2012 LA Stage Alliance Ovation Award Nominees Announced

2012 LA STAGE ALLIANCE OVATION AWARD
NOMINEES ANNOUNCED
CENTER THEATRE GROUP LEADS WITH 29,
CELEBRATION THEATRE & MUSICAL THEATRE WEST
FOLLOW WITH 16 EACH,
GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE GETS 11,
COLONY THEATRE & TROUBADOUR THEATER COMPANY
TIE WITH 9 EACH

2012 Ovation Awards Nominees for the 2012 LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Awards were announced on the evening of Tuesday, September 11 at the Renberg Theatre inside the Gay and Lesbian Center in Los Angeles. The nominations were revealed by 2011 Ovation Award-winners Beth Kennedy, Matt Walker, Oanh Nguyen, Henry Dittman, Cate Caplin, Brian Danner, and Elina de Santos, along with LA STAGE Alliance Chief Executive Officer Terence McFarland.

Center Theatre Group received the most nominations (29), followed by Celebration Theatre and Musical Theatre West (16 each), Geffen Playhouse (11), and Colony Theatre Company and Troubadour Theater Company (9 each). Center Theatre Group garnered nominations for The Convert at the Kirk Douglas Theatre (11), Waiting for Godot at the Mark Taper Forum (8), American Night: The Ballad of Juan Jose (4) at KDT, Poor Behavior (1) and Red at MTF (1), The Night Watcher (1) at KDT, and Follies (1) and War Horse (1) at the Ahmanson Theatre, and for Best Season. Celebration Theatre’s nominations are for The Color Purple: A Musical (13), and What’s Wrong With Angry? (3), and the Musical Theatre West nominations are for Forbidden Broadway: Greatest Hits, Volume 2 (9), Hairspray (3), Man of La Mancha (2), Spamalot (1), along with Best Season.

Nominated productions for the Geffen Playhouse are Good People (8), The Jacksonian (1), and The Pianist of Willesden Lane (1), along with Best Season. The Colony Theatre Company is nominated for The Savannah Disputation (5), Old Wicked Songs (2), and Dames at Sea (1), along with Best Season. Troubadour Theater Company’s nominations are for Two Gentlemen of Chicago (6), and A Christmas Westside Story (3). The fifth Best Season nomination goes to La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts (The 39 Steps, Noises Off, Miss Saigon, Life Could Be A Dream, Peter Pan). Miss Saigon also received four nominations.

Ovation Honors, which recognize outstanding achievement in areas that are not among the standard list of nomination categories, have been awarded to Sacred Fools Theatre (Composition for a Play, Stoneface: The Fall and Rise of Buster Keaton), Theatre of Note (Fight Choreography, Hearts Like Fists), Theatre @ Boston Court (Puppet Design, The Children), and Center Theatre Group/Kirk Douglas Theatre (Video Design, American Night: The Ballad of Juan Jose).

Founded in 1989, the LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Awards are the only peer-judged theater awards in Los Angeles. For the 2011-2012 voting season, there are a grand total of 191 nominations for 77 productions, presented by 50 companies. There were 400 total productions registered from 173 companies. Of those productions registered, 79 were Ovation Recommended, identified during their runs as scoring in the top quarter of all productions in the Overall Production categories. [CLICK HERE FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF NOMINEES.]

Voters are Los Angeles 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. This year’s Ovation Award eligibility period ran from September 1, 2011 through August 28, 2012.

LA STAGE Alliance 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 the Alliance for over 35 years. The Alliance connects artists and arts administrators from over 500 groups annually in a six county region with opportunities to engage, inspire, educate and entertain over four million households that engage with the arts in our community. The Alliance engenders a stronger and more connected creative Los Angeles.

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

The 2012 Ovation Awards ceremony will take place on Monday, November 12, at the historic Los Angeles Theatre, 615 South Broadway, in downtown Los Angeles. The curtain will rise at 7:30pm.

For more information, visit www.LASTAGEOvations.com.

# # #

09-11-12

Announcing: Dates Revealed for 2010 L.A. Stage Alliance Ovation Award Nominee Announcement and Awards Ceremony

2010 OVATION AWARD NOMINEES
TO BE ANNOUNCED MONDAY, OCTOBER 18
AT THE AUTRY MUSEUM IN GRIFFITH PARK
AWARDS CEREMONY SET FOR MONDAY, JANUARY 17, 2011
AT THOUSAND OAKS CIVIC ARTS PLAZA

The announcement of the 2010 L.A. Stage Alliance Ovation Award nominees has been set for Monday, October 18 at 7:00 pm. The event will be hosted by Native Voices at the Autry, the resident theatre company at the Autry National Center, located in Griffith Park at 4700 Western Heritage Way in Los Angeles.

The Ovation Awards ceremony will take place on Monday, January 17, 2011 (Martin Luther King, Jr. Day) at 7:30 p.m. L.A. theatre’s big night will be hosted by Cabrillo Music Theatre and the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, which is located at 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks.

On October 18, recipients of 2009 Ovation Awards for acting will announce the names of this year’s nominees. Presenters will include Jake Broder and Vanessa Claire Smith (Lead Actor and Actress/Musical, Louis & Keely, Live at the Sahara), Glynn Turman (Lead Actor/Play, Two Trains Running), Michael Paternostro and Sarah Cornell (Featured Actor and Actress/Musical, The Producers), Tasha Ames (Featured Actress/Play, Rabbit Hole) and Hugo Armstrong (Featured Actor/Play, Land of the Tigers).

The nominee announcement event is free and open to the public. A light reception will be included, and RSVP is required. To RSVP, email events@lastagealliance.com and leave your name and contact phone number.

The L.A. Stage Alliance Ovation Awards are the only peer-judged theatre awards in Los Angeles. Voters are L.A. theatre professionals who are chosen each year, through an application process, by the Ovation Awards Review Committee. The list of nominees is determined by a tabulation of scores conducted by Green Hasson & Janks LLP.

Native Voices at the Autry is the country’s only Equity theatre company dedicated exclusively to producing new works by Native American playwrights. Native Voices, which provides a supportive, collaborative setting for Native theatre artists from across North America, was established as a resident company at the Autry National Center of the American West in
1999. It is widely respected in both the Native American and theatre communities for its breakthrough plays and diverse programming showcasing unique points of view within the more than 500 Native American nations in North America.

Cabrillo Music Theatre is the resident musical production company at the Bank of America Performing Arts Center at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, the largest theatre between L.A. and San Francisco. Cabrillo is a volunteer based non-profit theatre company presenting award-winning musicals with full, live orchestras, lavish sets and costumes, and
premiere talent. Cabrillo also introduces the musical theatre experience to socially, culturally, economically diverse and underserved populations of Southern California. Through main stage and special productions along with their award-winning OUTREACH programs, it is estimated that over 100,000 people were able to enjoy Cabrillo’s work during the 2009-2010 season.

The Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza opened the theatre doors for its inaugural season in October, 1994. The complex, including the Bank of America Performing Arts Center and the parking structure, is owned by the City of Thousand Oaks and is operated by the City’s Community and Cultural Services Department. Thousand Oaks City Hall and the three-acre
Mary and Richard Carpenter Plaza Park are also located there.

Tickets and additional information about the Ovation Awards Ceremony on January 17, 2011 will be available at www.LAStageAlliance.com beginning October 18.

# # #

09-21-10