The Cleveland Critics Circle each year honors local theaters, performances, performers and technicians of plays staged by Cleveland area professional theaters during the January 1-December 31 year.

 

Awards Committee: Bob Abelman, Roy Berko, Kerry Clawson, Howard Gollop, Mark Horning, Christine Howey, and Andrea Simakis. 

 

Following is a list of “Best” in each category.  To see the whole list go to http://www.clevelandtheaterreviews.com/

 

Best Musical Production:  Newsies, Porthouse Theatre

 

Best Non-Musical Production: The Flick, Dobama Theatre

           

Best Actor – Musical:  Alex Sylerk, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Great Lakes

            Theater

 

Best Actor – Non-Musical: Christopher M. Bohan, The Flick, Dobama Theatre

           

Best Actress – Musical:  Keri Rene Fuller, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Great Lakes Theater

 

Best Actress – Non-Musical:  Lara Mielcarek, Well, Ensemble Theatre

           

Rising Star Award

            Male--Jabri Little, brownsville song (b-side for tray), Dobama Theatre,

 

            Female:  Logan Dior Williams, brownsville song (b-side for tray),

Dobama Theatre            

 

Best Director – Musical: Terri Kent, Newsies, Porthouse Theatre

 

Best Director – Non-Musical: Nathan Motta, The Flick, Dobama Theatre   

 

Best Choreographer: Mary Ann Black, Newsies, Porthouse Theatre

 

Best Musical Direction:  Jonathan Swoboda, Newsies, Porthouse Theatre

 

Best Scenic Design:   Walter Boswell, The Hairy Ape, Ensemble Theatre

           

Best Lighting Design: Russell H. Champa, Shakespeare in Love, Cleveland Play

            House

 

Best Projection Design:  T. Paul Lowry, Things as They Are, Playwrights

 Local

 

Best Costume Design:   Lex Liang, Shakespeare in Love, Cleveland

 Play House

 

Best Sound Design:  Cyrus O. Taylor, brownsville song (b-side for tray), Dobama Theatre

 

Best Full-Production Premiere of a Script by a Local Writer:  How to Be a

            Respectable Junkie by Greg Vovos, Dobama

           

Best Touring Production:  Waitress, Playhouse Square        

 

Special Mention:

 

Bill Rudman, for his outstanding advocacy of the American musical.  Through his Musical Theatre Project’s concerts, in-school residency programs and radio broadcasts, he and his staff create personal connections with the art form, document the lives of musical theater artists, and reinforce the relevancy of musical theater in contemporary society.

 

Gina Vernaci, for enhancing the national profile of Cleveland and Playhouse Square through the launching of Broadway tours and expanding the runs of touring productions from two to three weeks.

 

Christine McBurney and Bernadette Clemens, for their five-year run offering productions at Mamai Theatre, dedicated to producing women’s plays from a classical canon.

 

Cleveland Shakespeare Festival and director Lisa Ortenzi for innovative cross-gender casting in The Taming of the Shrew.

 

Cleveland Public Theatre, for their continuing commitment to Teatro Publico de Cleveland, the Cleveland-based Latin American theatre ensemble.