, Keittra Colombel, Cyana Cook, Stacey Jackson, John Lescault, Amy McWilliams, Don Kenneth Mason, Jabari Parker-Namdar, Aaron Reeder, Bobby Smith, Kerry Waters Lucas, Lauren Williams and the young Max Talisman – who once wrote Kids Stages reviews for DCTS – did a series of witty numbers crafted by Renee Calarco, directed by Jerry Whiddon, and choreographed by Michael Bobbitt.
Helen Hayes Vice-Chair Glen Howard also joined the musical festivities, singing, creditably, a hymn of praise to Helen Hayes corporate sponsors.
Afterward, we adjourned to the J. W. Marriott for an enormous feed and I got to sit next to Albee and McNally. God, I love this gig!
A complete list of nominees and recipients follows:
Outstanding Choreography, Resident Production
Meisha Bosma, Fever/Dream, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
Ben Cunis, Dracula, Synetic Theater
Maurice Hines, Cool Papa’s Party, MetroStage (Award Recipient)
Carina Losano, Momia en el closet: The Return of Eva Perón, GALA Hispanic Theatre
Irina Tsikurishvili, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Synetic Theater
Irina Tsikurishvili, Dante, Synetic Theater
Irina Tsikurishvili, Dracula, Synetic Theater
Outstanding Costume Design, Resident Production
Linda Cho, The Dog in the Manger, Shakespeare Theatre Company
Jimm Halliday, Ragtime, The Kennedy Center (Award Recipient)
Santo Loquasto, Ragtime, The Kennedy Center (Award Recipient)
Robert Perdziola, Design for Living, Shakespeare Theatre Company
Anastasia Ryurikov Simes, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Synetic Theater
Anastasia Ryurikov Simes, Dante, Synetic Theater
Alejo Vietti, A Christmas Carol, A Ghost Story of Christmas, Ford’s Theatre
Norah Worthington, Wittenberg, Rep Stage
Outstanding Director, Resident Musical
Jeff Calhoun, The Civil War, Ford’s Theatre
Amanda Dehnert, The Fantasticks, Arena Stage
Marcia Milgrom Dodge, Ragtime, The Kennedy Center (Award Recipient)
Thomas W. Jones, II, Cool Papa’s Party, MetroStage
Mark A. Rhea, Rent, The Keegan Theatre
Susan Marie Rhea, Rent, The Keegan Theatre
Outstanding Director, Resident Play
Robert Falls, King Lear, Shakespeare Theatre Company (Award Recipient)
Jonathan Munby, The Dog in the Manger, Shakespeare Theatre Company
Lisa Peterson, The Quality of Life, Arena Stage
Aaron Posner, Arcadia, Folger Theatre
Jeremy Skidmore, Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, Forum Theatre
Tony Tsendeas, Wittenberg, Rep Stage
Paata Tsikurishvili, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Synetic Theater
Outstanding Lead Actor, Non-Resident Production
Jim Brochu, Zero Hour, Theater J (Award Recipient)
Steve Cuiffo, Hell Meets Henry Halfway, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
Joel Edgerton, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Kennedy Center
Paul Vincent O’Connor, August: Osage County, The Kennedy Center
Dito van Reigersberg, Hell Meets Henry Halfway, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
Outstanding Lead Actor, Resident Musical
David Benoit, Adding Machine: A Musical, The Studio Theatre
Quentin Earl Darrington, Ragtime, The Kennedy Center
Parker Drown, Rent, The Keegan Theatre (Award Recipient)
Will Gartshore, Show Boat, Signature Theatre
Jahi Kearse, Cool Papa’s Party, MetroStage
Ashley Robinson, Giant, Signature Theatre
Outstanding Lead Actress, Non-Resident Production
Cate Blanchett, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Kennedy Center (Award Recipient)
Shannon Cochran, August: Osage County, The Kennedy Center
Libby George, August: Osage County, The Kennedy Center
Estelle Parsons, August: Osage County, The Kennedy Center
Angelica Torn, August: Osage County, The Kennedy Center
Outstanding Lead Actress, Resident Musical
Sandy Bainum, The Music Man, Washington Savoyards
Jessica Lauren Ball, Oklahoma!, Toby’s Dinner Theatre
E. Faye Butler, Crowns, Arena Stage
Laura Conforte, Momia en el closet: The Return of Eva Perón, GALA Hispanic Theatre
Tara Giordano, Heidi, Imagination Stage
Christiane Noll, Ragtime, The Kennedy Center (Award Recipient)
Outstanding Lead Actress, Resident Play
Valerie Harper, Looped, Arena Stage
Lisa Harrow, Rock ‘n’ Roll, The Studio Theatre
Tana Hicken, Lost in Yonkers, Theater J
Tonya Pinkins, Black Pearl Sings!, Ford’s Theatre
Holly Twyford, Arcadia, Folger Theatre
Holly Twyford, The Little Dog Laughed, Signature Theatre (Award Recipient)
Holly Twyford, Lost in Yonkers, Theater J
Outstanding Lighting Design, Resident Production
Colin K. Bills, Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, Forum Theatre (Award Recipient)
Colin K. Bills, Fever/Dream, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
Andrew F. Griffin, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Synetic Theater
Michael Philippi, King Lear, Shakespeare Theatre Company
Daniel MacLean Wagner, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Round House Theatre
Thom Weaver, Arcadia, Folger Theatre
Outstanding Musical Direction, Resident Production
Aaron Broderick, Rent, The Keegan Theatre
Jay Crowder, The Civil War, Ford’s Theatre
William Knowles, Cool Papa’s Party, MetroStage (Award Recipient)
James Moore, Ragtime, The Kennedy Center
Christopher Youstra, Adding Machine: A Musical, The Studio Theatre
Outstanding Set Design, Resident Production
Tony Cisek, Black Pearl Sings!, Ford’s Theatre
Misha Kachman, Fever/Dream, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
James Kronzer, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Round House Theatre
James Noone, Design for Living, Shakespeare Theatre Company (Award Recipient)
Walt Spangler, King Lear, Shakespeare Theatre Company
Klyph Stanford, Hysteria, Rep Stage
Outstanding Sound Design, Resident Production
Konstantine Lortkipandze, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Synetic Theater
Ryan Rumery, The Heavens are Hung in Black, Ford’s Theatre
Tom Teasley, Crazyface, Constellation Theatre Company (Award Recipient)
Veronika Vorel, Arcadia, Folger Theatre
Veronika Vorel, Black Pearl Sings!, Ford’s Theatre
Veronika Vorel, Fever/Dream, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
Richard Woodbury, King Lear, Shakespeare Theatre Company
Outstanding Supporting Actor, Resident Musical
Nate Dendy, The Fantasticks, Arena Stage
John Dossett, Giant, Signature Theatre
Anthony Manough, Cool Papa’s Party, MetroStage
Laurence O’Dwyer, The Fantasticks, Arena Stage (Award Recipient)
Harry A. Winter, Show Boat, Signature Theatre
Outstanding Supporting Actor, Resident Play
Edward Gero, King Lear, Shakespeare Theatre Company
Eric Hissom, Arcadia, Folger Theatre (Award Recipient)
Irakli Kavsadze, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Synetic Theater
Alex Mills, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Synetic Theater
Frederick Strother, Radio Golf, The Studio Theatre
David Turner, The Dog in the Manger, Shakespeare Theatre Company
Outstanding Supporting Actress, Resident Musical
Eleasha Gamble, The Civil War, Ford’s Theatre (Award Recipient)
Kellee Knighten, The Civil War, Ford’s Theatre
Elizabeth Rayca, Oklahoma!, Toby’s Dinner Theatre
Kimberly Schraf, Show Boat, Signature Theatre
Delores King Williams, Show Boat, Signature Theatre
Outstanding Supporting Actress, Resident Play
Naomi Jacobson, The Winter’s Tale, Folger Theatre
Sarah Marshall, Full Circle, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
Jennifer Mendenhall, Angels in America: Perestroika, Forum Theatre
Marni Penning, Hysteria, Rep Stage
Miriam Silverman, The Dog in the Manger, Shakespeare Theatre Company
Erin Weaver, Arcadia, Folger Theatre (Award Recipient)
Outstanding Supporting Performer, Non-Resident Production
Morgan David Jones, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Kennedy Center
Mandy McElhinney, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Kennedy Center
Robin McLeavy, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Kennedy Center (Award Recipient)
Tim Richards, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Kennedy Center
James Sugg, Hell Meets Henry Halfway, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
The Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play or Musical
The Rise and Fall of Annie Hall, Sam Forman, Theater J
Eclipsed, Danai Gurira, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (Award Recipient)
The Bread of Winter, Victor Lodato, Theater Alliance
Antebellum, Robert O’Hara, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (Award Recipient)
Momia en el closet: The Return of Eva Perón, book by, Gustavo Ott, GALA Hispanic Theatre
conceived and composed by, Mariano Vales, GALA Hispanic Theatre
The Helen Hayes Tribute, sponsored by JayLee Mead
Edward Albee (Award Recipient)
The Robert Prosky Award for Outstanding Lead Actor, Resident Play
Stacy Keach, King Lear, Shakespeare Theatre Company (Award Recipient)
Karl Miller, Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, Forum Theatre (Award Recipient)
Karl Miller, Angels in America: Perestroika, Forum Theatre
Cody Nickell, Arcadia, Folger Theatre
Seth Reichgott, Wittenberg, Rep Stage
The Washington Post Award for Innovative Leadership in the Theatre Community
Andy Shallal (Award Recipient)
Outstanding Non-Resident Production
A Streetcar Named Desire, The Kennedy Center (Award Recipient)
August: Osage County, The Kennedy Center
Jersey Boys, The National Theatre
Spring Awakening, The Kennedy Center
Zero Hour, Theater J
Outstanding Production, Theatre for Young Audiences
Barrio Grrrl!, The Kennedy Center
Heidi, Imagination Stage
Lyle the Crocodile, Imagination Stage
The Tale of the Fisherman and the Golden Fish, Synetic Family Theater (Award Recipient)
Zomo the Rabbit: A Hip-Hop Creation Myth, Imagination Stage
Outstanding Resident Musical
Adding Machine: A Musical, The Studio Theatre
The Civil War, Ford’s Theatre
Crowns, Arena Stage
The Fantasticks, Arena Stage
Momia en el closet: The Return of Eva Perón, GALA Hispanic Theatre
Ragtime, The Kennedy Center (Award Recipient)
Rent, The Keegan Theatre
Outstanding Resident Play
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Synetic Theater
Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, Forum Theatre
Arcadia, Folger Theatre
The Dog in the Manger, Shakespeare Theatre Company
King Lear, Shakespeare Theatre Company (Award Recipient)
The Quality of Life, Arena Stage
Wittenberg, Rep Stage
The Canadian Embassy Award for Outstanding Ensemble, Resident Musical
The Civil War, Ford’s Theatre
Cool Papa’s Party, MetroStage
Crowns, Arena Stage
Rent, The Keegan Theatre (Award Recipient)
Show Boat, Signature Theatre
The Canadian Embassy Award for Outstanding Ensemble, Resident Play
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Synetic Theater (Award Recipient)
Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, Forum Theatre
Angels in America: Perestroika, Forum Theatre
Antebellum, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
Disco Pigs, Solas Nua
Heroes, MetroStage (Award Recipient)
The Quality of Life, Arena Stage
The John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company
1st Stage (Award Recipient)
Related:
If Gala wants to win awards, maybe they should quit sucking.
Yeah, the KC and Shakespeare quite often get overlooked at awards time…
Oh wait, no they don’t!
The Kennedy Center and Shakespeare Theater have really been putting together some amazing seasons, and I was glad to see them win for some of the best theater I saw last year. It’s easy to overlook such old stalwarts out of complacency or predictability, and I think it’s terrific they got the recognition this year for continuing such great work.
Lorraine, do you have a larger version of that photo? I see some beautiful women in the background and want a better look at them. 😉
It’s 2010. Are you seriously playing the race card regarding the amazing night that most of us sat through in agreement that each of the nominees and winners were very deserving of their nod.
@Theatrefan, what would make you even fathom that simply because a theatre is nominated multiple times that they are guaranteed at least a single win. The process doesn’t work that way.
@LA-Actor, you talked to ‘several other attendees’ who agree that you must be a ‘white theatre company’ to win an award. How many black, asian, etc actors did you see there who were happy to be celebrating with friends and colleagues regardless of their ethnic make-up? Moreover, are you aware that there are some professional companies here who’s entire season was overlooked, yet had a large contingency of their company present last night to celebrate with the rest of us, without whining as though it were 1950 and their art is being oppressed by some unfair theatre God.
This is one of the most powerful theatre cities in the nation. If you want to win an award, stop wasting time commenting that a certain demographic of the community is being unrecognized. Simply produce amazing theatre and keep striving to produce even more amazing theatre.
Someone showed me a photo of the D.C. theater scene’s very own Tim & Lorraine Treanor. They looked simply MARVELOUS. Congrats to all winners & nominees, and thank you D.C.T.S. for another year of theater updates.
Of course it was the most open and divided Helen Hayes awards, but only open and divided among relatively provisional white theater companies, while Hispanic Theaters rarely those who actually receive awards. I talked to several of the nominees and other individuals who attended the Awards ceremony, and I among them, 100% agree that the only way to win an awards is by 1)Not been Latino and or 2) Buying the award.
The diversity was present in numerous wins for small companies, particularly Forum Theatre, Constellation, and Keegan.
Congrats to all the winners and nominees! 🙂
The most open and evenly divided Helen Hayes Awards? Perhaps, but I was disappointed to see that none of GALA Hispanic Theatre’s 5 nominations were rewarded with a prize. It doesn’t seem like an awards show in which the big winners are the Kennedy Center and the Shakespeare Theatre Company is particularly revolutionary or diverse!