Announcing: 2011 CSA Artios Award Nominees Announced – Ceremonies in LA & NYC on Sept. 26

CASTING SOCIETY OF AMERICA
ANNOUNCES NOMINEES FOR THE
27TH ANNUAL ARTIOS AWARDS®
FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN CASTING

2011 HONOREES INCLUDE
WHOOPI GOLDBERG, MEG LIBERMAN, AND DICK WOLF

BI-COASTAL AWARDS CEREMONIES SET FOR SEPTEMBER 26
IN LOS ANGELES & NEW YORK

The Casting Society of America will fête their own on Monday, September 26, 2011, at the 27th Annual Artios Awards®. The award ceremonies will be held simultaneously at the The Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles (reception will commence at 5:45 p.m. PDT) and at District 36 in New York (reception will commence at 5:30 p.m. EDT). For ticket information, please call (212) 868-1260, or (323) 463-1925, or visit artios.castingsociety.com.

Presented yearly for outstanding achievement in casting, awards are given on the criteria of originality, creativity and contribution of casting to the overall quality of a project. The term “Artios” is from the ancient Greek word meaning “perfectly fitted.”

Each year, in addition to the awards presented to casting directors for their achievements in Theatre, Television, and Film casting, the Casting Society of America also recognizes industry notables with the New York Apple Award (given by the casting community in recognition of an individual who has made a special commitment to the New York entertainment industry through their collaboration with casting directors), a Career Achievement Award (recognizing the recipient’s contribution to the industry as a whole, and their inclusion of the casting director in the overall creative process), and the Hoyt Bowers Award (for outstanding contribution to the casting profession; Hoyt Bowers was a brilliant casting director and a supportive mentor who created an atmosphere in which creativity could flourish). This year’s honorees are: in NY, Academy Award-winner Whoopi Goldberg will take home the New York Apple Award; and in LA, Dick Wolf will receive the Career Achievement Award, and Meg Liberman, the Hoyt Bowers Award.

The Artios Awards were first given in 1985 to honor excellence in casting and the ceremony was held in the Crystal Room of the Beverly Hills Hotel, and was attended by 500 industry leaders. The first New York awards were given in 1988.
The CSA is the premiere organization of theatrical casting directors in film, television, and theatre, and is passionately committed to establishing a recognized standard of professionalism in the industry, enhancing the stature of the profession in the industry, freely exchanging information and ideas among members, providing the opportunity to honor the outstanding achievements of its members, and providing members with professional support and resources. CSA members are a united professional society that consistently set the level of professionalism in casting on which the entertainment industry has come to rely. With more than 500 members, the CSA has representation not only in the United States, but also in Canada, Europe, England, Australia, and South Africa. For more information, or to become a member, visit www.castingsociety.com.

★COMPLETE LIST OF NOMINEES FOLLOWS★

2011 Artios Award Nominations for Outstanding Achievement in Casting

Big Budget Feature – Drama
“The Fighter,” Sheila Jaffe, Angela Peri (Location Casting)
“Inception,” John Papsidera
“The Social Network,” Laray Mayfield
“The Town,” Lora Kennedy, Carolyn Pickman (Location Casting)
“True Grit,” Ellen Chenoweth, Rachel Tenner, JoEdna Boldin (Location Casting)

Big Budget Feature – Comedy
“How Do You Know,” Francine Maisler, Lynn Kressel (Location Casting)
“Morning Glory,” Ellen Lewis *
“Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” Francine Maisler *
“Red,” Deborah Aquila, Mary Tricia Wood, Craig Fincannon (Location Casting), Lisa Mae Fincannon (Location Casting), Robin D. Cook (Location Casting)
“Scott Pilgrim vs. The World,” Jennifer Euston, Robin D. Cook *

Feature – Studio or Independent — Drama
“Animal Kingdom,” Kirsty McGregor
“Barney’s Version,” Pam Dixon, Nina Gold, Andrea Kenyon (Location Casting) *
“Black Swan,” Mary Vernieu
“The Conspirator,” Avy Kaufman, Jackie Burch (Location Casting)
“The King’s Speech,” Nina Gold

Feature – Studio or Independent — Comedy
“Easy A,” Lisa Miller Katz
“I Love You Phillip Morris,” Bernard Telsey
“It’s Kind of a Funny Story,” Cindy Tolan
“The Kids Are All Right,” Laura Rosenthal, Liz Dean (Los Angeles Casting)
“Soul Surfer,” Joey Paul Jensen *

Low Budget Feature – Drama/Comedy
“Blue Valentine,” Cindy Tolan, Richard Hicks (LA Casting Consultant), David Rubin (LA Casting Consultant)
“Kaboom,” Johanna Ray, Jenny Jue
“Lovely, Still,” Eyde Belasco *
“Night Catches Us,” Lois Drabkin *
“Winter’s Bone,” Kerry Barden, Paul Schnee *

Animation Feature
“Alpha and Omega,” Bernie Van De Yacht
“Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole,” Kristy Carlson *
“Rio,” Christian Kaplan
“Tangled,” Jamie Sparer Roberts
“Toy Story 3,” Kevin Reher, Natalie Lyon

Daytime Drama Series
“All My Children,” Judy Blye Wilson
“Days of Our Lives,” Marnie Saitta
“General Hospital,” Mark Teschner

Television Pilot Drama
“Boardwalk Empire,” Ellen Lewis
“Game of Thrones,” Nina Gold *
“The Killing,” Junie Lowry Johnson, Libby Goldstein, Stuart Aikins (Location Casting), Sean Cossey (Location Casting)
“Shameless,” John Frank Levey *
“The Walking Dead,” Sharon Bialy, Sherry Thomas, Lisa Mae Fincannon (Location Casting), Craig Fincannon (Location Casting)

Television Pilot Comedy
“The Big C,” Julie Tucker, Ross Meyerson
“Hot in Cleveland,” Collin Daniel, Brett Greenstein
“Mike & Molly,” Nikki Valko, Ken Miller
“Mr. Sunshine,” Francine Maisler
“Raising Hope,” Dava Waite Peaslee

Television Series Drama
“Dexter,” Shawn Dawson
“The Good Wife,” Mark Saks
“Mad Men,” Carrie Audino, Laura Schiff
“Game of Thrones,” Nina Gold *
“In Treatment,” Junie Lowry Johnson, Libby Goldstein, Julie Tucker (NY Casting),
Ross Meyerson (NY Casting)

Television Series Comedy
“The Big C,” Julie Tucker, Ross Meyerson
“Community,” Dava Waite Peaslee
“Glee,” Robert J. Ulrich, Eric Dawson & Carol Kritzer
“Modern Family,” Jeff Greenberg
“Nurse Jackie,” Julie Tucker, Ross Meyerson

Television Movie / Mini Series
“Cinema Verite,” Randi Hiller
“God in America,” Paul Fouquet, Elissa Myers
“Mildred Pierce,” Laura Rosenthal
“Marry Me,” Gillian O’Neill, Mark Fincannon (Location Casting), Sharon Fincannon (Location Casting) *
“Too Big To Fail,” Alexa L. Fogel, Christine Kromer

Children’s Series
“Hannah Montana,” Howard Meltzer, Carol Goldwasser
“iCarly,” Krisha Bullock
“The Suite Life on Deck,” Dana Gergely, Brandi Brice
“True Jackson, VP,” Harriet Greenspan
“Wizards of Waverly Place,” Ruth Lambert, Robert McGee

Television Animation
“The Backyardigans,” Leslie Zaslower *
“Bubble Guppies,” Leslie Zaslower *
“Go Diego Go,” Leslie Zaslower *
“The Penguins of Madagascar,” Sarah Noonan, Meredith Layne
“Spongebob Squarepants,” Sarah Noonan *

Short Film
“California Romanza,” Randi Hiller, Tamara-Lee Notcutt
“The Candy Shop,” Mark Fincannon
“Efrain,” Billy DaMota *
“Neighbors,” Robin Lippin
“Yearbook,” James Calleri
“Ollie Klublershturf vs. The Nazis,” Alyssa Weisberg
“Sodales,” Randi Hiller, Tamara-Lee Notcutt
“The Thief,” Randi Hiller, Tamara-Lee Notcutt

New York Broadway Theatre – Drama
“Jerusalem,” Jim Carnahan *
“Lombardi,” Laura Stanczyk
“The Normal Heart,” Bernard Telsey, Will Cantler
“That Championship Season,” Cindy Tolan
“War Horse,” Daniel Swee

New York Broadway Theatre – Comedy
“A Free Man of Color,” Daniel Swee
“Arcadia,” Jim Carnahan
“Good People,” David Caparelliotis
“La Bete,” Jim Carnahan *
“Mrs. Warren’s Profession,” Jim Carnahan, Carrie Gardner

New York Broadway Theatre – Musical
“Anything Goes,” Jim Carnahan *
“The Book of Mormon,” Carrie Gardner
“Catch Me If You Can,” Bernard Telsey, Justin Huff, Craig Burns
“How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” Tara Rubin, Merri Sugarman, Eric Woodall, Laura Schutzel
“Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown,” Bernard Telsey

New York Theatre — Comedy/Musical
“The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” Rachel Hoffman
“By The Way, Meet Vera Stark,” Mele Nagler
“The Grand Manner,” Daniel Swee
“Hairspray,” Craig Burns
“School for Lies,” James Calleri
“Tigers Be Still,” Carrie Gardner

New York Theatre — Drama
“Angels in America,” Will Cantler
“The Hallway Trilogy,” James Calleri
“Other Desert Cities,” Daniel Swee
“The Other Place,” Bernard Telsey, Will Cantler
“Three Sisters,” James Calleri

Regional Theatre East
“A Delicate Balance,” Tara Rubin, Laura Schutzel, Eric Woodall, Merri Sugarman
“Antony and Cleopatra” Will Cantler
“Every Tongue Confess,” Alaine Alldaffer *
“Follies,” Laura Stanczyk
“Ruined,” Tara Rubin, Eric Woodall, Merri Sugarman, Laura Schutzel *

Regional Theatre West
“August: Osage County,” Samantha Barrie
“Circle Mirror Transformation,” Joanne DeNaut
“Leap of Faith,” Bernard Telsey, Justin Huff
“Little Miss Sunshine,” Bernie Telsey
“Tales of the City,” David Caparelliotis

Los Angeles Theatre
“The Cradle Will Rock,” Scott David, Erica Silverman
“Gigi,” Amy Lieberman
“Kiss Me, Kate,” Amy Lieberman
“Much Ado About Nothing,” Michael Donovan
“The Temperamentals,” Scott David, Erica Silverman

SPECIAL HONOREES

CAREER ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Dick Wolf

HOYT BOWERS AWARD
Meg Liberman

THE NEW YORK APPLE AWARD
Whoopi Goldberg

* Shared Credit with Non-CSA Casting Director(s)

# # #

08-16-11

New York Press Contact: Rick Miramontez/Philip Carrubba
rick@oandmco.com / philip@oandmco.com
212-695-7400

Los Angeles Times: Ana Gasteyer sings, all kidding aside

Ana Gasteyer sings, all kidding aside

The former ‘SNL’ star, whose voice was showcased comically in her characters, sings this week in Hollywood.
By David Ng, Los Angeles Times

August 10, 2011

LINK: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-ana-gasteyer-20110810,0,6550222.story

It should come as no surprise that Ana Gasteyer can carry a tune. During her six-year run on “Saturday Night Live,” the actress-comedian played a handful of singing characters, including Bobbie Mohan-Culp, the frumpy half of a middle-school music-teaching couple; Cinder Calhoun, the politically correct, vaguely Sapphic indie-rock songstress; and Celine Dion, the gushy and emaciated French-Canadian pop chanteuse.

Since leaving “SNL” in 2002, Gasteyer has performed in “Wicked” in Chicago and on Broadway, “The Threepenny Opera” on Broadway and even the lead role of Fanny Brice in “Funny Girl” in Pittsburgh. This week, she will be in L.A. to perform not as any of the aforementioned characters, but as herself.

“Elegant Songs From a Handsome Woman,” her cabaret show, will run at the Catalina Bar & Grill in Hollywood from Thursday through Saturday. “The songs are goofy as all hell. There’s nothing vain about it… I hope,” said Gasteyer on the phone from her home in Brooklyn.

The show runs a swift 70 minutes. “I don’t like it when people go to the bathroom too much,” she explained.

Gasteyer performed the show earlier this year in New York at Feinstein’s at the Loews Regency. The L.A. engagement will feature jazz standards, novelty songs as well as excerpts from “Wicked.”

“It’s so easy in these cabaret venues to get earnest,” Gasteyer said. “I was inspired more by early Bette Midler. I do wear a fancy dress and very high heels — and extra high hair. My goal is to obliterate all earnestness.”

Gasteyer said that playing Bobbie Mohan-Culp on “SNL” helped her develop as a singer in unexpected ways. She recalled having to perform a high C for a non-Bobbie sketch and feeling intimidated by it. Cheryl Hardwick, the show’s musical director at the time, told her that she had heard her hit that note before as Bobbie, but that she didn’t realize it since Gasteyer was in character.

“Losing yourself in the character opens you up in a way that no amount of precise preparation can. That was when I felt the freest vocally,” she said. “The notes matter, but they’re meant to be interpreted. The best music is what’s being channeled.”

The actress described singing on Broadway in “Wicked” and other shows as “brutal, but it’s the same every day, which is good when you’re parenting. My whole ‘SNL’ experience was about pulling it all off in the moment you’re doing it. Theater was the antidote to that.”

Gasteyer now lives in Brooklyn with her husband, who works in advertising, and two children who are 9 and 3. In the months ahead, she expects to spend more time in Los Angeles thanks to a supporting role in the new ABC comedy series “Suburgatory.”

The actress spent some of her early comedy years in L.A. at the Groundlings Theatre. “At the time, it was all girls, with some men, but what blew me away coming from Chicago, was this incredible lineup of female comedians. And so I stuck with it. It’s still my home there. Will Ferrell was in the class ahead of me. It was life changing.”

The actress said performing her cabaret show is a return of sorts to the intimate live-audience setting that was crucial in improv. “It’s really intoxicating, feeling them and engaging with them,” she said.

“With film, you have absolutely no control. In comedy, the audience is orchestral, and once it starts, it doesn’t stop. That’s the same with cabaret — once the train takes off, it’s gone.”

david.ng@latimes.com

Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times

BroadwayWorld.com: SNL Star Ana Gasteyer makes West Coast Debut with ‘Elegant Songs’

by LA News Desk

LINK: http://losangeles.broadwayworld.com/article/SNL-Star-Ana-Gasteyer-makes-West-Coast-Debut-with-Elegant-Songs-20110809

Direct from her sold-out run in New York City, Saturday Night Live star and Broadway veteran Ana Gasteyer (Wicked, Three Penny Opera) makes her West Coast debut in “Elegant Songs from a Handsome Woman” playing a limited engagement Thurs-Sat, August 11, 12 & 13, 2011 at the Catalina Jazz Club, 6725 West Sunset Blvd, Hollywood, CA 90028.

Gasteyer brings unique comic wit and style to the stage in her new show featuring songs and stories from…um, dare we say “a Handsome Woman?!”

The evening promises to be classy, brassy and sassy or classy, brassy, quirky and tear-jerky, depending on world events and/or her hair frizz factor. Gasteyer will be gently assisted by Director Julian Fleisher and band leader Jon Spurney.

Thurs – Sat, August 11, 12 & 13, 2011

Dinner/Drinks begin at 7:00PM / SHOWTIME 8:30 PM
Reserve your seat today! (323) 466-2210 or online at www.UprightCabaret.com/events

Catalina Jazz Club
6725 West Sunset Blvd.
Hollywood, CA 90028

Ana Gasteyer is best known for her incomparable work on NBC’s SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE. During her six year stint, she created some of the most famous SNL characters including middle school music teacher Bobbie Moughan-Culp, NPR radio host Margaret Jo, Lilith Fair poetess Cinder Calhoun, as well as spot-on impressions of Martha Stewart, Celine Dion and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

She recently returned to SNL as Margaret Jo in “NPR’S Delicious Dish” and the now infamous “Muffin Top” sketch with Betty White, which Gasteyer created and wrote.

On stage, she made her triumphant Broadway debut as Columbia in THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW. Since then, Gasteyer earned raves as Elphaba in WICKED on Broadway, and originated the role for the Chicago production, earning a Jefferson Award nomination.

Other New York theater credits include the Tony-nominated Broadway productions of THE ROYAL FAMILY directed by Doug Hughes, THE THREEPENNY OPERA with Alan Cumming and Jim Dale, Eve Ensler‘s acclaimed Off-Broadway hit THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES, and Manhattan Theatre Club’s hit production of KIMBERLY AKIMBO by celebrated playwright David Lindsay-Abaire. Ana also she starred as Fanny Brice in FUNNY GIRL at the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera.

Recently, Gasteyer starred to rave reviews as Fosca in Gary Griffin‘s production of Sondheim’s PASSION at The Chicago Shakespeare Theater, earning a Jefferson Award nomination for her performance.

She also co-starred in the one-night-only star-studded Actors Fund benefit concerts of FUNNY GIRL, HAIR, and A CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF Frank Loesser.

Ana can be heard on the Actor’s Fund Recording of Hair and the Reefer Madness Soundtrack.