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.

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09-11-12

Announcing: LA Stage Alliance 2012 Ovation Award Nominees To Be Announced Tuesday, Sept. 11 at 7PM

LA STAGE ALLIANCE 2012 OVATION AWARD NOMINEES
TO BE ANNOUNCED TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11
AT THE RENBERG THEATRE
INSIDE THE L.A. GAY & LESBIAN CENTER

AWARDS CEREMONY SET FOR MONDAY, NOVEMBER 12
AT THE LOS ANGELES THEATRE IN DOWNTOWN LA

The announcement of the 2012 LA Stage Alliance Ovation Award nominees has been set for Tuesday, September 11 at 7:00 pm. The event will be hosted by the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center’s Renberg Theatre, located within the Village at Ed Gould Plaza at 1125 N. McCadden Place in Los Angeles, 90038.

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

On September 11, various 2011 Ovation Award recipients will announce the names of this year’s nominees. Scheduled to participate are Beth Kennedy (Featured Actress in a Musical), Matt Walker (Featured Actor in and Director of a Musical), Oanh Nguyen (Best Production of a Musical, Intimate), John Flynn (Best Production of a Play, Intimate), Henry Dittman (Featured Actor in a Play), Cate Caplin (Choreography), Brian Danner (Fight Choreography), and Paul Litteral (Music Direction). These winners from last year will be joined by Terence McFarland, Chief Executive Officer of LA Stage Alliance.

The nominee announcement event is free and open to the public. A light reception will be included, and RSVP is required. To RSVP, visit www.LASTAGEOvations.com. The announcement can also be viewed live online at www.LASTAGETimes.com, or followed via twitterfeed at #OvationAwards.

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.

The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center provides a broad array of services for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, welcoming nearly a quarter-million client visits from ethnically diverse youth and adults each year. Through its Jeffrey Goodman Special Care Clinic and on-site pharmacy, the Center offers free and low-cost health, mental health, HIV/AIDS medical care and HIV/STD testing and prevention. The Center also offers legal, social, cultural and educational services, with unique programs for seniors, families and youth, including a 24-bed transitional living program for homeless youth. Information about the Gay & Lesbian Center is available on the Web at www.lagaycenter.org.

Tickets and additional information about the Ovation Awards Ceremony on Monday, November 12 will be available at www.LASTAGEOvations.com beginning September 11.

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09-05-12

Announcing: LA Stage Alliance Announces ‘LA Stage Talks’ March 27 – July 9

LA STAGE ALLIANCE ANNOUNCES LA STAGE TALKS
MARCH 27 – JULY 9, 2012

FIVE PANELS EXPLORING THE CREATION OF
PERFORMING ARTS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA REGION

LA STAGE CEO TERENCE McFARLAND WILL MODERATE
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS

LA STAGE Alliance has announced LA Stage Talks, a series of panel discussions moderated by LA STAGE Alliance CEO Terence McFarland, exploring various aspects of the creation of performing arts in the Southern California region. The premiere event will take place on Tuesday, March 27 from 10am – 1pm, at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. All events are free, but space is limited. RSVP is required at www.LASTAGEAlliance.com/talks.

The first subject to be explored is What is the Intrinsic Impact of Live Theatre? Co-hosted by Center Theatre Group at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, noted arts researcher Alan Brown, project director Clayton Lord, and leaders of greater Los Angeles theatres will discuss Counting New Beans: Intrinsic Impact and the Value of Art, a new book that examines the ways theatre artists, administrators, patrons, and funders value and evaluate the art they make and consume. The results will be revealed of a two-year, nationwide research study called “Measuring the Intrinsic Impact of Live Theatre,” that looked at 18 theatre companies across the country, 58 productions, and over 20,000 survey responses — all in an effort to increase the field’s understanding of what seeing a piece of theatre actually does to someone emotionally, intellectually, and empathetically.

Speakers at the March 27 panel include researcher Alan Brown, researcher Clayton Lord, Theatre @ Boston Court artistic director Jessica Kubzansky, Musical Theatre West marketing director Michael Betts, South Coast Repertory director of marketing Bill Schroeder. The Kirk Douglas Theatre is located at 9820 Washington Boulevard in Culver City. Free parking is available in the City Hall underground garage, across Culver Boulevard from the rear of the theatre.

The schedule of future LA Stage Talks includes the following: Arts Criticism – How Does It Serve Los Angeles? (Monday, April 30, 7-9pm, co-hosted by Southern California Public Radio at KPCC Crawford Family Forum in Pasadena); Why Are Theatre-Makers the Masters of Collaboration? (Monday, May 14, 7-9pm, co-hosted by LA County Arts Commission/Ford Theatres at Inside the Ford); What Is Artistic Direction and How Can You Tell When Someone Is Doing It? (Monday, June 11, 7-9pm, co-hosted by the Geffen Playhouse, at the Geffen); and What Am I Hearing? The Aural Life of the Theatre (Monday, July 9. 7-9pm, co-hosted by the Colburn School at Zipper Hall). Terence McFarland will moderate all discussions.

All LA Stage Talks will be livestreamed, and panelists will take questions from online viewers during the events. Information on how to view and how to ask questions will be posted on each event date at www.LASTAGEAlliance.com, where further information on the LA Stage Talks program is available now.

LA STAGE Alliance, a non-profit organization empowering artists and engaging audiences since 1975, is dedicated to building awareness, appreciation, and support for the performing arts in Greater Los Angeles by strengthening the sector through community building, collaborative marketing, audience engagement, professional development, and advocacy. LA STAGE Alliance serves over 900 arts organizations annually, including over 450 dues-paying member professional, educational, and community based producing and presenting performing arts organizations in the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, and Ventura. LA STAGE Alliance’s constituents operate in intimate sized venues (99 seats or less), mid-sized venues (100-499 seats), and in large venues (500+ seats), and include independent producers, educational groups, and social service organizations that have a performing arts component. Additionally, LA STAGE Alliance directly serves over 50,000 diverse local, regional, national, and international performing arts patrons and, indirectly, three million unique patron households by conducting research on their behavior and buying habits. Providing access to the performing arts for patrons and access to resources for organizations has been our focus for 35 years.

LA STAGE Alliance programs are sponsored, in part, by Actors Equity Association, 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 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, The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation, SDC, The Shubert Foundation, and Sony Pictures Entertainment.

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03-22-12