Honors and Honorees for Southern California’s Stages
By Steven Leigh Morris
The 2024 Stage Raw Theater Awards honors distinguished work on Southern California stages during the 2023 calendar year. These awards were selected by Stage Raw’s contributors. An eligible production is any production reviewed by Stage Raw.
These awards will be available at the Stage Raw “I’ll Be Seeing You” Awards Party on Monday, May 6 at the Sassafras Saloon, 1233 N. Vine Street in Hollywood. The party is also also a fundraiser for Stage Raw, which is dedicated to professional (paid) reporting on the theater across Southern California.
We’d like to invite all of the stage community to this party, to eat, drink, dance, and carouse. There will be a performance by the Verdi Chorus of Santa Monica (Anne Marie Ketchum, Founding Artistic Director/Conductor) and a brief ceremony honoring the recipients of the Queen of the Angels Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award. Admission is $25 and includes food. The Saloon has a pay-as-you-go bar. Doors open at 7:30 pm, with the performance and ceremony starting at 8:30 pm. If you plan on arriving after 7 pm, a ride-share service is recommended, as parking close to the venue can be challenging. Tickets to the party are now available. Be sure to enter promo code stageraw to bypass ticketing fees.
Stage Raw is still accepting sponsorships of this party by individuals and institutions. An array of sponsorship packages offer various advertising and promotional opportunities, on the Stage Raw website and at the party. More information on sponsorships.
We’d also like to thank our sponsors to date: The UCLA School of Theatre, Film & Television, Unusual Suspects Theatre Company, The Beverly Hills Playhouse, The Geffen Playhouse, The Hudson Theatre, Independent Shakespeare Company, Ophelia’s Jump, Theatre West, The Road Theatre Company, The 24th Street Theatre, Antaeus Theatre Company, Davidson & Choy Public Relations, DEMAND PR: David Elzer Marketing and Public Relations, Dig Deep Theatre, Jaxx Theatricals, Onstage411, Playwrights’ Arena, Sacred Fools Theatre Company, Lucy Pollak Public Relations, Sandra Kuker Public Relations, and the Victory Theatre Center
Notes to the recipients: If you are named as a a recipient, you have won. Congratulations.
1) You are an award recipient if your name appears below. 2) You are an award recipient in any of the ensemble categories if you named in your program as a performer/understudy in a production named below. 3) You are an award recipient if in the production design category, your name appeared in your program as a director or designer. 4) You are an award recipient if, in any of the distinguished production or musical production categories, your name appeared in your program as a producer, director, performer/understudy, stage manager, choreographer, or designer. Whether you’ve been singled out this year or not, we welcome you to our party! You’re all winners in our world.
The Stage Raw 2024 Awards Recipients Are:
Puppet Design
Robin Walsh, For the Love of a Glove, Center for Inquiry West
Costume and Wig Design
Wendell Carmichael, Can I Touch It? Rogue Machine
Costume Design
Jenna Bergstraesser, Bisexual Sadness, Road Theatre Company
Bradley Allen Lock, Ride the Cyclone, Chance Theatre
Video/Projection Design
Joan Osato, The Travelers, Latino Theatre Company/The Magic Theatre (San Francisco)
Finn Ross and Adam Young, Mean Girls, Pantages Theatre/Segerstrom Center
Set Design
Antonio Beach and Bradley Kaye, Ride the Cyclone, Chance Theater
Minolae Jain, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Little Fish Theatre.
Santo Loquasto, The Marriage of Figaro, L.A. Opera
Tanya Orellana, The Travelers, Latino Theatre Company/The Magic Theatre (San Francisco)
Lighting Design
Adam Honoré, The Lonely Few, Geffen Playhouse
Pablo Santiago, Quixote Nuevo, South Coast Repertory
Sound Design
Alysha Bermudez for How It’s Gon’ Be, Echo Theater Company
Oscar Garcia, Mantinicus: The Story of Abigail Burgess, Chance Theatre
Comedy Direction
Alina Phelan, Nimrod, Theatre of NOTE
Direction
Ahmed Best, How It’s Gon’ Be, Echo Theater Company
David Ellenstein, The Angel Next Door, North Coast Rep and Laguna Playhouse
Aaron Henne, The Merchant of Venice (Annotated), theatre dybbuk
Jeremy Lucas, The Wild Party, The Jaxx Theatre
Madelyn Claire Lego and Kyle Steven Stocker in “The Wild Party” presented by Jaxx Theatricals (Photo by Corran Villalobo).
Adaptation
Matt Walker, White (Album) Christmas, Colony Theatre
Playwriting:
Luis Alfaro, The Travelers, Latino Theatre Company/The Magic Theatre (San Francisco)
Phinneas Kiyomura, Nimrod, Theatre of NOTE
Fly Jamerson, Frozen Fluid, Coeurage Ensemble and Los Angeles LGBT Center
JuCoby Johnson, How It’s Gon’ Be, Echo Theater Company
Mara Nelson-Greenberg, Do You Feel Anger?, Circle X Theatre Company
One of many riffs on Shakespeare: Kirsten Vangsness and Chloe Madriaga in “Nimrod” at Theatre of NOTE (Photo by Jenny Graham)
Ensemble
Blood at the Root, Open Fist Theatre Company
How It’s Gon’ Be, Echo Theater Company
The Merchant of Venice (Annotated), theatre dybbuk
Pipeline, Art of Acting Studio
Southern Girls, All the Way West Productions at the Hudson Backstage
Joe Jordan, Julie A. Lockhart, and Diana Tanaka in “The Merchant of Venice (Annotated), presented by theatre dybbuk (Photo by Taso Papadakis)
Solo Performance
Flaco Navaja, Evolution of a Sonero, Latino Theater Company
Supporting Performance
Hugo Armstrong, Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, Mark Taper Forum
Frederick Stuart, The Book of Will, A Noise Within
Jesse Janzen, A View From the Bridge, Ruskin Group Theatre
Comedy Performance
Shannon Holt, No Place Like Gandersheim, Skylight Theatre
Kirsten Vangsness, Nimrod, Theatre of NOTE
Peter Zizzo, Outrage, Crimson Square Theatre Company and Beverly Hills Playhouse
Peter Zizzo and Peter O’Connor in “Outrage.” Crimson Square Theatre and the Beverly Hills Playhouse (Photo by Maria Proios)
Leading Performance
Ray Abruzzo, A View From the Bridge, Ruskin Group Theatre
John Ales, Sea of Terror, Hudson Mainstage Theatre
Eric B. Anthony, For the Love of a Glove, Center for Inquiry West
Edward Lee Gibson, Fetch Clay, Make Man, Center Theatre Group
Kelly Jenrette/Erica Tazel, Lines in the Dust, Collaborative Artists Bloc & Support Black Theatre at the Matrix Theatre
Lauren Patten, The Lonely Few, Geffen Playhouse
Brendan Shannon, The Human Comedy, Actors Co-op
The ensemble of “The Human Comedy” at Actors’ Co-op. (Photo by Larry Sandez)
Production Design
The Ants, Geffen Playhouse
The Dry Years, The Ghost Road Company
Sealed Orders, Ophelia’s Jump
Tacos La Brooklyn, Latino Theater Company/East West Players
The Tempest, Shakespeare Center LA and After Hours Productions
Melissa Paladino in front of the ensemble of Ghost Road Company’s “The Dry Years” (Photo by Austin Crowley)
Distinguished Comedy Production
Bob’s Holiday Office Party, Beverly Hills Playhouse
Distinguished Musical Production
Did You See What Walter Paisley Did Today? La Mirada Theatre
A Little Night Music, Pasadena Playhouse
“Bob’s Holiday Office Party”: Joe Keyes and Sirena Irwin (Photo by Louisa Gauerke)
Distinguished Revival Production
Love and Information, Antaeus Theatre Company
Distinguished Production of a New International Play
Insulted. Belarus, City Garage
Distinguished Production
The Cherry Orchard, South Pasadena Theatre Workshop
Kill Shelter, Theatre of NOTE
Heroes of the Fourth Turning, Rogue Machine Theatre
Measure Still for Measure, Boston Court Performing Arts Center
Menstruation, a Period Piece, Big Little Theater Company in association with the Los Angeles LGBT Center
The Tempest, Shakespeare Center LA
This is Not a True Story, Artists at Play/Latino Theater Company
Unrivaled, Boston Court Performing Arts Center/Playwrights’ Arena
Julia Cho in “This is Not a True Story” Artists at Play/Latino Theatre Company (Photo by Grettel Cortes Photography)
Queen of the Angels
Jon Lawrence Rivera
Lifetime Achievement
Stephen Sachs
