Tesseract Theatre Company Wins Big at the 2025 St. Louis Theater Circle Awards Gala

Tesseract Theatre Company dominated at The St. Louis Theater Circle Awards on Monday evening winning 10 awards, including Outstanding Production of a Musical for ANASTASIA: THE MUSICAL and Outstanding Production of a Drama for Matthew Lopez’s THE INHERITANCE Parts 1 & 2.  

ANASTASIA and THE INHERITANCE each picked up five awards. Directors Brittanie Gunn and Stephen Peirick were honored for Outstanding Direction of a Musical and Drama. Each production picked up two acting awards as well. 

Sarah Wilkinson was named Outstanding Lead Performer in a Musical for ANASTASIA. Supporting performer Kimmie Kidd was also a winner for her work in Anastasia. Kidd tied with [title of show]’s Rachel Bailey for supporting female performer honors. The cast of ANASTASIA was also called out as Outstanding Ensemble in a Musical. 

The ensemble of THE INHERITANCE Parts 1 & 2 were also winners for Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama. Gabriel Paul and Margery Handy won for Outstanding Lead and Supporting Performer in a Drama for THE INHERITANCE.  

 St. Louis Shakespeare Festival's outdoor production of AS YOU LIKE IT also won five awards tying it for the most honored production of the evening. It was named Outstanding Production of a Comedy and Nancy Bell was named Outstanding Director of a Comedy. AS YOU LIKE IT also picked up awards for Supporting Performer Ricki Franklin, Dorothy Marshall Englis’ costume designs, and Scott C. Neale’s set design.  

Broadway’s Tamar Greene was named Outstanding Performer in a Musical for his role as Coalhouse Walker, Jr. in STAGES St. Louis’ production of RAGTIME. Greene, currently playing George Washington in HAMILTON on Broadway, flew in from Manhattan on Monday morning to attend the awards presentation. He talked about his time working in St. Louis and “how meaningful it was to share the stage with his wife and son” who also appeared in the production.  

STAGES St. Louis picked up three other trophies for their production of RAGTIME. Matthew Cox was named Outstanding Supporting Performer in a Musical. E. Renee Gamez won for his music direction, and Brad Musgrove won for Outstanding Costume Design in a Musical. 

In his acceptance speech Musgrove thanked, by name, every artist who works in his costume shop for creating over 200 costumes for the production. Musgrove said, “Not only did the shop create the 100 looks for the show, but they created double that, sewing a second complete set of costumes for the understudies as well.”  

Other acting honors went to Jacob Schmidt and Spencer Sickmann for their comedic roles in TRAYF at New Jewish Theatre, and to Jayson Heil for his supporting role in the New Jewish Theatre’s drama ALL MY SONS. Emily Baker and Maggie Wininger won for their lead roles in Albion Theatre’s productions of WOMAN IN MIND (December Bee) and MOLLY SWEENEY. Justin Austin, who starred as Figaro in Opera Theatre of St. Louis’ production of THE BARBER OF SEVILLE, won for Outstanding Achievement in Opera.  

The Black Rep’s founder Ron Himes and Midnight Company’s Joe Hanrahan were honored with a special award for Lifetime Achievement. Himes and Hanrahan both spoke of acting together in a production more than 50-years ago with the now defunct Theatre Project Company in St. Louis. Since that time, both men have been fixtures in the St. Louis Theater community.  

Overall, 13 companies won awards for 16 different productions. Seventeen artists were first time honorees. Nancy Bell won her sixth St. Louis Theatre Circle Award and Costume Designer Brad Musgrove won his fourth award. Actor Maggie Wininger won her third acting award in as many nominations. Lighting Designer Tyler Duenow, who received his ninth nomination, won his first award for his work on Stray Dog Theatre’s NEVERMORE. Below is a list of all the honorees at last night’s St. Louis Theater Circle awards gala:  

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