The 21st Annual Ticketholder Awards, 2011 - Part Two

[ Read Part 1 ]

I am pleased to continue to honor of the best of the best in Los Angeles theatre over the past 12 months. Congratulations — and supreme thanks — to everyone who brought a much-needed infusion of art to our town this year despite all odds!

Tom Jacobson, The Chinese Massacre (Annotated), Circle X Theatre Company

Tom Jacobson, House of the Rising Son, Ensemble Studio Theatre-LA

RUNNERS-UP: Tom Burmester, The War Cycle: Gospel According to First Squad, LA Theatre Ensemble; Steve Connell and Sekou Andrews, The Word Begins, Rogue Machine; Eric Czuleger, No. Saints Lane, Actors Circle; Melissa James Gibson, THIS, CTG/Douglas; Kathryn Graf, Hermetically Sealed, Skylight; Moises Kaufman, 33 Variations, Ahmanson; Ron Hutchinson, Moonlight and Magnolias, Colony; John Leguizamo, Ghetto Klown, Montalban; Padrraic Lillis, Lights Up on the Fade Out, Lillian; Johnny O’Callaghan, Who’s Your Daddy?, Victory; Morris Panych, Vigil, Taper; Yasmina Reza, God of Carnage, Ahmanson; Nick Salamone, The Sonneteer, LA Gay & Lesbian Center; Jacqueline Wright, Have You Seen Alice?, Theatre of NOTE; Lauren Yee, Ching Chong Chinaman, Artists at Play

Michael Michetti, The Comedy of Errors, A Noise Within

RUNNERS-UP: Joel Daavid, Baby Doll, Lillian; Christopher Hampton, God of Carnage, Ahmanson; Rick Sparks, I Love Lucy Live on Stage, Greenway Court; Steven Sater, Spring Awakening, Pantages; Jeff Whitty, Bring It On—The Musical, Ahmanson

Michael Michetti, The Comedy of Errors, A Noise Within

RUNNERS-UP: Ken Barnett and Larry Biederman, Stop Kiss, Lounge; Tom Burmester, The War Cycle: Gospel According to First Squad, LA Theatre Ensemble; Ron Canada, Lights Up on the Fade Out, Lillian; Joel Daavid, Baby Doll, Lillian; Steve Julian, No. Saints Lane, Actors Circle; Moises Kaufman, 33 Variations, Ahmanson; Peter J. Kuo, Ching Chong Chinaman, Artists at Play; Simon Levy, A House Not Meant to Stand, Fountain; Jeff Liu, The Chinese Massacre (Annotated), Circle X; Michael Michetti, House of the Rising Son, EST-LA; Gates McFadden, House of Gold, EST-LA; Tom Ormeny, Who’s Your Daddy?, Victory; Morris Panych, Vigil, Taper; Joel Polis, Hermetically Sealed, Skylight; Jon Lawrence Rivera, The Sonneteer, LA Gay & Lesbian Center; Fisher Stevens, Ghetto Klown, Montalban; Jenny Sullivan, Steel Magnolias, Rubicon; Matthew Warchus, God of Carnage, Ahmanson

Kristin Hanggi, Rock of Ages, Broadway/LA, Pantages Theatre

RUNNERS-UP: Andy Blankenbuehler, Bring It On—The Musical, Ahmanson; Philippe Decouflé, IRIS, Kodak; Bill T. Jones, Fela!, Ahmanson; Diane Paulus, Hair, Pantages; Lucy Skilbeck / Michael Mayer, Spring Awakening, Pantages; Rick Sparks, I Love Lucy Live on Stage, Greenway Court

Danny Elfman, IRIS, Kodak Theatre

RUNNERS-UP: Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Fela!, Ahmanson; David Bickford, The Comedy of Errors, A Noise Within; Amanda Gree, Tom Kitt, and Lin-Manuel Miranda, Bring It On—The Musical, Ahmanson; Bruno Louchouarn, House of the Rising Son, EST-LA; Meg Roe and Allessandro Juliani, Vigil, Taper; Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater, Spring Awakening, Pantages 

Rob Cookman, Come Fly Away, Broadway/LA, Pantages Theatre

 RUNNERS-UP: Kasey RT Graham, Spring Awakening, Pantages; Aaron Johnson, Fela!, Ahmanson; Wayne Moore, I Love Lucy Live on Stage, Greenway Court; Dave Pepin, Bring It On—The Musical, Ahmanson; David Truskinoff, Hair, Pantages

Bill T. Jones, Fela!, Center Theatre Group, Ahmanson Theatre

Twyla Tharp, Come Fly Away, Broadway/LA, Pantages Theatre

RUNNERS-UP: Karole Armitage, Hair, Pantages; Andy Blankenbuehler, Bring It On—The Musical, Ahmanson; Kelly Devine, Rock of Ages, Pantages; JoAnn M. Hunter / Bill T. Jones, Spring Awakening, Pantages; Daphné Mauger, IRIS, Kodak

Jean Rabasse, IRIS, Kodak Theatre

RUNNERS UP: Beowulf Boritt, Rock of Ages, Pantages; Joel Daavid, Baby Doll, Lillian; Joel Daavid, The Eccentricities of a Nightingale, A Noise Within; Bruce Goodrich, Moonlight and Magnolias, Colony; Eric Henderson, I Love Lucy Live on Stage, Greenway Court; Richard Hoover, House of the Rising Son, EST-LA; Christine Jones, Spring Awakening, Pantages; Ken McDonald, Vigil, Taper; Derek McLane, 33 Variations, Ahmanson; Jeff McLaughlin, A House Not Meant to Stand, Fountain; Lucan Melkonian, Who’s Your Daddy?, Victory; William Moore Jr., Lights Up on the Fade Out, Lillian; Robert Selander, The Sonneteer, LA Gay & Lesbian Center; Mark Thompson, God of Carnage, Ahmanson; Sybil Wickersheimer, The Chinese Massacre (Annotated), Circle X

Philippe Guillotel, IRIS, Cirque du Soleil, Kodak Theatre

RUNNERS-UP: Angela Balogh Calin, The Comedy of Errors, A Noise Within; Ann Closs-Farley, Have You Seen Alice?, Theatre of NOTE; Ann Closs-Farley, The Interlopers, Bootleg; Marina Draghici, Fela!, Ahmanson; Gregory Gale, Rock of Ages, Pantages; Dianne K. Graebner, The Chinese Massacre (Annotated), Circle X; Christina Haatainen-Jones, House of the Rising Son, EST-LA; Susan Hilferty, Spring Awakening, Pantages; Shon LeBlanc, I Love Lucy Live on Stage, Greenway Court; Shon LeBlanc, The Sonneteer, LA Gay & Lesbian Center; Michael MacDonald, Hair, Pantages; Leah Piehl, The Eccentricities of a Nightingale, A Noise Within; Michele Rede, Lights Up on the Fade Out, Lillian; Pamela Shaw, Steel Magnolias, Rubicon; Mark Thompson, God of Carnage, Ahmanson

Patrice Besombes, IRIS, Cirque du Soleil, Kodak Theatre

RUNNERS-UP: Kevin Adams, Hair, Pantages; Kevin Adams, Spring Awakening, Pantages; Ken Booth, A House Not Meant to Stand, Fountain; Alan Brodie and Robert Hahn, Vigil, Taper; Bosco Flanagan, Stop Kiss, Lounge; Paulie Jenkins, Moonlight and Magnolias, Colony; David Lander, 33 Variations, Ahmanson; Jason Lyons, Rock of Ages, Pantages; Jeff McLaughlin, A Death in Colombia, Skylight; Thomas Ontiveros, The Chinese Massacre (Annotated), Circle X; Jeremy Pivnik, House of the Rising Son, EST-LA; Hugh Vanstone, God of Carnage, Ahmanson; Dan Weingarten, The Word Begins, Rogue Machine; Robert Wierzel, Fela!, Ahmanson

François Bergeron, IRIS, Cirque du Soleil, Kodak Theatre

Adam Phelan, The Word Begins, Rogue Machine at Theater/Theatre

RUNNERS-UP: Acme Sound Partners, Hair, Pantages; Peter Bayne, A House Not Meant to Stand, Fountain; Ryan Brodkin, The Pity of Things, Theatre of NOTE; Joe Calarco, Double Falsehood, Coeurage Theatre Co; Joe Calarco, No. Saints Lane, Coeurage Theatre Co; Matt Frey, THIS, CTG/Douglas; Peter Hylenski, Rock of Ages, Pantages; Robert Kaplowitz, Fela!, Ahmanson; Bruno Louchouarn, House of the Rising Son, EST-LA; Peter McBoyle, Come Fly Away, Pantages; Cricket S. Myers, Vigil, CTG, Taper; Andre J. Pluess, 33 Variations, CTG, Ahmanson; Brian Ronan, Spring Awakening, Pantages; Dennis Yen, The Chinese Massacre (Annotated), Circle X

Eric Anderson, The War Cycle: Gospel According to First Squad, Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble

Olivier Simola and Christophe Waksmann, IRIS, Cirque du Soleil, Kodak Theatre

RUNNERS-UP: Zak Borovay, Rock of Ages, Pantages; Drew Christie, Alexander Mirecki, and William R. Parks, House of Gold, EST-LA; Corwin Evans, The Word Begins, Rogue Machine; Aaron Gonzalez, Ghetto Klown, Montalban; Ali Murtaza, The Comedy of Errors, Peter Nigrini, Fela!, Ahmanson; ANW; Jeff Sugg, 33 Variations, Ahmanson

 Chloe Peterson and Dominic Rains, Understudy Performers of the Year, Baby Doll, Lillian Theatre

Barney Burman, Special Make-up Effects, The Elephant Man, El Centro Theatre

Byron J. Batista, Wigs and Make-up, I Love Lucy Live on Stage, Greenway Court; Nathalie Gagné, Make-up Design, IRIS, Kodak; Marty Kopulsky, Hair and Make-up, Steel Magnolias, Rubicon; Galt McDermot, New Orchestrations, Hair, Pantages; Anne-Séguin Poirier, Prop Design, IRIS, Kodak; Diane Walsh, Pianist/Musical Director, 33 Variations, Ahmanson

My favorite tale since I started teaching: In a Text Analysis class, one of my fellow instructors asked her students to break down the scene between Laura and the Gentleman Caller in The Glass Menagerie. One of her students finished his analysis with, “And at the end of the scene, she passes out.” My friend said, “Passes out? No, I don't think that happens. How did you get that?” The student insisted it was right there in the script and opened the play to the page to show her. “See? It’s right here! At the end it says BLACKOUT.”

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TRAVIS MICHAEL HOLDER has been writing about LA theatre since 1987 and for Entertainment Today since 1990. As an actor, he received the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Best Actor Award as Kenneth Halliwell in the west coast premiere of Nasty Little Secrets at Theatre/Theater. He has also been honored with a Drama-Logue Award as Lennie in Of Mice and Men at the Egyptian Arena, four Maddy Awards, a ReviewPlays.com Award, both NAACP and GLAAD Award nominations, and six nominations from LA Weekly. Regionally, he won the Inland Theatre League Award as Ken Talley in Fifth of July; three awards for his direction and performance as Dr. Dysart in Equus; was up for Washington, DC’s Helen Hayes honors as Oscar Wilde in the world premiere of Oscar & Speranza; toured as Amos “Mr. Cellophane” Hart in Chicago; and he has traveled three times to New Orleans for the annual Tennessee Williams Literary Festival, opening the fest in 2003 as Williams himself in Lament for the Moths and since returning to appear in An Ode to Tennessee and opposite Karen Kondazian as A Witch and a Bitch. Never one to suffer from typecasting, Travis’ most recent LA performances have been as Wynchell in the world premiere of Moby Pomerance’s The Good Book of Pedantry and Wonder and Frank in Charles Mee’s Summertime at The Boston Court Performing Arts Center, Giuseppe “The Florist” Givola in Brecht’s The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui for Classical Theatre Lab, Ftatateeta in Shaw’s Caesar and Cleopatra at the Lillian, Cheswick in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest at the Rubicon in Ventura, Pete Dye in the world premiere of Stranger at the Bootleg (LA Weekly Award nomination), Shelly Levene in Glengarry Glen Ross at the Egyptian Arena, the Witch of Capri in Williams’ The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore at the Fountain, and Dr. Van Helsing in The House of Besarab, the spectacular new environmental adaptation of Dracula at the Hollywood American Legion Hall where Tamara held court for 11 years. Travis is on the faculty of the New York Film Academy’s west coast campus at Universal Studios and, as a writer, he is a regular reviewer for Back Stage, a frequent contributor to several other national magazines, and five of his plays have been produced in LA. His first, Surprise Surprise, for which he wrote the screenplay with director Jerry Turner, became a feature film released in August with Travis playing opposite John Brotherton, Luke Eberl, Deborah Shelton and Mary Jo Catlett. His first novel, Waiting for Walk, was completed in 2005, put in a desk drawer, and the ever-slothful, ever-deluded, ever-entitled Travis can’t figure out why no one has magically found it yet and published the goddam thing. www.travismichaelholder.com