By Marcina Zaccaria
The New York Innovative Theatre Awards were held on Monday, September 21 at Mason Hall. The 11th Annual Awards celebrated a year of the best performances Off-Off Broadway.
The winners were in great spirits, often thanking their spouse, and wishing the best for years of theater to come. The swift evening, directed by Tim Errickson, proceeded without a hitch. With a goal of recognizing Off-Off-Broadway in order to “expand audience awareness and foster greater appreciation of the New York theatre experience,” the NY Innovative Theater Awards have a great sense of ease.
The suave Jason Kravits (who played ADA Richard Bay on TV’s The Practice) made for a fine host, introducing theater artists, Woodie King Jr., David Auburn, David Greenspan, and Vallejo Gantner, among others. The show featured a live webcast. Theater devotees reminded the audience that theater is about experimentation and collaboration.
The Awards got off to a great start with a rap performance of the song, Tick, Tick, Tick, Boom. Then, Featured Actors Awards were announced. Before the end of the evening, actors, designers, and stage managers were awarded. The recipients came from a pool of 145 individual nominees, 57 productions, and 55 theatre companies. Nearly 2,000 artists and 500 companies have been honored in year’s past.
To share an evening like this among friends seems like a bit of a homecoming, and can feel like the best of all possible worlds. Although it would have been great to hear longer tributes about the downtown theater scene since the 1960s, I was glad to see theater artists – young and old – filling the large space at Baruch Performing Arts Center’s Mason Hall and celebrating the year’s victories.
| Special awards were presented in the following categories:Artistic Achievement Award Recipient: Marshall W. MasonEllen Stewart Award: HERE Arts Center
Caffé Cino Fellowship Award: Theatre 167 Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award: Andrea Alton Outstanding Stage Manager: Juni Li
A complete list of winners follows: |
| OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLEMuch Ado About Nothing, Smith Street Stage, Inc.OUTSTANDING SOLO PERFORMANCESylvia Milo
The Other Mozart , Little Matchstick Factory
OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A FEATURED ROLE Dan McVey Pretty Babies , Elsinore County
OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A FEATURED ROLE Mel House In The Bones , Astoria Performing Arts Center
OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A LEAD ROLE Matthew Trumbull The Temple, or Lebensraum, Tin Drum Productions in Association with MozzleStead OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A LEAD ROLE Emily Koch In The Bones , Astoria Performing Arts Center
OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHY/MOVEMENT Isaac Bush The Mountain, The Circle Theater of New York
OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR Isaac Byrne In Vestments, Theatre 4the People
OUTSTANDING LIGHTING DESIGN Nicole Pearce The Law of Return, Newsom Zipoy Productions
OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN Debbi Hobson Unmentionables, Nylon Fusion Collective Magdalena Dabrowska & Miodrag Guberinic The Other Mozart, Little Matchstick Factory
OUTSTANDING SET DESIGN Carolyn Mraz The Twelfth Labor, Loading Dock Theatre Company
OUTSTANDING SOUND DESIGN Jeanne Travis The Temple, or Lebensraum, Tin Drum Productions in Association with MozzleStead
OUTSTANDING INNOVATIVE DESIGN Stephanie Cox-Williams (Gore & Blood Effects) R & J & Z, Hard Sparks
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL MUSIC Phyllis Chen & Nathan Davis The Other Mozart, Little Matchstick Factory
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SHORT SCRIPT Lisa Bruna Invasion from Estrogenius: Andi’s Night, manhattan theatre source
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL FULL-LENGTH SCRIPT Micheline Auger Donkey Punch, Ivy Theatre Company
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE ART PRODUCTION Night The New Stage Theatre Company
OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION OF A MUSICAL Merrily We Roll Along Astoria Performing Arts Center
OUTSTANDING PREMIERE PRODUCTION OF A PLAY In Vestments Theatre 4the People
OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A PLAY Much Ado About Nothing Smith Street Stage, Inc. |
For more information about the New York Innovative Theater Awards, feel free to visit www.nyitawards.com.
