The 37th annual Drammy Awards, Portland’s celebration of the best and brightest in the year’s theater scene, hit the Newmark Theatre Monday night like a roller coaster of love – for stage managers and dressers and designers, for directors and writers, for the whole crazy game of theater and the people who are held happily hostage by it.
The Snowstorm, Eric Nordin and Jessica Wallenfels’ ambitious original combination of theater, music, and dance that came out of this spring’s Fertile Ground new-works festival, took three awards, including the coveted best production Drammy, and by the crowd reaction, was an immensely popular choice. It was produced by CoHo Productions and Many Hats Collaborations.
Beth Thompson as Bear in best-production winner “The Snowstorm”; mask by Tony Fummeler. Photo: Brud Giles
But if any single show dominated the evening, it was a musical by a children’s theater company. As it did in the PAMTA musical-theater awards two weeks ago, Northwest Children’s Theater’s high-flying Mary Poppins swept up in the musicals categories, taking seven awards, including best musical production, direction of a musical (Sarah Jane Hardy, who also took the choreography award), and actor in a musical (John Ellingson, who also won for his Mary Poppins prop design). The show’s large cast and crew stayed in shape hustling onstage multiple times, to loud applause. Hardy spoke passionately about the Portland way of doing children’s theater, which, she said, is to have lots of children as opposed to all adult actors in the shows, and Ellingson gave moving tribute to his husband for his support, remarking that he hoped it would be the last time such a comment would be viewed as a political statement.
Northwest Children’s Theater’s “Mary Poppins” dominated the musical-theater awards. Photo: David Kinder
After years at the Crystal Ballroom and, before that, at the Benson Hotel, the Drammys moved uptown into the 870-seat Newmark, a hall that provided a touch of class and put the theater awards in an actual theater. If the atmosphere cut back on some of the evening’s trademark rowdiness, it also made hearing from the audience much easier, and gave the evening a grown-up feel. Emcee Dan Murphy kept the crowd titillated with a dizzying succession of costume changes, each time emerging from the wings like a Cher impersonator in a bargain Nevada casino lounge. At one point he and presenter Olga Sanchez, artistic director of Miracle Theatre, showed up onstage in nearly identical electric-blue evening gowns. Sanchez took the style award, Murphy the comedy crown.
Matthew B. Zrebski won the directing Drammy for Theatre Vertigo’s Bob: A Life in Five Acts, and gave an eloquent acceptance speech – so eloquent that ArtsWatch stopped taking notes and just listened. The major acting awards went to a clutch of popular veterans. Luisa Sermol won best actress for her distressed mother in Badass Theatre’s Sans Merci, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival regular Michael Elich took the top-actor prize for Arthur Miller’s The Price at Artists Rep. Todd Van Voris won for supporting actor in Northwest Classical’s Macbeth; Dana Green took the supporting actress trophy for her double turn as a wisecracking mistress and an ice-skating wife in Profile’s Dead Man’s Cell Phone; and Rebecca Lingafelter won for solo performance for Grounded at CoHo. Elisha Henig took the young-performer trophy for The Snowstorm, and brought the house down by profusely thanking his parents, then noting that they had written his acceptance speech.
Luisa Sermol took top actress honors for her harrowing performance in “Sans Merci.” Photo: Russell J Young
Top musical acting awards went to Ellingson in Mary Poppins and Dru Rutledge for Lakewood’s sweet and lovely version of She Loves Me; Cassi Q. Kohl won best supporting musical actress, also for She Loves Me; and Eric Little scared up the best supporting actor in a musical award for his Riff Raff in Live On Stage’s The Rocky Horror Show.
Yussef El Guindi won the original script award for Threesome, his volatile blend of skin and politics, at Portland Center Stage.
Rusty Tennant helped set the scene early on with his acceptance speech for best scenic design, which he won for Post5’s zombiepocalype The Last Days. Racing onstage late from the lobby – he really hadn’t been expecting to win – he noted that he’d worked at big-budget theaters that tossed out whole sets after a run, and made the case for working small and cheap and smart instead. “Seriously, 275 dollars?” he said. “I thought I had no chance. What you’ve honored is sustainability in the theater!”
Miracle Theatre Group won a Special Achievement Award for three decades of presenting Latino theater and other arts, including its innovative Spanish-language touring program. (ArtsWatch’s participant-observer note: I presented the award to Miracle, and was pleased to do so.)
And veteran actor, director, and producer Tobias Andersen, who was also nominated for best director of a musical for Lakewood’s She Loves Me, won this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Introduced movingly by his longtime friend and colleague Allen Nause, Andersen talked briefly of his days in Los Angeles and hanging in Milton Berle’s dressing room and working with science fiction giant Ray Bradbury on a one-man show, The Illustrated Bradbury. He quoted “my hero,” Clarence Darrow, on the beneficial necessity of unions, which, he said, have made it possible for him to do the work he does. Then he got down to his abiding love for the Portland theater community that has made him feel at home. Accepting his award, he noted, “You realize, everyone, that this arrives at the pinnacle of my career, having just closed as Scratch the Cat.” Then he gave what amounted to a benediction for the entire evening: “I cherish this as I cherish all of you. Thank you so much.”
Tobias Andersen accepts his lifetime achievement award beneath a giant photo of himself at ease. Photo: Laura Grimes
The winners, in boldface, with other finalists listed below them:
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A PLAY
Todd Van Voris, Macbeth, Northwest Classical Theatre Company
Mujahid Abdul-Rashid, The Piano Lesson, Portland Playhouse
Joseph Costa, The Price, Artists Repertory Theatre
Chris Harder, Intimate Apparel, Artists Repertory Theatre
BEST SCENIC DESIGN
Rusty Tennant, The Last Days, Post5 Theatre
John Ellingson, Mary Poppins, Northwest Children’s Theater
Peter Ksander, The Three Sisters, Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble (PETE)
Alan Schwanke, The Piano Lesson, Portland Playhouse
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Cassi Q. Kohl, She Loves Me, Lakewood Theatre Company
Carmen Brantley-Payne, Show Boat, Lakewood Theatre Company
Signe Larsen, Mary Poppins, Northwest Children’s Theater
Danielle Purdy, tick, tick…BOOM!, triangle productions!
BEST SOUND DESIGN
Em Gustason, The Sweatermakers, Playwrights West
Richard E. Moore, The Turn, The Reformers
Mark Valadez, Grounded, CoHo Productions
Matt Wiens, The Other Place, Portland Playhouse
BEST YOUNG PERFORMER
Elisha Henig, The Snowstorm, CoHo Productions + Many Hats Collaboration
Thom Hilton, Columbinus, Oregon Children’s Theatre, (Young Professionals)
Agatha Olson, The Turn, The Reformers
Haley Ward, Ivy and Bean: The Musical, Oregon Children’s Theatre
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Eric Little, The Rocky Horror Show, Live On Stage
Andrés Alcalá, Mary Poppins, Northwest Children’s Theater
Paul Harestad, Grease, Broadway Rose Theatre Company
Salim Sanchez, Parade, Staged!
BEST CHOREOGRAPHY
Sarah Jane Hardy, Mary Poppins, Northwest Children’s Theater
Kemba Shannon, The Rocky Horror Show, Live On Stage
Jacob Toth, Grease, Broadway Rose Theatre Company
Jessica Wallenfels, The Snowstorm, CoHo Productions + Many Hats Collaboration
BEST PIT ENSEMBLE
The Rocky Horror Show, Live On Stage
The Music Man, Broadway Rose Theatre Company
The World Goes ‘Round, Broadway Rose Theatre Company
tick, tick…BOOM!, triangle productions!
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Mary Rochon, Mary Poppins, Northwest Children’s Theater
Alison Heryer, The Mystery of Irma Vep, Third Rail Repertory Theatre
Darrin J. Pufall, The Rocky Horror Show, Live on Stage
Mary Rochon, The Jungle Book, Northwest Children’s Theater
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Dana Green, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Profile Theatre
Sofia May-Cuxim, ¡O Romeo!, Milagro
Rebecca Ridenour, ¡O Romeo!, Milagro
Olga Sanchez, Learn to be Latina, Milagro
BEST LIGHTING DESIGN
Daniel Meeker, Lizzie, Portland Center Stage
Don Crossley, Grounded, CoHo Productions
Daniel Meeker, The Other Place, Portland Playhouse
Peter West, ¡O Romeo!, Milagro
BEST MUSIC DIRECTION
Jeffrey Childs, The World Goes ‘Round, Broadway Rose Theatre Company
James Beaton, Lizzie, Portland Center Stage
Jonathan Quesenberry, She Loves Me, Lakewood Theatre Company
Darcy White, The Rocky Horror Show, Live On Stage
BEST DIRECTOR OF A MUSICAL
Sarah Jane Hardy, Mary Poppins, Northwest Children’s Theater
Tobias Andersen, She Loves Me, Lakewood Theatre Company
John Oules, The Rocky Horror Show, Live On Stage
Jacob Toth, Grease, Broadway Rose Theatre Company
BEST ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
John Ellingson, Mary Poppins, Northwest Children’s Theater
Drew Harper, tick, tick…BOOM!, triangle productions!
Brian Demar Jones, Bat Boy: The Musical, Funhouse Lounge
Joe Theissen, La Cage aux Folles, Pixie Dust Productions
BEST ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Dru Rutledge, She Loves Me, Lakewood Theatre Company
Chrissy Kelly-Pettit, Mary Poppins, Northwest Children’s Theater
Chrissy Kelly-Pettit, The Music Man, Broadway Rose Theatre Company
Mary Kate Morrissey, Lizzie, Portland Center Stage
BEST ENSEMBLE IN A MUSICAL
Mary Poppins, Northwest Children’s Theater
Grease, Broadway Rose Theatre Company
The Rocky Horror Show, Live On Stage
The World Goes ‘Round, Broadway Rose Theatre Company
BEST ENSEMBLE IN A PLAY
Bob: A Life in Five Acts, Theatre Vertigo
Learn to be Latina, Milagro
¡O Romeo!, Milagro
The School for Lies, Theatre Vertigo
BEST ORIGINAL SCRIPT
Yussef El Guindi, Threesome, Portland Center Stage
Sean Doran, The Turn, The Reformers
Eric Nordin, The Snowstorm, CoHo Productions + Many Hats Collaboration
C.S. Whitcomb, The Seven Wonders of Ballyknock, Lakewood Theatre Company
BEST DIRECTOR OF A PLAY
Matthew B. Zrebski, Bob: A Life in Five Acts, Theatre Vertigo
Bobby Bermea, Wait Until Dark, Northwest Classical Theatre Company
Olga Sanchez, ¡O Romeo!, Milagro
Jessica Wallenfels, The Snowstorm, CoHo Productions + Many Hats Collaboration
BEST ACTOR IN A PLAY
Michael Elich, The Price, Artists Repertory Theatre
Chris Harder, The Snowstorm, CoHo Productions + Many Hats Collaboration
Heath Koerschgen, The Seven Wonders of Ballyknock, Lakewood Theatre Company
Damon Kupper, The Night Alive, Third Rail Repertory Theatre
BEST ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Luisa Sermol, Sans Merci, Badass Theatre Company
Amy Newman, Tribes, Artists Repertory Theatre
Vana O’Brien, 4000 Miles, Artists Repertory Theatre
Jamie Rea, The Snowstorm, CoHo Productions + Many Hats Collaboration
BEST PRODUCTION OF A MUSICAL
Mary Poppins, Northwest Children’s Theater
Grease, Broadway Rose Theatre Company
She Loves Me, Lakewood Theatre Company
The Rocky Horror Show, Live On Stage
BEST PRODUCTION OF A PLAY
The Snowstorm, CoHo Productions + Many Hats Collaboration
The Piano Lesson, Portland Playhouse
The Price, Artists Repertory Theatre
The Three Sisters, Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble (PETE)
INDIVIDUAL AWARDS
– Devised work: ¡O Romeo!, Milagro
– Puppet design: Jason Miranda, When Animals Were People, Tears of Joy
– Original music: Amir Shirazi, ¡O Romeo!, Milagro
– Properties design: John Ellingson, Mary Poppins, Northwest Children’s Theatre
– Solo performance: Rebecca Lingafelter, Grounded, CoHo Productions
– Music performance: Eric Nordin, The Snowstorm, CoHo Productions + Many Hats Collaboration
– Fight choreography: Sam Dinkowitz, Wait Until Dark, Northwest Classical Theatre Company
SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Miracle Theatre Group, El Centro Milagro
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Tobias Andersen, actor, director, producer
ARTSLANDIA AWARD
Award for emerging theater company, Post5 Theatre
SPOTLIGHT AWARDS
Presented by the Portland Area Theatre Alliance
– Stage Manager, Jenn Lindell
– Crew Member, Jake Newcomb
– Other, Cindi Kinder, school house manager at Northwest Children’s Theatre
PORTLAND CIVIC THEATRE GUILD AWARDS
– PETE (Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble), $4,000 for a mobile professional sound system
– Theatre Vertigo, $4,000 for renovations to its new venue, The Shoebox Theatre
– Leslie O. Fulton Fellowship: Kristen Mun, $5,000 to create an armory of theatrical weaponry
– Mary Brand Theatre for Youth Award: Playwrights West, $2,000 for the Teen West Project at Wilson High School