LA Drama Critics Circle Award Winners Announced

The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards were handed out Monday to winners in various categories. Productions taking the most awards included They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, at the Greenway Court Theatre in Hollywood, Big River at the Deaf West Theatre, and Orson’s Shadow, at the Black Dahlia Theatre.

In the design categories, veteran Ray Klausen won in the scenery category for Big River. Kathi O’Donohue and Robert L. Smith both won for lighting, O’Donohue for Night of the Iguana at the Fountain Theatre. The costume award was won by Gregg Barnes for the Broadway-bound new version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Flower Drum Song, produced at Mark Taper Forum and Shon LeBlanc for They Shoot Horses Don’t They? The sound design award went to John Epperson, the drag queen known as Lypsinka for the show Lypsinka! The Boxed Set, seen at the Tiffany Theatre. There was also a rare award for makeup and hair design, which went to Steven Ratliff for They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? Lifetime achievement awards went to scenery designer Dwight Richard Odle and lighting designer Kim Killingsworth.

A complete list of winners follows:

Production: Big River, Deaf West Theater; Orson's Shadow, Black Dahlia Theater; They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, Greenway Court Theater

Direction: Jeff Calhoun, Big River; Rick Sparks, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

Musical Direction: Steven Landau, Big River

Writing: David Lindsay-Abaire, Kimberly Akimbo;South Coast Repertory; Austin Pendleton, Orson's Shadow

Adaptation: Mark Savage, Pinafore! Celebration Theatre; Rick Sparks and Gary Carter, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

Musical Score: Richard Rodgers and Stephen Sondheim, Do I Hear a Waltz?, Pasadena Playhouse

Lead Performance: Gretchen German, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?; Robert Machray, Orson's Shadow; Maria O'Brien, Mrs. Feuerstein, 2100 Square Feet; Douglas Sills, Much Ado About Nothing, South Coast Repertory; Jeff Sugarman, Orson's Shadow

Featured Performance: Clinton Derricks-Carroll, Central Avenue,Fountain Theater; Kevin Earley, 1776,Freud Playhouse; Leslie Hicks, A Little Night Music, Interact Theater; Gregory Itzin, The Birthday Party; Eileen T'Kaye, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

Scenic Design: Ray Klausen, Big River

Lighting Designer: Kathi O'Donohue, The Night of the Iguana, Fountain Theater; Robert L. Smith, A Mislaid Heaven, The Road Theater

Costume Design: Gregg Barnes, Flower Drum Song, Mark Taper Forum; Shon LeBlanc, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

Sound Design: John Epperson, Lypsinka! The Boxed Set, Tiffany Theater

Choreography: Jeff Calhoun, Big River; Art Manke, Much Ado About Nothing

Makeup/Hair Design:: Stephen Ratliff, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

Margaret Harford Award, (for sustained excellence in theater): South Coast Repertory

The Angstrom Award, for lifetime achievement in stage lighting: Kim Killingsworth

Ted Schmitt Award, for world premiere of an outstanding new play: Amy Freed, The Beard of Avon

The Bob Z Award, for lifetime achievement in set design: Dwight Richard Odle

Natalie Schaefer Award, for an emerging comic actress: Beth Kennedy

Polly Warfield Award, for an excellent season in a small to mid-size theater: Pacific Resident Theater