Cowtown fares better this year
By MARK LOWRY
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
Cowtown fared better than last year in the annual Dallas-Fort Worth Theater Critics Forum awards, which honor outstanding productions, performances and design for the 2005-06 season (shows that opened between Sept. 1, 2005, and Aug. 31, 2006).
Three Fort Worth groups took honors; one each to Jubilee Theatre and Circle Theatre, and two for Amphibian Stage Productions. Jubilee and Amphibian were cited for outstanding direction (the equivalent of best production) for Blues for An Alabama Sky and Below the Belt, respectively.
(In 2003, the Forum honored Phyllis Cicero’s production of Blues for an Alabama Sky, performed at Dallas’ Soul Rep Theatre Company and then at Stage West).
In Dallas, Kitchen Dog Theater led the pack with 10 mentions (five of its six productions were represented). The shows winning the most awards were Contemporary Theatre of Dallas’ The Women and WaterTower Theatre’s Urinetown the Musical, with four each.
The most commended individuals were actors Ashley Wood, for his work in four shows; and Paul Taylor for his performance in three.
The participating critics were Glenn Arbery, D Magazine and People newspapers; Nancy Churnin, Manuel Mendoza and Lawson Taitte, Dallas Morning News; Martha Heimberg, Turtle Creek News; Arnold Wayne Jones, Dallas Voice; Elaine Liner, Dallas Observer and Star-Telegram; and Perry Stewart and I of the Star-Telegram.
Outstanding Direction: Sharon Benge, Blues for an Alabama Sky, Jubilee Theatre; James Paul Lemons, Urinetown the Musical and The Woman in Black, WaterTower Theatre; David A. Miller, Below the Belt, Amphibian Stage Productions; Rene Moreno, No Exit, Classical Acting Company and Visiting Mr. Green, Contemporary Theatre of Dallas; Robert Neblett, The Dreamer Examines His Pillow, Theater Fusion; Susan Sargeant, Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, WingSpan Theatre Company and The Women, Contemporary Theatre of Dallas; and Jonathan Taylor, Bug, Kitchen Dog Theater.
Outstanding performance by an actor: Ian Leson, Bug, Kitchen Dog Theater and Visiting Mr. Green, Contemporary Theatre of Dallas; Joe Nemmers, The Crucible, WaterTower Theatre, and On an Average Day, Kitchen Dog Theater; Paul Taylor, The Normal Heart, Uptown Players, Side By Side By Sondheim, Circle Theatre, and Urinetown the Musical, WaterTower Theatre; Ashley Wood, The Devil’s Disciple, Theatre Three, Lone Star, Contemporary Theatre of Dallas, Raw Vision, Kitchen Dog Theater, and Sailing to Byzantium, Echo Theatre; Clay Yocum, Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, WingSpan Theatre Company, and Take Me Out, WaterTower Theatre.
Outstanding performance by an actress: Patty Breckenridge, Aida, Uptown Players; Marisa L. Gonzalez, Cloud Tectonics, Kitchen Dog Theater; Arianna Movassagh, The Musical of Musicals: The Musical!, Theatre Three and Urinetown the Musical, WaterTower Theatre; Tina Parker, No Exit, Classical Acting Company; Sally Nystuen Vahle, A Macbeth, Dallas Theater Center; Diane Worman, Bug, Kitchen Dog Theater, and Laundry & Bourbon, Contemporary Theatre of Dallas
Outstanding performance by an ensemble cast: The Full Monty, Theatre Three; Honour, Theatre Quorum; The Women, Contemporary Theatre of Dallas
Outstanding new play or musical: Terry Dobson, My Own Private Diva, Theatre Three; Bruce DuBose, Waiting for a Train: The Life and Songs of Jimmie Rodgers, Undermain Theatre
Outstanding touring production: Wicked, Dallas Summer Musicals.
Outstanding achievement in creative contribution: Cameron Anderson, set, Icarus, Amphibian Stage Productions; Linda Blase, lighting and John Flores, sound, Cloud Tectonics, Kitchen Dog Theater; Coy Covington (with Suzi Shenkle and Bill Bullard), costume, make-up and wig design, Pageant, Uptown Players; Clare Floyd DeVries, set, Urinetown the Musical, WaterTower Theatre; Christina Dickson, costumes, and Randel Wright, set, The Women, Contemporary Theatre of Dallas; Kourtney Ketterhagen, choreography, Debbie Does Dallas, Kitchen Dog Theater; Jenifer Owen, lighting, No Exit, Classical Acting Company; and Bryan Wofford, set, Raw Vision, Kitchen Dog Theater.
Special Award: To WordSpace for its Texas Unbound Festival,
which provides a venue for staged readings of new plays by local
playwrights. WordSpace was founded by Dallas poet Robert Trammell, who died
in May.