Monday, December 18, 2017

CLEVELAND CRITICS CIRCLE 2017 THEATER AWARDS



CLEVELAND CRITICS CIRCLE 2017 THEATER AWARDS

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 Dolls 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 ONeill, 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 Ludwigs 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

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 Projects 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 womens 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.