The Cleveland Critics
Circle each year honors local theaters, performances, performers and
technicians of plays staged by Cleveland area professional theaters during the
January 1-December 31 year.
Awards Committee: Bob
Abelman, Roy Berko, Kerry Clawson, Howard Gollop, Mark Horning, Christine
Howey, and Andrea Simakis. Participation
in these awards does not preclude individual critics from preparing their own recognitions.
Those recognized for
Superior Achievement are listed alphabetically, not by order of achievement.
Best Musical
Production: Newsies, Porthouse Theatre
Superior Achievement:
Bring It On, Beck Center
Camelot, Ohio Shakespeare Festival
Carousel, Mercury Theatre Company
The Hunchback
of Notre Dame, Great Lakes Theater
Rock of Ages, Cain Park
Best
Non-Musical Production: The
Flick,
Dobama Theatre
Superior
Achievement:
A
Doll’s House, Mamai
Theatre Company
brownsville
song (b-side for tray), Dobama Theatre
Hand
to God, Dobama Theatre
How
I Learned to Drive, Cleveland Play House
How
to Be a Respectable Junkie, Dobama Theatre
Best
Actor –
Musical: Alex Syiek: The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Great Lakes Theater
Superior Achievement:
Corey Mach, The
Hunchback of Notre Dame, Great Lakes Theater
Douglas F.
Bailey, Rock of Ages, Cain Park
Matt Gittens, Newsies, Porthouse Theatre
Michael
Canada, Brings It On, Beck Center
Michael
Snyder, Floyd Collins, Blank Canvas
Theatre
Shane Patrick
O’Neill, Bridges of Madison County, Lakeland
Civic
Theater
Best
Actor –
Non-Musical: Christopher
M. Bohan, The Flick, Dobama Theatre
Superior
Achievement:
Antonio
DeJesus, Equus, Blank Canvas Theatre
David
Peacock, The Night Alive, Dobama
Theatre
Luke
Wehner, Hand to God, Dobama Theatre
Robert
Ellis, The Whale, None Too Fragile
Theater
Best Actress – Musical: Keri Rene Fuller, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Great Lakes
Theater
Superior
Achievement:
Katelyn Cassidy, Newsies, Porthouse Theatre
Trinadad Snider, Bridges of Madison County, Lakeland
Civic Theatre
Natalie Green, Camelot, Ohio Shakespeare Festival
Best
Actress –
Non-Musical: Lara Mielcarek, Well, Ensemble Theatre
Superior Achievement:
Anjanette Hall, A Doll’s House, Mamai
Theatre Company
Ashley Aquilla, Barbecue, Cleveland Public Theatre
Dorothy Silver, Marjorie Prime, Dobama Theatre
Katrice Monee Headd, Barbeque, Cleveland Public Theatre
Lisa Louise Langford, brownsville song (b-side for tray),
Dobama Theatre
Rising
Star Award
Male--Jabri Little, brownsville song (b-side for tray),
Dobama Theatre
Superior Achievement:
Antonio DeJesus, Equus, Blank Canvas Theatre
Christian John Thomas, A Great Wilderness, Beck Center
Colin Frothingham, Sherlock Holmes: The Baker Street Irregulars,
Dobama Theatre
Female: Logan Dior Williams, brownsville song (b-side for tray), Dobama Theatre
Superior Achievement:
Elise Pakiela, Sherlock Holmes: The Baker Street Irregulars,
Dobama Theatre
Megan Medley, These Mortal Hosts, Cleveland Play House
Best Director – Musical: Terri Kent, Newsies,
Porthouse Theatre
Superior Achievement:
Joanna
May Hunkins, Rock of Ages, Cain Park
Martin
Friedman, Bridges of Madison County,
Lakeland Civic Theatre
Pierre-Jacques
Brault, Carousel, Mercury Theatre Company
Victoria Bussert, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Great Lakes
Theater
Best
Director –
Non-Musical: Nathan Motta, The
Flick, Dobama Theatre
Superior
Achievement:
Celeste Cosentino, Well, Ensemble Theatre
Eric Schmiedl, Waiting for Godot, Beck Center
Laura Kepley, How I Learned to Drive, Cleveland Play House
Mathew Wright, Hand to God, Dobama Theatre
Robert Barry
Fleming, Between Riverside and Crazy,
Cleveland Play
House
Best Choreographer:
Mary Ann Black, Newsies, Porthouse
Theatre
Superior Achievement:
Kevin
D Marr, Rock of Ages, Cain Park
Martin
Céspedes (with Mary Sheridan), Bring It On,
Beck Center
Best Musical
Direction:
Jonathan Swoboda, Newsies,
Porthouse Theatre
Superior
Achievement:
Edward
Ridley, Jr., Ain’t Misbehavin’, Porthouse Theatre
Joel
Mercier, The Hunchback of Notre Dame,
Great Lakes Theater
Jordan Cooper, The Bridges of Madison County, Lakeland
Civic Theatre
Best
Scenic Design: Walter Boswell, The Hairy Ape, Ensemble Theatre
Superior
Achievement:
Collette Pollard, How I Learned to Drive, Cleveland Play House
Jill
Davis, Marjorie Prime, Dobama Theatre
Jim Smith, The Chaste Genius and His DeathRay Gun,
Convergence-Continuum Theater
Lex Liang, Shakespeare in Love, Cleveland Play House
Wilson Chin, Between Riverside and Crazy, Cleveland Play
House
Best Lighting
Design: Russell H. Champa, Shakespeare in
Love, Cleveland Play House
Superior
Achievement:
Trad A
Burns, City of Angels, Beck Center
Peter Maradudin, Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville, Cleveland Play House
Andrew Eckert, The Hairy Ape, Ensemble Theatre
Best Projection
Design: T. Paul Lowry, Things as They Are, Playwright Local
Superior Achievement:
T. Paul Lowry, brownsville song (b-side for tray), Dobama Theatre
T. Paul
Lowry, Sherlock Holmes: The Baker Street
Irregulars, Dobama
Theatre
Best Costume
Design:
Lex Liang, Shakespeare
in Love, Cleveland Play House
Superior
Achievement:
Aimee
Kluiber, City of Angels, Beck Center
Kim Krumm Sorenson, Hamlet, Great Lakes Theater
Martha Bromelmeier, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Great Lakes
Theater
Best Sound Design: Cyrus O. Taylor, brownsville song (b-side for tray), Dobama Theatre
Superior
Achievement:
Daniel
Perelstein, The Diary of Anne Frank,
Cleveland PlayHouse
Erick T.
Lawson, Marjorie Prime, Dobama
Theatre
Nathan
Rosmarin, Newsies, Porthouse Theatre
Victoria
Deiorio, Baskerville, Cleveland Play
House
Best Full-Production Premiere of a Script by a Local Writer:
How to Be a Respectable Junkie by Greg Vovos, Dobama
How to Be a Respectable Junkie by Greg Vovos, Dobama
Superior Achievement:
Art of Longing by Lisa Longford,
Cleveland Public Theatre
These Mortal Hosts by Eric Coble,
Cleveland Play House
Things as They Are by David Todd,
Playwrights Local
Best Touring
Production: Waitress, Playhouse Square
Special
Mention:
Bill Rudman, for his outstanding
advocacy of the American musical.
Through his Musical Theatre Project’s concerts, in-school residency programs and radio broadcasts, he
and his staff create personal connections with the art form, document the lives
of musical theater artists, and reinforce the relevancy of musical theater in
contemporary society.
Gina
Vernaci, for enhancing the national profile of Cleveland and Playhouse Square
through the launching of Broadway tours and expanding the runs of touring
productions from two to three weeks.
Christine
McBurney and Bernadette Clemens, for their five-year run offering productions
at Mamai Theatre, dedicated to producing women’s plays from a
classical canon.
Cleveland
Shakespeare Festival and director Lisa Ortenzi for innovative cross-gender
casting in The Taming of the Shrew.
Cleveland Public
Theatre, for their continuing commitment to Teatro Publico de Cleveland, the
Cleveland-based Latin American theatre ensemble.
