Theater award season has begun in earnest, which means receptions for the shows and individuals nominated. Below are photographs of some of the people at an Outer Critics Circle party, taken somewhat at random, although I made a point of thanking (and then photographing) several theater artists for their work this season, including Cedric the Entertainer and playwrights Bubba Weiler and David Lindsay-Abaire. It was too noisy and crowded to interview anybody formally, but I did have an interesting brief conversation with one of the playwrights, and a sound designer.
Ali Louis Bourzgui, David the vampire in The Lost Boys
Outer Critics Circle Award nominee for Outstanding Featured Performer in a Broadway Musical
Drama League Award nominee for Distinguished Performance
Jake Brasch, playwright of “The Reservoir”
Outer Critics Circle Awards nominee for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play
Cedric The Entertainer, Seth Holly in “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone”
Outer Critics Circle Award nominee, Outstanding Revival of a Play
Drama League Awards nominee for Outstanding Revival of a Play
Andrew Durand, Brad in The Rocky Horror Show
Outer Critics Circle Award nominee for Outstanding Featured Performer in a Broadway Musical
Caroline Eng, sound designer for “The Unknown”
Outer Critics Circle Awards nominee for Outstanding Design
Drama Desk Awards nominee for Outstanding Sound Design of a Play
I had a conversation with her about how critics and theatergoers should judge sound design. “Clarity and acoustics are half of the job. Artistry is the other half, whether it blends in or stands out. if sound design blends in with everything else but supports the overall story effectively, then that is the actual goal of the design.”
Luke Evans, making his Broadway debut as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in “The Rocky Horror Show”
Drama Desk Awards nominee for Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical
Outer Critics Circle Awards nominee for Outstanding Lead Performer in a Broadway Musical
Drama League Awards nominee for Distinguished Performance
David Lindsay-Abaire, playwright of “The Balusters”
Drama Desk Awards nominee for Outstanding Play
Outer Critics Circle Award nominee for Outstanding New Broadway Play
Drama League Awards nominee for Outstanding Production of a Play
We had a brief conversation which started when I asked him whether his wife had gotten any flak for his play, which is about the members of a neighborhood association in an affluent enclave of Victorian homes in a major city. He and his wife live in a Victorian home in the relatively affluent Ditmas Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, where his wife served on the board of the local neighborhood association. He said: not yet. I said I thought each of the characters were multi-dimensional enough that she might not get in trouble. This led to: “I sort of feel like it’s always my job to make dimensional characters, and with this play in particular, because everyone’s taking stances and choosing sides. So the character that you feel is righteous and you stand with them, reveal themselves to be a little more complicated, and the character that you thought you didn’t like actually says something that makes you feel empathy for them. I wanted to make sure that every character was implicated in some way. I think people reveal themselves to maybe not be decent in every way, and that’s how many of us are. We try to do the right thing, and yet we don’t always behave exactly in the right way, as much as we might want to.”
Cast members of “Masquerade”
Outer Critics Circle Award nominee for Outstanding Revival of a Musical
Drama League Awards nominee for Outstanding Revival of a Musical
Drama Desk Special Award
Kevin McHale, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Outer Critics Circle Award nominee for Outstanding Featured Performer in an Off-Broadway Musical
Brad Oscar, Mayor Menlove in “Schmigadoon”
Outer Critics Circle Award nominee for Outstanding New Musical
Drama Desk Award nominee for Outstanding Musical
Drama League Award nominee for Outstanding Production of a Musical
Bubba Weiler, playwright of “Well, I’ll Let You Go”
Drama Desk Awards nominee for Outstanding Play
Outer Critics Circle Award nominee for John Gassner Award (for a new American play preferably by a new playwright)
Omari Wiles, choreographer of CATS: The Jellicle Ball
Drama Desk Award nominee (with Arturo Lyons) for Outstanding Choreography
Chita Rivera Awards nominee (with Arturo Lyons) for Outstanding Choreography in a Broadway Show
