Nominating and awarding an artist’s work is serious business! The thirty-fourth annual LADCC Awards recently held at the Colony Theater confirmed again that LADCC takes its job seriously and that theater is alive and well in Los Angeles and Orange Counties.

“Why?” from The Big Voice: God or Merman? written and performed by Steve Schalchlin and Jim Brochu cleverly led into a welcome from LADCC President, Terry Morgan. He stated that over nineteen hundred performances were seen by the twenty-one members of LADCC last year.

Click here to see pictures from the event

The winners for The 2002 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards were as follows:

PRODUCTION
Major Barbara, South Coast Repertory
Napoli Milionaria, Other Side of the Hill Prods./The Road Theatre Company

DIRECTION
Martin Benson, Major Barbara, South Coast Repertory
Roger Mathey, Trainspotting, Theatre/Theater
Ken Sawyer, The Woman in Black, Other Side of the Hill Prods./The Road Theatre Company

MUSICAL DIRECTION
Tom Griffin, Side Show, The Colony Theatre Company

WRITING
John O'Keefe, Times Like These, Padua Playwrights Productions/2100 Square Feet Theatre

ADAPTATION
Joan Holden, Nickel and Dimed, The Mark Taper Forum

MUSICAL SCORE
Steve Schalchlin and Jim Brochu,The Big Voice,
Blue Sphere Alliance in association with AppleArts Productions
and BonusRound Productions/The Lex Theatre
and The Zephyr Theatre

LEAD PERFORMANCE
Michael Genovese, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Blank Theatre
Company Presents a San Diego Repertory Theatre Production/2nd Stage Theatre
Eddie Jones, Death of a Salesman, Interact Theatre Company
Eddie Karr, The Visible Horse, Gregg Henry and Linda Bernstein Rubin
for Appian Way Productions/The Court Theatre
Carol Lawrence, Amy's View, International City Theatre
Barry Lynch, The Weir, Theatre Banshee/Gene Bua Theatre and Celtic Arts Center
Marty Maguire, A Night in November, Celtic Arts Center and Garry
Marshall/Celtic Arts Center and The Falcon Theatre

FEATURED PERFORMANCE
John Marzilli, The Grapes of Wrath, West Coast Ensemble
Alfred Molina, The Cherry Orchard, Odyssey Theatre Ensemble and Circus
Theatricals/The Odyssey Theatre
Camille Saviola, The House of Bernarda Alba, Mark Taper Forum and Center
Theatre Group/The Mark Taper Forum

ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE
The cast of Direct From Death Row: The Scottsboro Boys, The Fountain Theatre

SCENIC DESIGN
Ralph Funicello, Major Barbara
Don Llewellyn, Master Harold and the Boys, International City Theatre
Desma Murphy, The Woman in Black

LIGHTING DESIGN
Robert L. Smith, The Woman in Black
Frederick Wenzlaff, La Gioconda, The Collective and Stages Theatre Center,
Stages Theatre Center

COSTUME DESIGN
Robert Velasquez, Red Thread
Shigeru Yaji, Major Barbara

SOUND DESIGN
DE3 of Polyrhythmic & The Collective,La Gioconda
David B. Marling and Ken Sawyer, The Woman in Black

CHOREOGRAPHY
Randy Schulman and The Collective, La Gioconda
Tim Storms and Matt Emery, Red Thread (fight choreography)

The special-award recipients are as follows:

THE MARGARET HARFORD AWARD for sustained excellence in theater
Murray Mednick

THE TED SCHMITT AWARD for world premiere of an outstanding new play
Funded by the Boston Court Theatre
Robert Fieldsteel, Crazy Drunk

THE BOB Z AWARD for lifetime achievement in set design
Funded by the Fountain Theatre
Bradley Kaye

THE NATALIE SCHAFER AWARD for an emerging comic actress
Funded by the Natalie Schafer Trust
Gigi Bermingham

THE POLLY WARFIELD AWARD for an excellent season/year in a small to mid-sized theatre
Funded by an anonymous donor
The Colony Theatre