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Third Annual Stage Raw Theater Awards
A Report, and the Winners
PHOTOS FROM THE AWARDS ARE NOW UP
Vanessa Stewart and French Stewart (Photo by Tim Norris)
With co-host French Stewart playing resident anarchist, presenting all of the awards by first belittling each award category with ribald humor and interjecting some scatological jokes, his co-host/wife Vanessa Stewart played “straight man” at the Third Annual Stage Raw Awards Monday night at LATC. She often gazed at him incredulously in an Abbott and Costello routine, in an event that was equal parts mockery, rage and spirituality.
The glitches – no script at the podium at the top of the show, and other script snafus – were gracefully covered by the Stewarts’ often-improvised stand-up routines.
The show, celebrating the best work of 2016 in theaters of 99-seats or less, was billed as a “wake” — for so many benefits lost in 2016, artistically and politically, setting the stage for possible remedies to come.
Hence, the almost anti-celebratory opening number, Stephen Foster’s “Hard Times (Come Again No More)” beautifully rendered by the Stewarts, and joined by a chorus (Monica Greene, Gregory Guy Gorden, Erin Holt, Amir Levi, Cj Merriman, and Andrew Joseph Perez) assembled by director Jaime Robledo.
In a similarly haunting tone, Claire Rifelj crooned Paul Simon’s aching “American Tune,” accompanied by No Static Trio + and dancer (Merriman).
But there was also raucousness – French Stewart bouncing as though on a pogo stick while singing “Just a Gigolo” backed up by Vanessa Stewart and yielding in verses to a saxophone and trumpet. Vanessa Stewart also sung her own triumphant rendition of Stephen Sondheim’s “I’m Still Here” – in the wake of an unsuccessful role as a plaintiff in a lawsuit against her stage union, and a torturous national election.
Alan Mandell performed a brief softshoe upon receiving the Most Promising Actor Award. (Mandell is about to turn 90.)
Publicist Jerry Charlson accepted his Queen of the Angels award from a wheelchair in the back of the hall, while the Lifetime Achievement Award went to the Victory Theatre Center’s Maria Gobetti and Tom Ormeny
The complete winners list is as follows:
FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHY
Ahmed Best, BLUEBERRY TOAST (Echo Theater Company)
The Mandell softshoe — backed up by the emsemble (Photo by Tim Norris)
VIDEO/PROJECTION DESIGN
Matthew Hill, HANSEL AND GRETEL BLUEGRASS (24th Street Theatre)
SOUND DESIGN
John Farmanesh-Bocca & Adam Phalen, TEMPEST REDUX (Odyssey Theatre Ensemble)
LIGHTING DESIGN
Bosco Flanagan, TEMPEST REDUX (Odyssey Theatre Ensemble and New American Theatre)
COSTUME DESIGN
Jeffrey Schoenberg, CLOUD 9 (Antaeus Theatre Company)
ORIGINAL MUSIC
Noah Agruss, BARS AND MEASURES (The Theatre @ Boston Court)
CHOREOGRAPHY
Sophie Bortolussi, THE DAY SHALL DECLARE IT (Wilderness)
Claire Riflej sings “American Tune”, accompanied by No Statio Trio +. Music director Luis Reyes standing. (Photo by Tim Norris)
MUSICAL DIRECTION — TIE
Noah Agruss, BARS AND MEASURES (The Theatre @ Boston Court)
Bryan Blaskie, THE BOY FROM OZ (Celebration Theatre)
SET DESIGN
Nina Caussa, THE DAY SHALL DECLARE IT (Wilderness)
SOLO PERFORMANCE — TIE
Stacie Chaiken, THE DIG (Los Angeles Theatre Center
Pat Kinevane, UNDERNEATH (Odyssey Theatre Ensemble)
TWO PERSON PERFORMANCE
Corey Dorris & Josh Zuckerman, DUTCH MASTERS (Rogue Machine Theatre)
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Andrew Bongiorno, THE BOY FROM OZ (Celebration Theatre)
SUPPORTING MALE PERFORMANCE
Tony Amendola, HEDDA GABLER (Antaeus Theatre Company)
MALE COMEDY PERFORMANCE
Bo Foxworth, CLOUD 9 (Antaeus Theatre Company)
LEADING MALE PERFORMANCE
Matthew Elkins, POCATELLO (Rogue Machine Theatre)
FEMALE COMEDY PERFORMANCE — TIE
Rebecca Gray, ONE OF THE NICE ONES (Echo Theater Company)
Jacqueline Wright, BLUEBERRY TOAST (Echo Theater Company)
SUPPORTING FEMALE PERFORMANCE
Hannah Prichard, A SINGULAR THEY (The Blank Theatre)
LEADING FEMALE PERFORMANCE
Kate Morgan Chadwick, BED (Echo Theater Company)
ADAPTATION
John Farmanesh-Bocca, TEMPEST REDUX (Odyssey Theatre Ensemble and New American Theatre)
PLAYWRITING
Will Arbery, THE MONGOOSE (The Road Theatre)
PRODUCTION DESIGN
THE DAY SHALL DECLARE IT (Wilderness)
COMEDY ENSEMBLE
BLUEBERRY TOAST (Echo Theater Company)
ENSEMBLE
AMERYKA (Critical Mass Performance Group)
COMEDY DIRECTION
Dustin Wills, BLUEBERRY TOAST (Echo Theater Company)
DIRECTION
John Farmanesh-Bocca, TEMPEST REDUX (Odyssey Theatre Ensemble and New American Theatre)
MUSICAL OF THE YEAR
THE BOY FROM OZ (Celebration Theatre)
REVIVAL OF THE YEAR
CLOUD 9 (Antaeus Theatre Company)
PRODUCTION OF THE YEAR
AMERYKA (Critical Mass Performance Group)
