NEWS RELEASE ▪︎ 27th ANNUAL LA STAGE ALLIANCE OVATION AWARDS CEREMONY on JANUARY 17, 2017 at the Ahmanson Theatre

LA STAGE ALLIANCE
ANNOUNCES 27TH ANNUAL
OVATION AWARDS CEREMONY
AT THE AHMANSON THEATRE
TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017 AT 7:30PM

LA STAGE Alliance has announced that the 27th Annual Ovation Awards ceremony will be held on Tuesday, January 17, 2017 at the Ahmanson Theatre at The Music Center. Red carpet arrivals begin at 6pm and the curtain will rise at 7:30pm. A reception in the Grand Hall of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion will follow the ceremony.

Founded in 1989, the LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Awards are the only peer-judged theatre awards in Los Angeles. Voters are Los Angeles theatre professionals who are chosen each year, through an application process, by the Ovation Rules Committee. This year’s Ovation Awards eligibility period ran from August 31, 2015 through August 28, 2016. During the 2015-16 voting season, 280 productions were registered for awards consideration by 116 producing organizations, and 3,923 individual artists were evaluated. Voters cast a total of 8,049 ballots.

A new Ovation Award statuette will be unveiled at the ceremony in January. Fabricated by local artists, this new design will provide a modern update to its iconic predecessor.

LA STAGE Alliance is a nonprofit arts service organization dedicated to building awareness, appreciation, and support for the performing arts in Greater Los Angeles.

The Ovation Awards nominations will be announced on Wednesday, November 2 on @ This Stage Magazine (ThisStage.LA). For more information and details on how to attend the Ovation Awards ceremony, visit www.OvationAwards.com. #OvationAwards

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10-20-16

An Act of God (LAArtsOnline.com)

^{An Act of God starring Sean Hayes is now playing through March 13th at the Ahmanson Theatre}

By Ken Werther

In the early spring of 2015, An Act of God made his first of 76 appearances at Studio 54 on Broadway. He proceeded to hold forth through the early summer on matters of faith and folly to peals of raucous laughter. Audiences were more than a little surprised to discover that in a history-making metaphysical transformation, God looked an awful lot like four-time Emmy Award-winner Jim Parsons.

The magic and mirth will continue when God arrives onstage at the Ahmanson Theatre this month looking an awful lot like Will & Grace star and Emmy Award-winner Sean Hayes. I expect that a great many of us will be making our way downtown to sample God’s sense of humor on a myriad of issues, and to hear his version of familiar biblical stories. Rumor has it that he will also be delivering a new and improved set of Commandments, and who wants to miss that?

An Act of God is directed by two-time Tony Award-winner Joe Mantello (The Normal Heart, Assassins). I’m fortunate to have met Joe all the way back in 1992 when he was in the original cast of Angels In America at the Mark Taper Forum, and this guy is the real deal. So let’s see … Sean Hayes, Joe Mantello, God … I’m there!

An Act of God is now on stage at the Ahmanson Theatre, click here for tickets and more information.

NEWS RELEASE — 2015 LA STAGE ALLIANCE OVATION AWARD WINNERS

2015 LA STAGE ALLIANCE OVATION AWARDS
PRESENTED MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9
AT THE AHMANSON THEATRE

The 2015 LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Awards, celebrating theatrical excellence and achievement during the past 12 months, were presented on Monday, November 9 at the Ahmanson Theatre at The Music Center.

Thirty-five awards were bestowed upon 18 different Southern California theatre companies. The most honored companies of the year were The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts/Deaf West Theatre/Cody Lassen (Spring Awakening); Center Theatre Group (Chavez Ravine: An L.A. Revival, The Price, Luna Gale); Circle X Theatre Company (Trevor); Ebony Repertory Company (The Gospel at Colonus); Sacred Fools Theater Company (The Behavior of Broadus, a co-production with Burglars of Hamm and Center Theatre Group); Four Larks (The Temptation of St Antony); and Loft Ensemble (She Kills Monsters).

Other companies honored were 3-D Theatricals, Actors Co-op, Cabrillo Music Theatre, Coeurage Theatre Company, Los Angeles Performance Practice, The Pasadena Playhouse, Rogue Machine, Unbound Productions, and VS. Theatre Company. The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts received the Best Season Award (Enter Laughing, Love, Noël: The Letters and Songs of Noël Coward, Spring Awakening).

For a complete list of winners, go to @ This Stage Magazine (ThisStage.LA).

LA STAGE Alliance Board Chair Brian Kite said, “What a night! It is always a thrill to gather the Los Angeles theatre community together to honor excellence. The work on our stages this year was invigorating, riveting, thought provoking, and daring. Congratulations to all the artists that keep LA theatre among the best in the world. Bravo!”

Sarah Lyding, Senior Program Officer for The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation, presented the BEST Awards, including checks totaling $105,000 to the following LA theatre companies: Casa 0101 (also won in 2012), Center Theatre Group, East West Players (also won in 2013 and 2014), The Pasadena Playhouse, and Watts Village Theater Company.

Additionally, Center Theatre Group presented the 2015 Sherwood Award for innovative and adventurous artists to Miwa Matreyek. This award is endowed by the Sherwood family and is accompanied by $10,000 to further Matreyek’s artistic work.

The ceremony was hosted by French and Vanessa Claire Stewart, and this year’s presenters included LA theatre luminaries (in alphabetical order) Keith Allan, Bekah Brunsetter, Lap Chi Chu, Guillermo Cienfuegos, Tim Dang, Abigail Deser, Robert Egan, Christina Elmore, Ann Closs Farley, Shirley Jo Finney, Brighid Fleming, David and Kiki Gindler, Harry Groener, Sofia Klatzker, Michael Kricfalusi, Deborah Lawler, Alan Mandell, Terence McFarland, Stephen Sachs, Oz Scott, Madhuri Shekar, Trent Steelman, Seema Sueko, Jose Luis Valenzuela, and Kirsten Vangsness.

Founded in 1989, the LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Awards are the only peer-judged theatre awards in Los Angeles. Voters are Los Angeles theatre professionals who are chosen each year, through an application process, by the Ovation Rules Committee. The list of nominees is determined by a tabulation of scores conducted by Green Hasson Janks. This year’s Ovation Award eligibility period ran from September 1, 2014 through August 31, 2015.

Since 1975, LA STAGE Alliance has dedicated to building awareness, appreciation, and support for the performing arts in Greater Los Angeles. All of its initiatives aim to serve and strengthen the sector — both at an individual and community level — providing resources that facilitate audience engagement, collaborative marketing, community building, and professional development.

Sponsors for this year’s Ovation Awards ceremony were The Sheri & Les Biller Family Foundation, TheaterMania, Goldstar, Walt Disney Imagineering Creative Entertainment, USC School of Dramatic Arts, UCLA School of Theater, Film & Television, Green Hasson Janks, Bakers Man Productions, Performances Magazine, City Tavern, Peter Konerko Photography, and Ken Werther Publicity. Variety was the media sponsor.

For more information, visit lastagealliance.com.

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11-09-15

CLICK HERE FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF WINNERS