Stage Raw Theater Critics Recognized by Better-Lemons

By Steven Leigh Morris

Stage Raw Managing Editor Vanessa Cate and Senior Editor Deborah Klugman have been recognized for their writing via an audience vote, administered by the theater/aggregator website better-lemons.com.

Vanessa Cate

2020 is the first year that Better-Lemons has bestowed such prizes recognizing theater criticism. The 2020 awards are for reviews posted in the calendar year 2019. The critics under consideration are registered with the website.

Cate is the Managing Editor for Stage Raw and former Editor-in-Chief for @thisstage.la. — also a performance artist, writer, and jack of many  trades.  Cate’s passion for theatre and reverence for fantasy blinds them to how to best live a normal life. Apart from their work with Stage Raw since its inception, Vanessa is the Founder and Artistic Director of the feminist performance-coven known as TheatreWitch, as well as the fantasy dance group Cabaret le Fey. Vanessa performs, writes, directs, and generally creates however and whenever they can.

Deborah Klugman

Of ten categories voted on, Cate received the “Silver Tongue” Critic of the Year Award– highlighting Cate’s powers of persuasion, while Klugman received the “Enlightenment” Critic of the Year Award – underscoring her ability to bring enhanced insight into the productions she reviewed.

Klugman has been writing for alternative media in Los Angeles since 1987 when she began writing theater reviews for the LA Reader. She was a theater critic for the LA  Weekly from 1995 through 2013. She has also reviewed film, books, and food for various publications, along with articles on social and political issues. She joined the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle in 2013. 

Recipients from other outlets were Ed Rampel (Hollywood Progressive) “Fomenter of Revolution” Critic of the Year; Jill Weinlein (Onstage Blog) “Name Dropper” Critic of the Year – not sure, but that could be seen as a dubious honor;  Lorenzo Marchessi (The Geek Authority), was dubbed the “Say What?” Critic of the Year.

Ernest Kearney (The TVolution) was honored with the “Director” Critic of the Year Award, and the “Up Late” Critic of the Year Award went to Eric Gordon from People’s World. 

Shari Barrett from Broadway World earned the “Theatre Hound” Critic of the Year Award, while the “I Love LA”Critic of the Year Award was given to Paul Myrvold from Paul Myrvold’s Theatre Notes.

Steven Stanley from Stage Scene LA was honored as Southern California’s overall Critic of the Year.

Better-Lemons publisher Enci Box said “So much energy is put on attracting theatre critics, reviewers, and writers and we decided it was time to put the spotlight on them and to thank them for the work they do in celebrating Southern California’s creative community. This is the first time we have conducted a poll to select the best of the best and we were overwhelmed by the response.”