Announcing: Celebrity Presenters Announced for 24th Annual Ovation Awards Ceremony on Sunday 11/3

CELEBRITY PRESENTERS ANNOUNCED
FOR 24TH ANNUAL LA STAGE ALLIANCE
OVATION AWARDS CEREMONY

MICHAEL McKEAN WILL HOST
AT SAN GABRIEL MISSION PLAYHOUSE
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 3 AT 7:00PM

LA STAGE Alliance has announced celebrity presenters set to join host Michael McKean for the 24th Annual Ovation Awards Ceremony on Sunday, November 3 at the historic San Gabriel Mission Playhouse. A pre-show reception begins at 5:30, and the curtain will rise at 7pm.

Celebrity presenters scheduled to participate include (in alphabetical order) Ed Begley Jr., Erich Bergen, Amy Brenneman, Charlie Carver, Keith David, Barrett Foa, Val Kilmer, Sharon Lawrence, Wendie Malick, Ana Ortiz, Susan Sullivan, Steven Weber, and more. They will be joined by many local performers, city officials, union reps, artistic, managing, and executive directors, along with other artistic personnel representing the wide and varied Los Angeles theatre community.

Producers Douglas Clayton, Crystal Diaz, and Andrew Carlberg will lead this year’s production team, with technical direction and production management by Live Event Pros. The production design is by Terence McFarland, Oliver Hess and Aperiodic Industries, and lighting design is by Dan Weingarten. Musical direction will once again be by the Ovation Award-winning David O, combined with the music and performance of String Theory. The voices of the Ovations are Bernadette Sullivan and Robert Yacko. The Ovation statues will be presented by students from the MFA program at UCLA.

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 Awards 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 August 27, 2012 through August 25, 2013.

LA STAGE Alliance programs are sponsored in part by Actors Equity, The Biller Family Foundation, California Arts Council, California Community Foundation, City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, DatabaseWorks, the DEW Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Goldstar, James Irvine Foundation, Andrew Mellon Foundation, Bakers Man Productions, Ken Werther Publicity, Live Event Pros, Los Angeles County Supervisors through the LA County Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts, Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, 4 Wall Lighting, Pacific Coast Entertainment, The Shubert Foundation, and Sony Pictures Entertainment.

The 24th Annual Ovation Awards ceremony will take place on Sunday, November 3 at 7pm at the San Gabriel Mission Playhouse, located at 320 S. Mission Drive in San Gabriel. A pre-show reception begins at 5:30pm. For more information, visit www.OvationAwards.com.

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10-24-2013

Announcing: Michael McKean Set to Host 24th Annual Ovation Awards Ceremony

MICHAEL McKEAN
SET TO HOST 24TH ANNUAL LA STAGE ALLIANCE OVATION AWARDS CEREMONY

AT HISTORIC SAN GABRIEL MISSION PLAYHOUSE
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 3, AT 7PM

Stage, film, television star and musical artist Michael McKean will host the 24th Annual LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Awards Ceremony on Sunday, November 3, at the historic San Gabriel Mission Playhouse in San Gabriel, it was announced today. The curtain will rise at 7pm.

“I’m thrilled to be hosting the Ovation Awards and helping to bestow upon the worthy the recognition they have earned on the boards of Los Angeles,” said McKean. “LA STAGE Alliance has promised me a t-shirt and a coffee mug, but I’m really doing it for the prestige.”

Well known for his work across all mediums, Michael McKean is perhaps best known for his portrayal of ‘Lenny’ on Laverne & Shirley. Additional television credits include Family Tree, Homeland, Law & Order: SVU, Castle, Happy Endings, Sesame Street, The X-Files, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Smallville, among many others. McKean’s many theatre credits include appearances on Broadway and regionally in productions such as All The Way; Yes, Prime Minister; Gore Vidal’s The Best Man, King Lear, Our Town, Superior Donuts, The Homecoming, The Pajama Game, A Second Hand Memory, Hairspray, On the Razzle, Love Song, and Randy Newman’s Harps and Angels. His feature film credits are also many and varied, including This Is Spinal Tap, Clue, Best In Show, A Mighty Wind, Whatever Works; Planes, Trains, and Automobiles; The Words, and The Brady Bunch Movie. McKean is an Oscar nominee (Best Song, “A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow,” co-written with Annette O’Toole), a Grammy Award-winner (title song for A Mighty Wind, co-written with Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy), and a Theatre World Award-winner (Rupert Holmes’s Accomplice).

For more information and details on how to attend the Ovation Awards ceremony on November 3, visit www.OvationAwards.com.

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10-04-13

Announcing: 2012 LA Stage Alliance Ovation Awards Presented Monday, November 12

2012 LA STAGE ALLIANCE OVATION AWARDS
PRESENTED MONDAY, NOVEMBER 12
AT THE HISTORIC LOS ANGELES THEATRE IN DOWNTOWN LA

KUDOS FOR 2012 SEASON
SHARED BY 13 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA THEATRE COMPANIES

The LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Awards, celebrating theatrical excellence and achievement during the 2012 season, were presented on Monday, November 12, at the Los Angeles Theatre in downtown Los Angeles.

Thirty-five awards were bestowed upon 13 different Southern California theatre companies. Leading the pack with 13 awards was Center Theatre Group (The Convert at the Kirk Douglas Theatre; Waiting for Godot at the Mark Taper Forum; War Horse at the Ahmanson Theatre; and Best Season), followed by Celebration Theatre with six (The Color Purple: A Musical), and Musical Theatre West with four (Forbidden Broadway: Greatest Hits, Volume 2;
Hairspray; and Man of La Mancha). The Antaeus Company (Peace In Our Time), and Theatre @ Boston Court (The Children) took home two awards each.

LA STAGE Alliance CEO Terence McFarland commented, “Tonight’s recipients reflect the diverse and rich landscape of greater Los Angeles theatre. The Ovation Awards are a celebration of excellence, and one way that LA STAGE Alliance shines a light on the fantastic work of our LA theatre artists. Theatres across the country should take note that these are the best of the best, and hire an Ovation Award-winning LA theatre artist today!”

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

Additionally, Sarah Lyding, Executive Director of the Biller Family Foundation, presented the Biller BEST (Building Excellence in Small Theatre) Awards, including checks totaling $100,000, to the following LA theatre companies: About Productions, The Antaeus Company, CASA 0101, Circle X Theatre Company, Ensemble Studio Theatre-LA, Independent Shakespeare Company, A Noise Within, and The Theatre @ Boston Court. Laura Penn,
Executive Director of SDC (Stage Directors and Choreographers Society), presented the 2012 Zelda Fichandler Award, for transforming the landscape of regional theatre through unique and creative work, to Cornerstone Theatre Company founder and current Artistic Director at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Bill Rauch. Center Theatre Group presented the 2012 Sherwood Award, for innovative and adventurous artists, to Los Angeles-based playwright and director John Sinner. This award is endowed by the Sherwood family, and is accompanied by $10,000 to further Sinner’s artistic work. LA STAGE Alliance was also presented with a Commendation from the office of California Assembly Speaker John Perez, for the commitment and unwavering
compassion that LA STAGE has dedicated to the performing arts in the City of Los Angeles.

Hosted by Jane Kaczmarek and Culture Clash co-founder Herbert Siguenza, this year’s presenters included many local performers, city officials, union reps, artistic and executive directors, stage managers and publicists, and included (in alphabetical order) Patrick J. Adams, Lindsay Allbaugh, LJ Benet, Seamus Dever, Elizabeth Doran, Kristy Edmunds, Davis Gaines, Glenne Headly, Nikki Hyde, Leslie Ito, Brian Kite, Christine Lakin, Michele Lee, Dawnn Lewis,
Monique L’Heureaux, Sarah Lyding, Lesli Margherita, Gates McFadden, Jessica Wethington McLean, Laura Penn, Assembly Speaker John Perez, Bill Rauch, Allison Rawlings, Mark Roberts, Kirsten Vangsness, Ken Werther, Vanessa Williams, and Charlayne Woodard.

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 ArtsCouncil, 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, ELS, 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, The Shubert Foundation, Sky Events & Productions, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Green Hasson Janks.

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11-12-12