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So the big winners at last night’s Helen Hayes awards were… puppets?
Indeed, Aaron Posner’s unique vision for Measure for Measure, produced at the Folger this year, where puppets took on many of the play’s roles, earned him a best director trophy (he tied with Michael Kahn, for his zany take on Love’s Labor Lost), as well as the award for Outstanding Resident Play.
Signature Theater’s Assassins won the most awards of the night with four, three for acting and one for director Joe Calarco – to no one’s surprise, but it was a bit of a shock to see it not take home the trophy for best resident musical. That instead went to Studio Theater’s Caroline or Change, whose lead Julia Nixon also snagged the best lead actress in a musical trophy.
A number of DCist favorites were successful in winning awards, among them Synetic choreographer Irina Tsikurishvili (whose smashing blue dress was the knockout outfit of the evening), and actors Kate Eastwood Norris, Andrew Long and Will Gartshore.
Catalyst Theater was one of the night’s unexpected winners, being the first group to win the award for best ensemble, a new category this year (though an acceptance speech from the group’s spokesman expressing annoyance that individual actors weren’t recognized seemed a bit ungracious, giving the setting). Another surprise was the solid but less than splashy performance of Johanna Day in Arena’s The Rainmaker, besting out the light of Woolly’s Kimberly Gilbert, Studio’s Nancy Robinette and Shakespeare Theater’s Veanne Cox.
The best moments of the night were the lightly humorous ad libs and anecdotes peppered throughout the acceptance speeches and presentations; it was charming to hear that the last time Outstanding Spporting Actor in a Non-Resident Musical, Spamalot’s Jeff Dumas wore a tux, it was his wedding exactly two years ago to the date; hearing lighting designers comment on the brightness of the stage is always amusing. Jason Kravits, now appearing on Broadway in The Drowsy Chaperone, proved an affable host, entertaining but not distracting from the evening’s real stars, the nominees.
The night was a bit shy on main stream celebrity appearances (Kathie Lee pimping her new show at “Signature” was about the extent of it), the theater community was excited to see the likes of A Chorus Line composer Marvin Hamlisch and Lynne Redgrave among others. A special award was allotted to stage vet Frances Sternhagen, perhaps best known to general audiences as Cliff Clavin/Trey McDougal/Carter’s mom on television, a D.C. area native with an incredible theatrical resume.
While for many of the area’s small theater companies, the only mention they received last night was a shout-out during the night’s opening parody number, the audience was given the good news that next year, the Helen Hayes Awards will recognize an outstanding emerging theater company as one of its categories. It’s about time! If only these same companies now can filter into the general nominations next year as well.
A full list of winners is available online. Were you surprised by any of the recipients?
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um... any reason you are using a picture from the 2006 awards ceremony? Brad Oscar hosted last year, not last night.
Miscommunication on our end, anon. Should be fixed now.