2011 Ovation Award Nominees Announced

2011 OVATION AWARD NOMINEES ANNOUNCED

REPRISE THEATRE COMPANY LEADS WITH 17,
TROUBADOUR THEATER COMPANY RECEIVES 16,
CENTER THEATRE GROUP GETS 12,
DEMAND PRODUCTIONS GARNERS 11

Nominees for the 2011 LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Awards were announced on the evening of Monday, September 19 at the Falcon Theatre in Burbank. The nominations were revealed by 2010 Ovation Award winners Brendan Hunt, Bruce French, Alan Mandell, David St. Louis, Beth Grant, and Anna Khaja, along with LA STAGE Alliance Chief Executive Officer Terence McFarland.

The Reprise Theatre Company received the most nominations (17), followed by the Troubadour Theater Company (16), Center Theatre Group (12) and Demand Productions (11). The Reprise Theatre Company garnered nominations for Kiss Me, Kate (14), Gigi (1), They’re Playing Our Song (1), and Best Season. The Troubies’ nominations are for A Withers Tale (10), and The First Jo-el (5), as well as Best Season (which also included Fleetwood Macbeth). The CTG nominations are for Venice at the Kirk Douglas Theatre (11), and Leap of Faith at the Ahmanson (1). Demand Productions’ nominations are for Having It All (7) and Girls Talk (4).

The other three Best Season nominations were received by Celebration Theatre (Bash’d! A Gay Rap Opera, The Next Fairy Tale, Take Me Out), the Fountain Theatre (Bakersfield Mist, A House Not Meant to Stand, The Train Driver), and Theatre Banshee (The Crucible, The Field, The Walworth Farce, War).

Ovation Honors, which recognize outstanding achievement in areas that are not among the standard list of nomination categories, have been awarded to The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles (Composition for a Play, Much Ado About Nothing), Theatre Banshee (Fight Choreography, The Walworth Farce) Rogue Artists Ensemble (Puppet Design, D is for Dog), and Center Theatre Group/Kirk Douglas Theatre (Video Design, Venice).

Founded in 1989, the LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Awards are the only peer-judged theater awards in Los Angeles. For the 2010-2011 voting season, there are a grand total of 196 nominations for 65 productions, presented by 44 companies. There were 388 total productions registered from 173 companies. Of those productions registered, 97 were Ovation Recommended, identified during their runs as scoring in the top quarter of all productions in the Overall Production categories.  PLEASE SEE COMPLETE LIST OF NOMINATIONS AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS RELEASE.

Voters are Los Angeles theater professionals who are chosen each season by the Ovation Awards Rules Committee (through an application process). The list of nominees is determined by a tabulation of scores conducted by the entertainment accounting firm Green Hasson Janks.

LA STAGE Alliance, empowering artists and engaging audiences since 1975, is dedicated to building awareness, appreciation and support for the performing arts in Greater Los Angeles through community building, collaborative marketing/audience development, professional development to strengthen the sector, and advocacy. Providing access to the performing arts for patrons and access to information and resources for organizations has been the mission of LA STAGE for over 35 years. LA STAGE connects artists and arts administrators from over 500 groups annually in a six county region with opportunities to engage, inspire, educate and entertain nearly three million households in our community. LA STAGE engenders a stronger, more networked, creative Los Angeles.

LA STAGE Alliance programs are sponsored, in part, by Actors Equity, The Angell Foundation, Arts Council for Long Beach, California Arts Council, California Community Foundation, City of Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA/LA), City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Pasadena, City of Pasadena Cultural Affairs Division, City of Santa Monica Cultural Affairs Division, City of Santa Monica Cultural Affairs Division, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Goldstar, the James Irvine Foundation, Los Angeles County Supervisors through the LA County Arts Commission, Los Angeles Times, MusiCares/Grammy Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, SDC, The Shubert Foundation. and Sony Pictures Entertainment.

The 2011 Ovation Awards ceremony will take place on Monday, November 14, 2011 at the Orpheum Theatre, 842 South Broadway, in downtown Los Angeles. The curtain will rise at 7:30pm. For more information, visit www.LASTAGEOvations.com.

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09-19-11

Click here for the complete list of 2011 Ovation Nominees.

Announcing: 2010 LA Stage Alliance Ovation Awards Presented

2010 LA STAGE ALLIANCE OVATION AWARDS PRESENTED
MONDAY, JANUARY 17, 2011
AT THOUSAND OAKS CIVIC ARTS PLAZA

KUDOS FOR 2009-2010 SEASON
SHARED BY 21 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA THEATRE COMPANIES

The LA Stage Alliance Ovation Awards, celebrating theatrical excellence and achievement during the 2009-2010 season, were presented on Monday, January 17, 2011 at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, home of Cabrillo Music Theatre.

Thirty-six awards were bestowed upon 21 different Southern California theatre companies. Leading the pack, tied with five awards each, were The Fountain Theatre (The Ballad of Emmett Till, Opus, and the coveted Best Season Award), and The Geffen Playhouse (Equivocation, Through the Night). Center Theatre Group (Parade at the Mark Taper Forum and The Wake at the Kirk Douglas Theatre) and the Rubicon Theatre Company (Daddy Long Legs) tied with three each. Reprise Theatre Company (Carousel, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying), The Colony Theatre Company (Grace & Glorie), The Theatre @ Boston Court (The Good Book of Pedantry and Wonder, a win shared with Circle X Theatre Company, and Oedipus El Rey) and the Troubadour Theatre Company (Oedipus The King, Mama!), each took home two statuettes.

Four 2010 Ovation Honors were acknowledged: KC Wilkerson (Video Design, The Who’s Tommy at The Chance Theatre), Ego Plum (Music Composition for a Play, Gogol Project at the Bootleg Theater), Lynn Jeffries (Puppet Design, Project Wonderland at the Bootleg Theater), and Edgar Landa (Fight Choreography, Oedipus El Rey at The Theatre @ Boston Court).

For a complete list of winners, visit www.lastagealliance.com.

Presenters included Shirley Jones, Patrick Cassidy, Sally Struthers, Doris Roberts, T.R. Knight, Jenny Powers, Matt Cavenaugh, Harry Groener, Mike O’Malley (Glee), Alan Mandell, Tessa Thompson (For Colored Girls …), Monica Rosenthal (Everybody Loves Raymond), Erich Bergen and Michael Ingersoll (Jersey Boys), Carole W. Nussbaum (President and Chief Executive Officer, Cabrillo Music Theatre), Jacqui V. Irwin (City of Thousand Oaks Council Member and Mayor Pro Tem), Mary Lou Westerfield (Western Regional Director, Actors Equity Association), and Oz Scott (West Coast Board Member, Stage Directors & Choreographers Society).

LA Stage Alliance is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to building awareness, appreciation and support for the performing arts in greater Los Angeles through community building, collaborative marketing, audience development, professional development to strengthen operations for members, and advocacy. LASA serves over 325 organizational members (professional, educational, and community-based producing and presenting performing arts organizations) annually in the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara and Ventura, and individual members comprised of local, regional, national, and international performing arts patrons.

The Ovation Awards are made possible by LA Stage Alliance and Cabrillo Music Theatre sponsors: Actors Equity Association, Goldstar, the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles, Gelson’s The Super Market, Footlights, Production Resource Group, Ken Werther Publicity, Capture Imaging, Schwabel Studio, Bakers Man Productions, KUSC Classical 91.5 FM, the Los Angeles Times, Patron Technology, Target Resource Group, Valley Bakery, Marriott, the City of Thousand Oaks and the City of Thousand Oaks Board of Governors.

The Ovation Awards are tabulated by Green Hasson Janks.

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01/17/11

Announcing: 2010 Ovation Award Nominees Announced

2010 OVATION AWARD NOMINEES ANNOUNCED

THEATRE AT BOSTON COURT LEADS WITH 17,
CENTER THEATRE GROUP RECEIVES 16,
GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE GETS 12,
MUSICAL THEATRE WEST AND REPRISE TIE WITH 10 EACH

Nominees for the 2010 LA Stage Alliance Ovation Awards were announced on the evening of Monday, October 18 at The Autry National Center for the American West in Griffith Park.  The nominations were presented by 2009 Ovation Award winners Jake Broder, Vanessa Claire Smith, Michael Paternostro, Sarah Cornell, Tasha Ames and Hugo Armstrong, along with Ebony Rep  Executive Director Wren Brown and LA Stage Alliance Executive Director Terence McFarland.

The Theatre at Boston Court garnered the most nominations (17), followed by Center Theatre Group (16), the Geffen Playhouse (12) and, in a two-way tie with 10 nominations each, Musical Theatre West and Reprise Theatre Company.  The Theatre at Boston Court productions honored with nominations are Oedipus el Rey (7), The Twentieth Century Way (5), The Good Book of Pedantry and Wonder (a co-production with Circle X Theatre Company) – 2, God Save Gertrude (2), and also Best Season. The CTG nominations are for Parade at the Mark Taper Forum (12), The Wake at the Kirk Douglas Theatre (3) and The Lieutenant of Inishmore at the Taper (1). The Geffen Playhouse productions are Equivocation (8) and Through the Night (5).

The breakdown for the two theatre companies tied for 10 nominations each is as follows. Musical Theatre West: Sweeney Todd (6), and The Marvelous Wonderettes (4).  Reprise: Carousel (7), How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (2), as well as Best Season.

For the first time, the category “Ovation Honors” has been added to recognize outstanding  achievement in areas that are not among  the standard list of  nomination categories.  This year, Ovation Honors have been awarded to The Who’s Tommy (Chance Theatre) for Video Design, The Gogol Project (Bootleg Theater) for Music Composition for a Play, Project Wonderland (Bootleg Theater) for Puppet Design, and Oedipus el Rey (Theatre at Boston Court) for Fight Choreography.

Founded in 1989, the LA Stage Alliance Ovation Awards are the only peer-judged theatre awards in Los Angeles. For the 2009-2010 voting season, there are a grand total of 191 nominations for 63 productions presented by 43 companies.  There were 396 total productions registered from 166 companies.  Of those registered, 93 were Ovation Recommended, identified during their run as scoring in the top 20% of all productions in the Overall Production categories. [PLEASE SEE COMPLETE LIST OF NOMINATIONS FOLLOWING THIS RELEASE.]

Voters are L.A. theatre professionals who are chosen each season by the Ovation Awards Review Committee (through an application process). The list of nominees is determined by a tabulation of scores conducted by the entertainment accounting firm Green Hasson & Janks LLP.

LA Stage Alliance is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to building awareness, appreciation and support for the performing arts in greater Los Angeles through community building, collaborative marketing, audience development, professional development to strengthen operations for members, and advocacy.  LASA serves over 325 organizational members (professional, educational, and community-based producing and presenting performing arts organizations) annually in the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara and Ventura, and individual members comprised of local, regional, national, and international performing arts patrons.

The 2010 Ovation Awards ceremony will take place on Monday, January 17, 2011 at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza (Bank of America Performing Arts Center), home of Cabrillo Music Theatre. The curtain will go up at 7:30pm. For more information, visit www.LAStageAlliance.com/ovations.asp.

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10-18-10