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<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">2011 in review: The
<I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">News-Herald</I> Theater Critic’s
Awards<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
/><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Bob
Abelman<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">News-Herald,
Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times,<o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The
Morning Journal, Geauga Times Courier<o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Member,
American Theatre Critics Association <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><SPAN
style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">This
review will appear in the <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">News-Herald
</I></SPAN><SPAN
style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">on
12/23/11<B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><o:p></o:p></B></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Every year, local
theaters devote themselves to putting on the best shows possible. Although some
theaters have deeper pockets, more equity contracts or a grander facility than
others, truly superb work is created regardless and, in some cases, in spite of
these things.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Talent always makes
itself known and creativity rises to the surface no matter the pay scale and no
matter the palace.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">News-Herald</I> wishes to recognize
excellent productions and excellent performances from the past year.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>There was no shortage of either on our
local stages.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Only those
productions staged in the greater Cleveland area and seen by this reviewer are
considered.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>All performances were
seen during their opening weekend.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>National touring company productions are purposefully barred from
consideration; they get enough attention.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Best
Drama<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">My Name is Asher
Lev<o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Cleveland Play
House<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Walk
through any art museum anywhere in the world and you will find people staring
and silent.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>When in the presence of
masterworks, there is the tendency to get lost in thought, overcome by emotion,
and want to get as close to the art as possible, to see what genius saw, to fill
the space that genius occupied, and to share the same air as the artistic
immortals. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN><I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">My
Name is Asher Lev</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">,<B><I>
</I></B></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">a play by Aaron
Posner adapted from the novel by Chaim Potok, is the theatrical equivalent of
this.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In one act, on the now silent
Baxter Stage at the old Cleveland Play House, we were afforded the opportunity
to see, breath and touch genius up close and personal in the form of Asher Lev,
a young artist growing up in a strict Orthodox Jewish community in post-World
War II Brooklyn, New York.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This
intriguing, thought-provoking play was directed by Laura Kepley and featured
</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Noel
Joseph Allain, Tom Alan Robbins and Elizabeth Raetz.</SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN> </P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Best
Comedy<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The Miracle at
Naples<o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">convergence-continuum<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>David Grimm‘s <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Miracle at Naples</I> is a romp, pure
and simple.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>A mock <SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">piece of </SPAN>16<SUP>th</SUP> century
commedia dell'arte, the play features a company of theater vagabonds traveling
through Italy to offer its repertoire of farcical comedies.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>While actual commedia dell'arte doesn’t
shy away from bawdy humor, this play is in it up to the eyeballs.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">As the play progresses, its veil of couth
dissipates and in its place is a preponderance of lewd scenarios, crude
wordplay, and F-bombs galore.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN></SPAN>The thing is that this is all very funny stuff indeed.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Crudity turns clever when placed within
the context of a 16<SUP>th</SUP> century comedy, and F-bombs are immediately
defused when spoken with good intention by exceptionally talented
performers.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Miracle at Naples</I> <SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">is very well written, was brilliantly
directed by </SPAN>Geoffrey Hoffman<SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">,
and was performed with abandon by Emily Pucell, Lucy Bredeson-Smith,
</SPAN>Robert Hawkes, Lauren Smith, Ray Caspio, Zac Hudak and Stuart
Hoffman.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"></SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Best
Musical<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>Daddy Long Legs</SPAN></I></B><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>Cleveland Play House </SPAN></B><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN>Written
as a novel by Jean Webster in 1912 and recently transformed into an intimate,
two-person musical by John Caird with music and lyrics by Paul Gordon, <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Daddy Long Legs</I> is s</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">et in early 20<SUP>th</SUP> century
New England, where Jerusha Abbott is the oldest orphan in the John Grier
Home.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>That is, until an anonymous
benefactor recognizes her intelligence and creativity and sends her to college
to be educated as a writer.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Required to write him a letter each month, each song is a correspondence
being written by Jerusha, played wonderfully by Megan McGinnis, or read by the
secretive man who has become her patron saint, played with immense charm by
Robert Adelman Hancock.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The
harmonies between these two performers were mesmerizing, as was everything else
about this production.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Best
Musical/Revival<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Altar
Boyz</SPAN></I></B><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Beck Center for the
Arts<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: #fcfcfc"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>The boy bands of the
1990s, including New Kids on the Block, Back Street Boys and N’ Sync, were a
unique phenomena.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They generated
soulless but heartfelt ballads sung with intricate <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">a cappella</I> harmonies and highly
stylized, overly choreographed up-beat anthems that took the country’s teen
population by storm.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>From this blip
on the nation’s pop culture radar and the contemporary Christian music movement
that surfaced shortly thereafter emerged <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Altar Boyz</I>, a sweetly satirical
off-Broadway sendoff of the boy band.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>In 2008, this show was staged at the Beck Center for the Arts in
Lakewood.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It was a box office
smash, due in large part to the charm and talents of its featured players, the
superb direction, technical design and musical direction by Scott Spence, Trad A
Burns and Larry Goodpaster, respectively, and the tongue-in-cheek choreography
of Hernando Cortez. This past year, the creative team and most of the original
performers (</FONT><A href=""><SPAN
style="COLOR: windowtext; TEXT-DECORATION: none; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; text-underline: none"><FONT
size=3>Josh Rhett Noble</FONT></SPAN></A><FONT size=3>, </FONT><A href=""><SPAN
style="COLOR: windowtext; TEXT-DECORATION: none; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; text-underline: none"><FONT
size=3>Connor O'Brien</FONT></SPAN></A><FONT size=3>, </FONT><A href=""><SPAN
style="COLOR: windowtext; TEXT-DECORATION: none; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; text-underline: none"><FONT
size=3>Dan Grgic</FONT></SPAN></A><FONT size=3>, Ryan Jagru and Matthew Ryan
Thompson) reprised this show at the Hanna Theatre in PlayhouseSquare and it was
fantastic.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: #fcfcfc"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"></SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Best Director of a
Drama<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Timothy
Douglas, <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">The Trip to Bountiful</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Cleveland
Play House<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">In 1953,
when it aired on NBC, Horton Foote’s play <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Trip to Bountiful</I> fit the need for a
small story about simple people to be told on a tiny TV screen.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">“Bountiful” revolves around an elderly
widower living in the claustrophobic, urban confines of her son and
daughter-in-law, who desperately wants to get back to her hometown one last time
before she dies.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>P<SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">roduction values were expanded when this play
went to Broadway and, later, when it became an Academy Award-winning film, but
the Cleveland Play House production let the writing once again tell the
story.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>D</SPAN>irector Timothy
Douglas and scenic designer Tony Cisek created a nondescript, impressionistic
landscape for this production, and Douglas added a layer of underlying
complexity by casting black actors in the featured roles in order to shed some
light on the little known black middle class in the 1940s.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Best Director of a
Comedy<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Laura
Kepley,</SPAN></B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">
</SPAN><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Grizzly
Mama</SPAN></I></B><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Dobama
Theatre<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Political
assassination is no laughing matter. That is, unless it is addressed by
award-winning playwright George Brant and takes the form of <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Grizzly Mama</I>—a commissioned, world
premiere production at Dobama Theatre.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Grizzly Mama</I> is a dark comedy
that channels every liberal’s deepest fantasy: squelching the rising tide that
is Sarah Palin’s push toward the presidency.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>D</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">irector
Laura Kepley had collaborated on Brant’s <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Elephant’s </I></SPAN><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Graveyard</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">, about the lynching
of a circus elephant, among other productions.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>She gets his humor and this is overtly
evident in this Dobama production.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Everything about the staging kept the comedy in the forefront while
embracing Brant’s quick and quirky style of storytelling.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"></SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN> </P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Best Director of a
Musical<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Pierre-Jacques
Brault, <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Grand
Hotel</I><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Mercury Summer
Stock<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0in"><FONT size=3><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Grand Hotel</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN>focuses
on the intersecting lives of the eccentric guests of an opulent Berlin hotel in
1928.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Everyone is in desperate need
of something they do not have and cannot possess.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Everyone is going somewhere but
eventually end up where they began.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>The original 1989 Broadway production of this show won five Tony Awards
by generating grand theatricality, </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">tumultuous atmosphere,</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN> and a
churning pace</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN>Mercury
Summer Stock director Pierre-Jacques Brault did even more with significantly
less.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In the shoe-box that was the
150-seat Brooks Theatre at the Cleveland Play House, Brault stripped the shallow
and narrow stage bare so that the interior brick walls and the stage’s
antiquated infrastructure of wire rigging and ropes were fully exposed, leaving
only dramatic lighting, clever staging, and the omnipresent players to tell the
story and create the illusion of the Grand Hotel.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Expressionism was accentuated in the
place of elaborate production values in this brilliant, moving
presentation.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0in"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" align=center><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN><FONT
size=3>Best Musical Accompaniment<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">David Keith Stiver,
<I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Rocky Horror Picture
Show</I><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Chagrin Valley Little
Theatre<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Each time a community
theater strays from things safe and <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Seussical</I>, it is a small step in the
right direction. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>For the CVLT to
venture into the realm of </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Richard
O’Brien’s </SPAN><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The Rocky Horror
Show</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">—a </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">science-fiction
rock-n-roll sex comedy—it was </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">a giant leap.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Well, more like a jump to the left and
then a step to the right<SPAN class=st1>.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Much of t</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">he
allure of </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">this campy,
over-the-top parody is its music, which did not arrive at the CVLT upon the
delivery of the script.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Music
director David Keith Stiver, drummer Andrew Rothman and director Greta Rothman
recreated the orchestral arrangements and vocal score.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Along with </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>Dennis Yurich (Electric Guitar), Dan Kamionkowski (Piano), Joel Negus
(Electric Bass) and Cathrine Stadulis (Sax), the band rocked the rafters of the
CVLT and attracted more young adults to the theater than in any other time in
its 85 year history.</SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><o:p></o:p></SPAN> </P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Best Musical
Director<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Larry Goodpaster, <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Marvelous
Marvelettes</I><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Beck Center for the
Arts<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>The Marvelous Wonderettes</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN> is a j</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">ukebox
musical that stands on the shoulders of others.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Its musical score is comprised
exclusively of </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>previously released popular songs.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic">It features four female best
friends who, at their 1958 senior prom, provide the evening’s entertainment,
which consists of hits from the era.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Caitlin Elizabeth Riley, Amiee Collier, Nikki Curmaci and Theresa Kloos
have world-class singing voices that, collectively, captured the magical
harmonies of the ageless classics they performed and, when placed as the lead
vocal, sold those songs for all they were worth.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The music provided by Karen Langenwalter
(reeds), David Maxson and Jesse Fishman (guitar), Bill Hart (drums), and Larry
Goodpaster and Bryan Bird (keyboards) was tight, true to the original
recordings, and absolutely transportive.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>All this was under Goodpaster’s marvelous direction.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"></SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN> </P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Best Performance by
an Actor in a Drama<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Dana
Hart, <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">St.
Nicholas</I><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Ensemble
Theatre<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>The extended
monologue—that is, one person, one story and a stage—has become a lost art form
in contemporary theater.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It found
its way home in the Ensemble Theatre production of Conor McPherson’s <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">St. Nicholas</I>, under Sarah May’s
direction. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>McPherson is a master
storyteller and this work about a middle-aged, self-hating theater critic who
befriends vampires overflows with vivid imagery and passages that are both
powerful and poetic.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Actor Dana
Hart mastered the material, made it his own, and was thoroughly enchanting in
this production.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>He managed to make
the play’s despicable hero relatable, if not likeable, and established a
connection with the audience that reinforced his character’s authenticity within
this gothic fantasy.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>He owned the
stage for 90 minutes and made intermission seem an eternity.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Best Performance by a
Supporting Actor in a Drama<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Terence
Cranendock, <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">End Game</I></SPAN></B><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Cleveland Museum of
Art<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Samuel Beckett’s <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Endgame</I> </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">takes
place during the final hours of the final days of earth.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It introduces us to the last stronghold
of the living—a decaying fortress whose inhabitants have been stripped of any
semblance of rationality or decency.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>These holdouts of humanity consist of a tyrannical blind man named Hamm
who cannot stand, his shuffling servant Clov who cannot sit, and the tyrant’s
elderly parents who are kept in trashcans. </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">In the Cleveland
Museum of Art production of this play, under </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Massoud
Saidpour’s direction, </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">T</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">erence
Cranendock is spellbinding as Clov.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>As his character drags himself about the stage doing Hamm’s bidding,
Cranendock’s acting choices are carefully orchestrated affairs.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Every decision by Clov seems to be laden
with indecision; every action is a physically strenuous and emotionally
exhausting enterprise.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Cranendock
was wonderful to watch and his exchanges with the superb George Roth, as Hamm,
made for some truly great theater moments.</SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p></o:p></SPAN> </P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Best Performance by
an Actress in a Drama<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Heather
Anderson Boll, <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">My Barking
Dog</I><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Cleveland
Public Theatre</SPAN></B><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P
style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Eric
Coble’s one-act <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">My Barking Dog</I>, in
its world premiere at the Cleveland Public Theatre, told the story of two
single, socially isolated and depressed individuals—Toby, an unemployed office
manager, and Melinda, a late-shift factory worker—who meet after witnessing a
wild coyote at their apartment complex.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Their curiosity about the coyote’s
well being turns into fascination, which transforms into fixation, which morphs
into increasingly disturbing forms of fanaticism and activism.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The fine line between reality and
fantasy become as blurred as the border between urban sprawl and natural
habitat.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Actress Heather Anderson
Boll’s physicality filled the stage and never failed to offer something
absolutely intriguing to look at.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Sharing the stage with the brilliant actor Nick Koesters and under Jeremy
Paul’s direction, Bolls took incredible artistic risks and gave Coble’s quirky
character flesh and blood. </SPAN></P>
<P
style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p></o:p></SPAN> </P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Best Performance by a
Supporting Actress in a Drama<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Nancy Shimonek
Brooks, <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Doubt</I><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Rabbit Run
Theatre<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN>Doubt
reigned supreme in the 1960s as Americans tried desperately to make sense of a
world engaged in an unpopular war, in the midst of a civil rights movement, and
embittered by the Catholic Church’s attempt to bring change to the ways of
worship</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>Playwright John Patrick Shanley set his drama <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Doubt: A Parable</I> smack in the middle of
this period and shrouded the personal doubts of his characters within these
broader conflicts.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Nancy Shimonek Brooks was spellbinding
as Sister Aloysius, an old-school school principal who suspects young Father
Flynn of having an inappropriate relationship with an eighth grade boy.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In this Rabbit Run summer stock
production directed by Ann Hedger, Brooks captured all that is cunning, caustic
and disturbingly stoic about this character, yet gave credence to Sister
Aloysius’ unflagging convictions.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Her performance was riveting.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Best Performance by
an Actor/Actress in a Comedy<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>Jim Lichtscheidl/Sara Bruner, </SPAN></B><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The Taming of the
Shrew</SPAN></I></B><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Great Lakes Theater
</SPAN></B><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN></B><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Once again, Great
Lakes Theater committed literary blasphemy and artistic alchemy by
re-envisioning one of Shakespeare’s masterworks.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This time around the target was <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Taming of the Shrew</I>, which was
transported from the 1590s to the 1980s, transmuted from the Italian city of
Padua to a fashionable L.A. boardwalk, and transformed from a comedy to an
all-out romp.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>Shrew</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN> offers an epic battle of the sexes and this production featured Jim
Lichtscheidl as a wonderfully playful Petruchio and Sara Bruner as a
gum-gnawing, obstinate-to-the-core Katherine.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>D</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">irector Tracy Young
took everything that was Shakespeare’s and upped it in intensity, velocity and
frivolity, adding heavy doses of burlesque and a </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>madcap 1980’s vibe to the mix.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>There was nothing that Lichtscheidl and Bruner could not handle and
handle brilliantly.</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"></SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p></o:p></SPAN> </P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Best Performance by a
Supporting Actor in a Comedy<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Carl
Simoncic</SPAN></B><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; BACKGROUND: white; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">,
<I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Art</I><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; BACKGROUND: white; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Willoughby
Fine Arts Association</SPAN></B><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Art,</I> written by Yasmina Reza, is an
</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>exposé</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">
of the bond between men.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Well, the
bond between three middle-aged French men whose passion is art, who congregate
in ultra-cosmopolitan man-caves, and who have no trouble sharing their deepest
feelings with one another. Serge, a wealthy dermatologist, has purchased a
trendy, expensive white-on-white painting.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Carl Simoncic was wonderful as Marc, a friend with classical leanings who
is mortally wounded by Serge’s modernist tastes and ridiculous purchase.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Simoncic’s soft-spoken and controlled
demeanor beautifully gave way to short-lived emotional outbursts, and he both
recognized and utilized the quiet moments—the natural pauses the playwright
works into the script—to expose his feelings.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This was a delightful production
directed by James Mango that also featuring Tom Hill and Greg Gnau.</SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p></o:p></SPAN> </P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Best Performance by a
Supporting Actress in a Comedy<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Kate Tonti, <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Dixie Swim
Club</I><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Aurora
Community Theatre</SPAN></B><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The Dixie Swim
Club</SPAN></I><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">
explores the lives of five girlfriends who met in college and now meet each year
at the same beach cottage to drink, swim, drink and support each other through
life’s unpredictable twists and turns.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>All five actresses in the Aurora Community Theatre production (Jackie
Cassara, Chris White, Denise Bernstein, Jeri Neal, and Kate Tonti) of this
sentimental comedy were wonderful, but Kate Tonti was exceptional.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>She played Vernadette, a human accident
waiting to happen.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Every entrance
came accompanied with increasingly improbable injuries and personal
tribulations, and her comic timing was flawless.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Tonti, director <SPAN
style="COLOR: #191919">Barbara Rhoades,</SPAN> and the rest of the cast had
performed this show at the Chagrin Valley Little Theatre the previous season and
received recognition from the Ohio Community Theater Association.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Best Performance by
an Actor in a Musical<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Conner O’Brien, <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Company</I><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Fairmount Performing
Arts Conservatory, Professional Wing</SPAN></B><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Company</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> is one of those
shows where Stephen Sondheim’s lyrics and music so outshine George Furth’s
script that many productions are more of a song-fest than a story with songs
about the pros and cons of marriage.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Not so with the Fairmount Performing Arts Conservatory’s production at
the Mayfield Village Civic Center.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>This was a <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Company</I> chock-full
of talented actors who could sing, dance and generate rich, interesting
characters, brought together by a director, Fred Sternfeld, who married
Sondheim’s style with Furth’s storytelling.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>At the center of all this was Conner
O’Brien as an immediately endearing, absolutely adorable Bobby.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>He demonstrated the wherewithal to find
all the lyrical and melodic complexities in Sondheim’s work, the voice to
effectively express them, and the acting chops to sell it all to an
audience.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"></SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN> </P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Best Performance by a
Supporting Actor in a Musical<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Brint Learned, <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Assassins</I><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Lakeland Civic
Theatre<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Assassins</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> by John Weidman with
songs by Stephen Sondheim is about the nine people who either killed or tried to
kill an American President.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The
concept that drives this precarious bit of storytelling suggests that what has
been perceived as isolated political acts of madness are really the personal
expressions of broken people seeking happiness.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They have just chosen a rather unique
and creative outlet.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Brint Learned
was brilliant as Samuel Byck, the Nixon-slayer wannabe in disheveled Santa Claus
garb.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Learned’s lengthy and
emotionally charged monologue was a masterpiece and, under Martin Friedman’s
astute direction, one of many highlights in this fine production.</SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN> </P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Best Performance by
an Actress in a Musical<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Maryann Black, <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Chicago</I><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Porthouse
Theatre<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P
style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 7.5pt 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
class=MsoNormal><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Chicago</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> is about Cook County
murderesses Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart, who find themselves on death row and in
competition for notoriety in the fickle 1920s Chicago press. The musical is
infused with jazzy riffs and clever lyrics by John Kander and Fred Ebb, and is
forever stamped with choreographer Bob Fosse’s signature sultriness.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Maryann Black, as Roxie, was flat-out
adorable.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>She lit up the stage and
did so during the Kander and Ebb torch-songs as well as the opulent production
numbers creatively staged by director Terri Kent and shared with the phenomenal
Sandra Emerick as Velma.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Black is
blessed with phenomenal pipes, musical theater wherewithal, and a body built for
Fosse’s provocative movement—which, as the show’s choreographer, she nicely
re-envisioned.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P
style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 7.5pt 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"></SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN> </P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Best Performance by a
Supporting Actress in a Musical<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Laura Perrotta, <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Cabaret</I><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Great Lakes
Theater<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>The musical <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Cabaret,</I> directed by Victoria Bussert,
takes place in the steamy, sweaty Kit Kat Klub where, amidst the hedonism,
sexual decadence and burgeoning Nazi movement of 1930’s Berlin, damaged cabaret
performer Sally Bowles and naïve American novelist Cliff Bradshaw fall in
love.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Interestingly, a secondary
romance between landlady Fraulein Schneider and a Jewish store owner stood out
in this Great Lakes Theater production.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>This was due to a superb performance by Laura Perrotta.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>More actress than songstress, Perrotta
delivered her gorgeous duet “It Couldn’t Please Me More” with John Woodson with
dramatic flair and carried much of the dramatic weight of this show on her
shoulders.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN> </P>
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style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" align=center><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Best
Choreography<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" align=center><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>John Crawford, <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Hello,
Dolly!</I><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" align=center><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Porthouse
Theatre<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" align=center><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">So many of the past
summer’s theater offerings were built to inspire serious reflection, somber
reassessment, and solemn rumination.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Porthouse Theatre’s <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Hello,
Dolly!</I> wasn’t one of them.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This
delightful slice of seasonal theater burst with the kind of contagious care-free
exuberance that only a good, old-fashioned musical done well can muster.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Showcased in this production was John
Crawford’s lighter-than-air choreography that both captured the broadly stylized
nature of the musical and imbued it with the same joyful musical theater
sensibilities that won <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Hello, Dolly!</I>
the 1964 Tony Award for Best Musical.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Best of all was Crawford’s work with the 16 members of the ensemble who
masterfully executed complicated patterns of choreography as a corps of waiters
and as promenading, waltzing, polkaing and galloping locals.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"></SPAN><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><o:p></o:p></B></SPAN> </P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Best Scenic
Design<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Daniel Conway, <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Game’s
Afoot</I><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Cleveland Play
House<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">It is rare when the
curtain opens and the scenic design gets a standing ovation.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Such was the case with Cleveland Play
House’s world premiere production of Ken Ludwig’s <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Game’s Afoot</I>.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The comedy takes place in famed stage
actor William Gillette’s Connecticut mansion, which was an authentic replica of
a multi-tiered medieval castle complete with oak beams and banisters, massive
doors, huge glass windows overlooking a snowstorm, and walls adorned with
tapestries and weaponry.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Daniel
Conway’s set filled the Allen Theatre from wing to wing and from floor to
fly-space and was awesome.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Sometimes budget can help bring to fruition creative vision. </SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN> </P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P><SPAN
style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Congratulations
to all those recognized and to all those others who have delivered wonderful
work that enriched our lives. </SPAN></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>