Stage Raw to Present its 2025 Stage Raw Awards Party

Now in its 11th year, Stage Raw will present its 2025 Stage Raw Awards Party on Monday, May 5, 2025 at Sassafras Saloon 7:30 pm - 10:00 pm. The party honors distinguished work on Southern California stages throughout the 2024 calendar year in a brief half-hour ceremony. These awards recipients were selected by the contributors to Stage Raw. The central purpose of the party is to provide an opportunity for members of the theater community, their friends and family to gather, network, dance and to celebrate their many accomplishments. Tickets are $25 and include complimentary food. With thanks to the generosity of onstage411.com, use the promo code stageraw to bypass ticketing fees. There is also a cash bar. 

There are also sponsorship opportunities for individuals and companies to support this event. Sponsorships include a variety of promotional opportunities for companies and productions throughout 2025.
 
Says Stage Raw's founding editor, Steven Leigh Morris, "We're living in times of such turmoil:  in the arts, in our communities, and on national and international stages. One of many qualities under siege in an era of retribution and folly is empathy. Among the best purposes of theater is offer empathy through divergent characters, and the emotions and ideas they express. On so many occasions, our local theater has risen to that task and deserves a celebration. We must support our theaters of all shapes and sizes, because empathy, like the theater itself, fosters resistance to the pointless cruelties of our times."

2025 Awards Recipients

Lighting Design

• Dane Bowman, Htler's Tasters*, Rogue Machine

• Donny Jacksonen, Black Cypress Bayou, The Geffen Playhouse

Set Design

• Tom Buderwitz, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Moving Arts

• Katrina Coulourides, Mercury, Road Theatre Company

• Justin Huen, Two Stop, Ensemble Studio Theatre, LA

• Lawrence E. Moten III, Black Cypress Bayou, The Geffen Playhouse

• Leah Ramillano, God Will Do the Rest, Artists at Play and Latino Theater Company

Sound Design

• Everett Elton Bradman, Black Cypress Bayou, The Geffen Playhouse

• Austin Quan, Two Stop, Ensemble Studio Theatre, LA

• John Zalewski, The Body's Midnight, IAMA Theatre Company and Boston Court Pasadena

Video Design

• David Murakami, Green Day's American Idiot, The Mark Taper Forum

• Austin Quan, Two Stop, Ensemble Studio Theatre, LA

Immersive Environmental Design

• dots, Kate, Pasadena Playhouse

Puppet Design

• Robert Beuth and Mark Steen, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Moving Arts

Original Music

• Ben Decter, It's all Your Fault, Tyler Price!, The Hudson Theatre

• Wes Meyers, Tiny Little Town, Theatre Movement Bazaar at the Broadwater

Costume Design

• David Reynoso, La Cage Aux Folles, Pasadena Playhouse

Production Design

• Ghost Waltz, Latino Theater Company

• Happy Fall: A Queer Stunt Spectacular, Rogue Artists Ensemble and Los Angeles LGBT Center

• Pascal & Julien, 24th Street Theatre

• Tiny Father, The Geffen Playhouse

• Void, Trailblazer Productions

• Waiting for Godot, The Geffen Playhouse

Choreography

• Tina Kronis, Tiny Little Town, Theatre Movement Bazaar

• Ashley Wasmand, Htler's Tasters*, Rogue Machine

Music Direction

• Darryl Archibald, Jelly's Last Jam, Pasadena Playhouse

• Julia Hoffman, Once, Rubicon Theatre Company

Direction

• Gregg T. Daniel, The Piano Lesson, A Noise Within

• Tiffany Nichole Greene, Black Cypress Bayou, The Geffen Playhouse

• Sarah Norris, Htler's Tasters*, Rogue Machine

• Jonas Oppenheim, The Planet Earth Farewell Concert, The Broadwater

• Elizabeth Swain, A Winter's Tale, Antaeus Theatre Company

• Peter Van Norden, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Moving Arts

Adaptation

• Richard Alger and Tina Kronis, Tiny Little Town, Theatre Movement Bazaar at The Broadwater

• Robert Beuth, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Moving Arts

• Ellen Geer, Wendy's Peter Pan, Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum

Playwriting

• Shem Bitterman, The Civil Twilight, Plays with People and The Road Theatre Company

• Kristen Adele Calhoun, Black Cypress Bayou, The Geffen Playhouse

• Tom Jacobson, Crevasse, Son of Semele Ensemble and The Victory Theatre

• Matt Lescher, Demolition, Pacific Resident Theatre

• Evan Marshall, The Allstore, Theatre of NOTE

• Oliver Mayer, Ghost Waltz, Latino Theater Company

• Steve Yockey, Mercury, Road Theatre Company

Solo Performance

• Robert Beuth, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Moving Arts

• Karen Hall, Delusions and Grandeur, The Broadwater

• Veronica Osorio, Medicine Woman, Los Angeles LGBT Center

Two-Character Performance

• Madelynn Fattibene and Erika Soto, Here Comes the Night, Zephyr Theatre

• Leo Marks and Ann Noble, Crevasse, Son of Semele Ensemble and The Victory Theatre

• Paul Turbiak and Darby Winn, Pascal & Julien, 24th Street Theatre

Featured Performance

• Alisha Elaine Anderson, Detroit '67, Long Beach Playhouse

• Billy Walker, Men in Suits, Playhouse West

Comedy Performance

• Drew Droege, Psycho Beach Party, HorseChart Theatre at The Matrix Theatre

Musical Performance

• Darcy Rose Byrnes, Reefer Madness the Musical, The Whitley

• Garret Forrestal, Million Dollar Quartet, 5-Star Theatricals

Leading Performance

• Kate Berlant, Kate, The Pasadena Playhouse

• Ron Bottitta, Fatherland, The Fountain Theatre

• Mia Christou, A Doll's House, Part 2, The Beverly Hills Playhouse

• Taylor Gilbert, The Civil Twilight, Plays with People and The Road Theatre Company

• Andy Robinson, Sukkot, 6th Act at The Skylight Theatre

• Frederick Stuart, The Skin of Our Teeth, A Noise Within

• Jayne Taini, The Sandwich Ministry, The Skylight Theatre

• Jocelyn Towne, Nora, The Antaeus Company

• Kimi Walker, Trouble in Mind, Actors’ Co-op

Ensemble

• Black Cypress Bayou, The Geffen Playhouse

• Demolition, Pacific Resident Theatre

• The Green Book Wine Club Train Trip, Loft Ensemble

• Htler's Tasters*, Rogue Machine

• The Piano Lesson, A Noise Within

Musical Production

• The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Wayward Artist

Production

• King Hedley II, A Noise Within

• Pirates Wanted!, Last Call Theatre

Queen of the Angels

• Melissa Chalsma and David Melville

Lifetime Achievement

• Jose Luis Valenzuela