2011 ELLIOT NORTON AWARDS Announced Tonight

Recognizing Excellence in Greater Boston Theater, The 29th Annual Elliot Norton Awards were held this evening Monday May 23, 2011 at the Paramount Mainstage in Boston. Presented by the Boston Theater Critics Association, the awards are named in honor of the distinguished Boston theater critic Elliot Norton, who for many years served on the selection committee and who remained an engaged supporter of the drama, both locally and nationally. For 48 years Mr. Norton was a drama critic for Boston newspapers; concurrently, from 1958 until his retirement in 1982, he was moderator of Elliot Norton Reviews on WGBH-TV.

A director who has helmed more than 50 productions in New England, Scott Edmiston is this year's recipient of the Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence. In addition, a special citation will be presented to Wheelock Family Theatre, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this season.

Following the ceremony nominees, winners, patrons and fans gathered in the Paramount Blackbox for a community-wide celebration. For more information visit http://nortonawardsboston.com or on Facebook or Twitter @nortonawards.

2011 Elliot Norton AWARDS RECIPIENTS

OUTSTANDING VISITING PRODUCTION
"August: Osage County" (Broadway Across America)
"Fragments" (ArtsEmerson/Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord)
"The Merchant of Venice" (ArtsEmerson/Theatre for a New Audience)

OUTSTANDING VISITING MUSICAL PRODUCTION
"Fräulein Maria" (ArtsEmerson/Doug Elkins and Friends)
"Hair" (Broadway Across America)
"Mary Poppins"(Broadway Across America)

OUTSTANDING DESIGN (MIDSIZE/SMALL/FRINGE THEATER)
Rafael Jaen [costumes] - "The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Parts I & II" (Lyric Stage Company of Boston)
Matthew T. Lazure [set] - "The Secret Garden" (Wheelock Family Theatre)
Cristina Todesco [sets], Bobby Frederick Tilley II [costumes], Aaron Mack [sound], Benjamin Williams [lighting] - "The Aliens" (Company One)

OUTSTANDING DESIGN (LARGE THEATER)
John Lee Beatty [set], Linda Cho [costumes], David Weiner [lighting], Jane Shaw [sound/composer], Matthew Myhrum [video artist], Charles LaPointe [hair and wig design] - "The Merchant of Venice" (ArtsEmerson/Theatre for a New Audience)
Marsha Ginsberg [set], Carol Bailey [costumes], Justin Townsend [lighting], Clive Goodwin [sound], Jim and Ruth Bauer [videography] - "The Blue Flower" (American Repertory Theater)
David Zinn [set], Matt Tierney and Ben Williams [sound] - "The Select (The Sun Also Rises)" (ArtsEmerson/Elevator Repair Service)

OUTSTANDING NEW SCRIPT
Jim Bauer and Ruth Bauer - "The Blue Flower" (American Repertory Theater)
John Kuntz - "The Hotel Nepenthe" (Actors' Shakespeare Project)
Ryan Landry - "Mrs. Grinchley's Christmas Carol" (The Gold Dust Orphans)

OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHY
Matthew Bourne - "Mary Poppins" (Broadway Across America)
Doug Elkins - "Fraulein Maria" (ArtsEmerson/Doug Elkins and Friends)
Basil Twist - "Petrushka" (ArtsEmerson/Celebrity Series of Boston/Basil Twist)

OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR (SMALL/FRINGE THEATER)
Shawn LaCount - "The Aliens" (Company One)
Carmel O'Reilly - "Trad" (Tír Na Theatre)
Meg Taintor - "Ted Hughes's Tales from Ovid" (Whistler in the Dark)

OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR (MIDSIZE THEATER)
Paul Daigneault - "The Great American Trailer Park Musical," "Body Awareness" (SpeakEasy Stage Company)
David R. Gammons - "The Hotel Nepenthe" (Actors' Shakespeare Project)
Spiro Veloudos and Courtney O'Connor [Associate Director] - "The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Parts I & II" (Lyric Stage Company of Boston)

OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR (LARGE THEATER)
Diane Paulus - "Hair" (Broadway Across America); "Johnny Baseball" (American Repertory Theater); "Prometheus Bound" (American Repertory Theater)
Will Pomerantz - "The Blue Flower" (American Repertory Theater)
Darko Tresnjak - "The Merchant of Venice" (ArtsEmerson/Theatre for a New Audience)

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS (SMALL/FRINGE THEATER)
RaMona Lisa Alexander - "A Moon for the Misbegotten" (Nora Theatre Company); "Ti-Jean & His Brothers" (Underground Railway Theater/Boston Playwrights' Theatre)
Stacy Fischer - "Hysteria, or Fragments of an Analysis of an Obsessional Neurosis" (Nora Theatre Company)
Christine Power - "Neighbors" (Company One)

OUTSTANDING ACTOR (SMALL/FRINGE THEATER)
Billy Meleady - "Trad" (Tír Na Theatre)
Alex Pollock - "The Aliens" (Company One)
Jimi Stanton - "9 Circles" (Publick Theatre Boston)

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS (MIDSIZE THEATER)
Marianna Bassham - "The Hotel Nepenthe" (Actors' Shakespeare Project); "In the Next Room" (or The Vibrator Play) (SpeakEasy Stage Company)
Anne Gottlieb - "Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune" (New Repertory Theatre); "In the Next Room" (or The Vibrator Play) (SpeakEasy Stage Company)
Molly Schreiber - "The Turn of the Screw" (Stoneham Theatre)

OUTSTANDING ACTOR (MIDSIZE THEATER)
Johnny Lee Davenport - "Broke-ology" (Lyric Stage Company of Boston)
Nigel Gore -"The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Parts I & II" (Lyric Stage Company of Boston)
Will Lyman - "The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Parts I & II" (Lyric Stage Company of Boston); "DollHouse" (New Repertory Theatre)

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS (LARGE THEATER3
Kate MacCluggage - "The Merchant of Venice" (ArtsEmerson/Theatre for a New Audience)
Estelle Parsons - "August: Osage County" (Broadway Across America)
Tonye Patano - "Ruined" (Huntington Theatre Company)

OUTSTANDING ACTOR (LARGE THEATER)
F. Murray Abraham - "The Merchant of Venice" (ArtsEmerson/Theatre for a New Audience)
Noah Bean - "Bus Stop" (Huntington Theatre Company)
Thomas Derrah - "R. Buckminster Fuller: The History (and Mystery) of the Universe" (American Repertory Theater)

OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE
"Bus Stop" (Huntington Theatre Company)
"The Hotel Nepenthe" (Actors' Shakespeare Project)
"Ruined" (Huntington Theatre Company)

OUTSTANDING MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Uzo Aduba - "Prometheus Bound" (American Repertory Theater)
Thomas Derrah - "Cabaret" (American Repertory Theater)
Teal Wicks - "The Blue Flower" (American Repertory Theater)

SPECIAL CITATION
Wheelock Family Theatre 30th Anniversary

OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION (FRINGE THEATER)
"Mrs. Grinchley's Christmas Carol" (The Gold Dust Orphans)
"My Wonderful Day" (Zeitgeist Stage Company)
"Ted Hughes's Tales from Ovid" (Whistler in the Dark)

OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION (SMALL THEATER)
"The Aliens"(Company One)
"9 Circles" (Publick Theatre Boston)
"Trad" (Tír Na Theatre)

OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION (MIDSIZE THEATER)
"DollHouse" (New Repertory Theatre)
"In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play)" (SpeakEasy Stage Company)
"The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Parts I & II" (Lyric Stage Company of Boston)

OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION (LARGE THEATER)
"Circle Mirror Transformation" (Huntington Theatre Company)
"R. Buckminster Fuller: The History (and Mystery) of the Universe" (American Repertory Theater)
"Ruined" (Huntington Theatre Company)

OUTSTANDING LOCAL MUSICAL PRODUCTION
"The Blue Flower" (American Repertory Theater)
"The Great American Trailer Park Musical" (SpeakEasy Stage Company)
"Prometheus Bound" (American Repertory Theater)

NORTON PRIZE FOR SUSTAINED EXCELLENCE
Scott Edmiston

 

 

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