Welcome to our series of articles on the 2011 nominations, featuring many of DC’s most well-loved theatre artists. The series, called Helen Hayes Awards 2012, will run throughout the next two weeks leading up to the night of the awards on Monday, April 23rd. We hope you find this page a convenient way to follow the series.
It’s Awards Night – we take you there and announce the recipients
[posted April 24, 2012]
The show was an irresistible tribute to the heart and soul of the Washington D.C. theater community.
The spirited celebration of the 2011 theatrical season was notable for the unusually even distribution of awards throughout Washington’s large and diverse theatrical community. Fourteen companies shared the twenty-two resident awards, and no company received more than five. [read more]
Announcement
[posted April 10, 2012]
We have spoken with some of the city’s most recognizable arts figures — including playwrights, directors, designers, and actors — who will each cover a specific awards category.
In compiling some larger observations about the current state of the arts, our goal is to get a snapshot of DC theatre in 2012. We are looking to use this wider variety of responses series to enrich our thinking, and raise new topics and questions, as we move into the awards themselves. [read more]
Will Gartshore on Supporting Actor in a Resident Musical
[posted April 10, 2012]
When they’re good, musicals burn into people’s brains in a really special way. On some basic level they’re preposterous, which is what makes them such magical and perfect pieces of theater. An actor who is able take advantage of that amazing alchemy of words and music and meaning is a special beast. [read more]
Reggie Ray on Costume Design
[posted April 11, 2012]
In Costume Design, it’s not just the “best” art for that season that receives recognition, but the best development of that art and the quality of the artists’ choices. Ultimately we are awarded for evolving into the best artists we can be. The award is an extension of the sense of discovery that happened during the journey of that theatre’s vision, and that artist’s vision. [read more]
Joshua Morgan on Lead Actor in a Resident Play
[posted April 12, 2012]
When I look at the nominees this year, I’m particularly happy for small groups like dog&pony dc. It’s great that Birds of a Feather and Wonderful Life at Hub Theatre was recognized. I’m happy for the major theatres too, but I think it’s great that we have awards that don’t exclude anyone. [read more]
Matthew M. Nielson on Sound Design
[posted April 13, 2012]
I’m very proud of this year’s nominees for Outstanding Sound Design. I’m close friends with a few of them and I know their work well. Neil McFadden was one of my teachers when I was first starting to design. And it always makes me so happy when the smaller theatres like Rorschach get some well-deserved nods. It’s great that Matt Rowe is nominated for a musical — he’s one of the best musical designers in town, and that seems to be getting more and more rare. [read more]
Floyd King on Supporting Actor in a Resident Play
[posted April 14, 2012]
I’m always impressed by the supporting actors. This year’s nominees included. Even in a really large show with a large cast, everybody still has their own character, and everyone works hard with what they have. It’s true that when there are many characters, a lot of the roles are small. But you can be in a thirty-character musical and still have a brilliantly written part. [read more]
Matthew Gardiner on Choreography
[posted April 17, 2012]
This year’s nominees for Outstanding Choreography represent some wonderful choreographers working in Washington, and some fantastic fight choreographers as well. I can’t imagine coming to a conclusion about who is the most “Outstanding.” And how you compare fight choreographers to dance choreographers is a bit of a conundrum to me. But there is no doubt that each of the nominees is doing masterful work in their area of expertise. [read more]
Kimberly Gilbert on Supporting Actress in a Play
[posted April 18, 2012]
So much of the work I see in DC is so true, with a spine intact and feet firmly on the ground. I forget that I’m watching actors perform. I get transported. And I know these people well to begin with! Sometimes I know more than half the cast members in the play. If you can accomplish this transformation in the eyes of a fellow actor in the theatre scene, you’ve got something really special. [read more]
Karen Zacarias on New Plays
[posted April 19, 2012]
We are a country of such constant, sometimes radical reinvention. As we see a new generation of writers coming in, this theme is coming to the surface more and more, it seems. What does it mean to be American? Well, what our parents thought about the American dream versus what we think now, versus what our children will think… Some of the values will stay the same, but it’s all going to look and feel very different. Theatre needs to be able to reflect that, and serve that constant ability on our parts to change. [read more]
Derek Goldman on Outstanding Ensemble for a Play
[posted April 20, 2012]
Look within just the six nominees in this one category this year. They encompass classics, literary adaptations, new plays, devised/ ensemble-based work, crosscultural work, musical traditions, physical theater, and much more.
Maybe this makes it harder to quickly define a signature style or identity for DC theatre. But I think we as a community are increasingly called to overcome this identity crisis by embracing this very breadth as something truly our own. [read more]
James Kronzer on Set Design
[posted April 21, 2012]
The size of a theatre space dictates design to a certain degree. But that pushes small-space theatres to be all the more creative. It seems the Helen Hayes Awards is wise enough to recognize good work when it sees it. It doesn’t automatically equate resources with excellence. It’s great to see Rorschach Theatre and Adventure Theatre and others in the mix with Shakespeare Theatre. And it’s encouraging for young designers to see they can be rewarded for hard work regardless of the resources. [read more]
Howard Shalwitz on Direction of a Play
[posted April 21, 2012]
People sometimes ask me what’s distinctive about Washington theatre. We like to imagine there’s a sort of personality to the theatre here. Kind of like we imagine Chicago theatre has a personality. In Chicago, we tend to think of it as a sort of macho gritty realism. We don’t have a style so clear-cut over here.
But I think something exciting is happening in Washington right now, something that’s really part of our personality. It’s civic discourse. Here, you’re seeing shows that are asking you to talk about something. [read more]
George Fulginiti-Shakar on Musical Direction
[posted April 22, 2012]
Working with the orchestrations is often quite involved — it requires a great deal of work to get a handle on them and rearrange them for the orchestra that you have. Musicals are often orchestrated for a twenty or thirty piece orchestra, so if yours is smaller, there’s a lot of adaptation needed.
Even though music directors may be restrained by contractual agreements with the license holders, there is still lots of room to interpret the music, and to work with the directors to open up possibilities. Our job is to support the director’s vision. [read more]
A series on the nominated musicals by David Tannous:
From the Top – Overview of the 2011 resident musicals
[all posted April 23, 2012]
Musicals in DC have been outstanding in the last half-dozen years, and they’re getting even better. We have a very rich group of actors, singers, dancers, designers, and directors. Frequently I see shows more than once. But I don’t ever see DC shows fall apart over time. I only see them get stronger. I don’t know, maybe everyone’s collapsing backstage. But from the front row where I like to sit, I can see the small things as well as the large things. The small, focused interactions between actors — their body language, their nuance. For me, that’s what really makes a show rich. [read more]
Nancy Anderson did superbly in Side By Side By Sondheim. I’m very impressed by her. Actresses like Nancy’s co-star, Sherri Edelen, give a really grounded and juicy performance. Naomi Jacobson does that too. But Nancy has a more quicksilver quality. Her delineations of a mood, or of a song, are so precise. She makes her point lightly, but her darts hit the target, so to speak. [read more]
We have excellent actors and actresses nominated this year. So much so that something struck me, looking over the nominations… Some of them got the great good luck to be featured in a wonderful play in a wonderful role, and some of them were working like all get-out to make the most of a lesser play and a less inherently rich role. It was good that in both people of both kinds were recognized in both the Lead Actor and Lead Actress categories. [read more]
Outstanding Supporting Actress
Tracy Lynn Olivera was wonderful in The Sound of Music. She was stepping in and out of roles for that one! Channez McQuay took over as Mother Superior, which bumped Tracy up to Channez’s role, and then for some performances Tracy moved up to play Mother Superior. [read more]
With regard to ensemble, a very particular point was made with POP! and with Hairspray. In both cases, the ensemble was used as more than just a crowd — they were all very clear characters. In these two shows especially, the play would not be a play without this pattern of multiple supporting characters coming into focus for moments that affect the plot, then receding again. [read more]
Some shows you watch just admiring the construct — the fact that the machine is running so well. But with Sondheim plays, there’s always something more. Sondheim wrote this one as he was turning forty, in 1971. That was the start to a decade that would give us some of his best works. And Follies is a show in which people realize they’ve already spent enough of their life to be able to look back. It was a stand-out show, with a great feeling of surprise and style. [read more]
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