Sherry Jo Ward in Stiff Photo by Ryan Michaleski, Dallas Morning News
Go, team — 6 of 9 lauded directors are women….
OUTSTANDING DIRECTION
Robin Armstrong, Ripcord, Circle Theatre
Emily Scott Banks, Stupid Fucking Bird, Stage West; The Gospel According to Thomas Jefferson, Charles Dickens, and Count Leo Tolstoy: Discord, WaterTower Theatre
Cheryl Denson, Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches, Uptown Players
Marianne Galloway, Stiff, Risk Theater Initiative (Festival of Independent Theatres)
Kevin Moriarty, Electra, The Tempest, and Inherit the Wind, Dallas Theater Center
Jeffrey Schmidt, The Minotaur, Theatre Three
Joanie Schultz, Hit the Wall, WaterTower Theatre
Christie Vela, ‘night, Mother, Echo Theatre; Straight White Men, Second Thought Theatre
OUTSTANDING NEW PLAY OR MUSICAL
Br’er Cotton by Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm, Kitchen Dog Theater
Hood: The Robin Hood Musical Adventure by Douglas Carter Beane and Lewis Flinn
The Necessities, by Blake Hackler, Second Thought Theatre
Stiff by Sherry Jo Ward, Risk Theater Initiative (Festival of Independent Theatres)
OUTSTANDING TOURING PRODUCTION
An American in Paris, Dallas Summer Musicals and Performing Arts Fort Worth
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, AT&T Performing Arts Center Broadway Series
Hedwig and the Angry Inch, AT&T Performing Arts Center Broadway Series
Into the Woods, AT&T Performing Arts Center Broadway Series
Tina Packer’s Women of Will, Eisemann Center Presents
Blake Hackler as Richard in Richard III (Trinity Shakespeare Festival). Amy Peterson photo
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR
Christopher Carlos, Paper Flowers, Kitchen Dog Theater
Cameron Cobb, Trevor, Kitchen Dog Theater
Blake Hackler, Richard III and Measure for Measure, Trinity Shakespeare Festival; so go the ghosts of méxico, part one: a brave woman in méxico, Undermain Theatre
Selmore Haines III, Thurgood, Jubilee Theatre
Max Hartman, Trevor, Kitchen Dog Theater
Bob Hess, La Cage aux Folles, Uptown Players
Alex Organ, The Tempest, Dallas Theater Center
Randy Pearlman, Funnyman, Circle Theatre
Thomas Ward, Straight White Men, Second Thought Theatre
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS
Deborah Brown, Ripcord, Circle Theatre
Whitney LaTrice Coulter, The Submission, Proper Hijinx Productions
Steph Garrett, The Great Dictator, Audacity Theatre Lab (Festival of Independent Theatres); Waiting for Lefty, Upstart Productions
Julie Johnson, Mame, Lyric Stage
Jenny Ledel, Grounded, Second Thought Theatre
Kelsey Milbourn, Richard III and Measure for Measure, Trinity Shakespeare Festival
Sally Nystuen Vahle, Electra and A Christmas Carol, Dallas Theater Center
Christie Vela, Paper Flowers, Kitchen Dog Theater; The Necessities, Second Thought Theatre
Sherry Jo Ward, Stiff, Risk Theater Initiative (Festival of Independent Theatres)
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ENSEMBLE CAST
Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches, Uptown Players
Hood: The Robin Hood Musical Adventure, Dallas Theater Center
Inherit the Wind, Dallas Theater Center
‘night, Mother, Echo Theatre
Richard III and Measure for Measure, Trinity Shakespeare Festival
Stupid Fucking Bird, Stage West
OUTSTANDING DESIGN OR CREATIVE CONTRIBUTION
Design team, Br’er Cotton, Kitchen Dog Theater
Stefany Cambra, properties design, Feathers and Teeth, Kitchen Dog Theater
Jay Dias, music direction, Camelot, Lyric Stage
John M. Flores, sound design, Feathers and Teeth, Kitchen Dog Theater
Pam Holcomb-McLain, musical direction, The Light in the Piazza, Brick Road Theatre
Design team, Jesus Christ Superstar, Casa Mañana
Brian McDonald, set and sound design, Grounded, Second Thought Theatre
Aaron Johansen, lighting design, Grounded, Second Thought Theatre
Michael B. Moore, wigs and makeup design, La Cage aux Folles, Uptown Players
Lauren Morgan, a season of costume design for Stolen Shakespeare Guild
James Ortiz, puppet design, Stefano Brancato, associate puppet design, Hood: The Robin Hood Musical Adventure, Dallas Theater Center
Design team, Trinity Shakespeare Festival
Sean J. Smith and Rhonda Jones, choreography, Fly, African American Repertory Theater
Trigg Watson, magic consultation, Midas, Prism Movement Theater
SPECIAL CITATIONS
Dallas Theater Center, for engaging the city with its PublicWorks production of The Tempest, which used 200 members of the community in its cast, and for committing to continue the program in future seasons.
Denise Lee, for starting Community Conversation, following the Dallas Police shootings, as an ongoing, free, inclusive program that gives theater audiences an opportunity to discuss tense issues and create fellowship across different cultures, races orientations and/or social-economic statuses in a safe, judgment-free setting. The program is held every fourth Monday at the Dallas Children’s Theater, alternates every other month at Circle Theatre and Stage West in Fort Worth and has been offered after Second Thought Theatre’s Straight White Men, Kitchen Dog Theater’s Br’er Cotton and WaterTower Theatre’s Hit the Wall.
Participating Critics:
Alexandra Bonifield, CriticalRant.com
Nancy Churnin, Dallas Morning News
Jan Farrington, TheaterJones.com
Janice Franklin, TheaterJones.com
Martha Heimberg, TheaterJones.com and Dallas Weekly
Arnold Wayne Jones, Dallas Voice
Mark Lowry, TheaterJones.com and Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Punch Shaw, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Lindsey Wilson, CultureMap
Dallas-Fort Worth Theater Critics Forum is an organization of professional, paid critics that recognizes outstanding theatrical contributions in North Texas. Members see 45 or more productions per season (Sept. 1-Aug. 31) and are not practicing theater artists.
criticalrant.com Alexandra Bonifield 