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Stage Pages
Issue: October 15, 2001
HOW DOES IT EFFECT US?
By Frank Calo
It has been extremely difficult for me, as I know it has been for all of you, to get back to a normal life after the tragedy of September 11th. At first even contemplating a return to our theater projects seems, at the very least, too unimportant and, at the most, too oblivious to the reality at hand. The fact is, theater is our life-blood. We cannot reject it for long. We cannot allow it to slip into the “unimportant pile” or consider it no longer a part of our daily lives. It is important not only to our well being but our very existence -- and not just for those of us that toil in the theater trenches but for those that need some relief from the relentless tragedy that surrounds us. Even if for a moment or two, we need our projects to bring us back to -- what every politician and religious figure has asked us to go back to -- a bit of normalcy. We need to help each other and our nation in this time of need. We must also remember to take care of ourselves and go back to the things we love.
THE AWARDS
I had the pleasure to host the 3rd Annual Spotlight On/Sage Theater Awards which were held at the Jan Hus Theater on September 9th. It was an enormous success. 180 of our Spotlight On/ Sage Theater family were in attendance. Each year the awards ceremony gets bigger and bigger. The ceremony was more streamlined than in years past. The ceremony was quick paced and very entertaining, clocking in at 2 hours (as opposed to nearly 3 hours last year and 2.5 the year before.) The decision to read the name of each award and only the winner’s name helped the process along. Imagine if we had to read every nominee in every category! That took at least ½ hour from the total. This was the first year that a technical rehearsal was mandatory. This helped the process tremendously. Next year: rehearsal and a tech!
There are many hard workers that make a season happen. So many unsung heroes. As host, it is especially important for me to thank the people that are close to our organization. These are the people that keep the operation running. The first person that comes to mind is Ed Tabbitas. You probably read about him in our last Stage Pages in the column “The Wonderful World of Awards” by Alan Kanevsky. This year Ed really came to bat for Spotlight On. He not only came to our financial rescue and helped with the initial theater payments for the Winter Festival of 2001 but he stayed on throughout the festival and helped out in many capacities. As an Executive Producer Ed could have walked in each day to shake a few hands and to see a few plays. But instead he came in every day and worked in the trenches with us. You would often see him in our Party Room seeing to it that every opening night party went off well (and we had quite a few of them) or perhaps helping out in the box office. I have to personally thank Ed for all of his help and advice during that behemoth of a festival! I couldn’t have done it without him!
Another pillar of support was Sue Marticek who was my Managing Producer for that very same festival and my stage manager for the previous June’s Pulse Theater Festival. Sue was an incredible calming force. She is the type of person that comes in and does an incredible job each and every day. She is a born leader! She rarely bothered me with the day to day running of the event. She shouldered and handled many of the problems herself and made the running of the festival as easy for me as possible. She was incredible.
During my thank you speech at the end of the awards ceremony I got distracted and inadvertently left Ed and Sue off my thank you list! (My eyes went down to the subsequent paragraph on my thank you list!) Some people believe that all things happen for a reason. Well, the reason here is that this omission allowed me the opportunity to immortalize their contributions right here in Stage Pages. Thank you Ed and Susan!
This Year’s Entertainment Run-Down:
1) The very talented Anthony Valbiro opened the show with the rousing “Broadway Baby,” one of the many songs that earned him a Best Male Singer nomination (from the Grove St. Wannabees).
2) A monologue by Robert Boston
3) Quickly following Robert was the talented John Luke who sang the lovely “Night and Day”. This is one of the songs that earned John his Best Male Singer Nomination (from New Faces of 2001).
4) We actually had time to give out some awards at this point!
5) Another nominee for Best Male Singer, Michael Bruck, thrilled us with his version of “Who Can I Turn To”. (Michael was a nominee for his performance in The Grove St. Wannabees,)
6) Close on the heels of Michael’s performance was the effervescent dance number “Jeep Jockey Jump” performed by Mark Sudel and Linda Digiosaffatte (nominated for Best Bit or Sketch in a Musical/Comedy Revue for New Faces of 2001.)
7) A few more awards were given out!
8) Julie Zimmermann and David Emmett earned scores of new fans with their self-penned songs “I’m A Millionaire” and “I Don’t Want To Worry ‘Bout Tomorrow Tonight.” These catchy country tunes were performed in their show “Maybe Songs”. (Julie was nominated for Best Female singer for “Maybe Songs.”)
9) Closely following was the incredible voice of Fil Straughan singing “Cry Me a River”. (Fil was nominated for Best Male Singer for New Faces of 2001.)
10) After the intermission Michael Bruck and Julie Zimmermann got the already hyped audience into a higher gear with the very funny “Near You”. (Near You was nominated for Best Bit or Sketch in a Musical/Comedy Revue for The Grove St. Wannabees.)
11) Tommy Barz was next up with his delightfully funny poetry “I Can’t go to Brooklyn Tonight” and his paranoia gem about walking through the park.
12) And some more awards were given out.
13) Edwina Garner gripped the audience with her beautifully operatic voice singing “Once Upon a Time”. (Edwina was nominated for Best Female Singer for New Faces of 2001.)
14) Anthony Valbiro returned to the stage to perform a hilarious monologue portraying a character from his one-man show “Anthony Nobody … There’s a World Outside.” (“Anthony Nobody. . .” was nominated for Best One-Person Show among other nominations.)
15) Fil Straughan closed the evening’s entertainment with “You Are The Sunshine of My Life”. It was a wonderful way to end the evening having the audience clap along with Fil.
Other Awards Moments
This Year’s Achievement award went to 2 people that helped out tremendously during the 2000-2001 season. In almost every capacity thinkable (stage manager, house manager, lighting technician, director, writer, set builder, schlepper, box office – the list goes on and on) and they did this for both Theater Companies!!! This year’s achievement award went to Andrea Hoffman and Alan Kanevsky. Before we gave out the award we renamed it “The Ken Bachtold Award of Excellence” after its first year’s recipient who gave and still gives so tirelessly to our companies.
We had a very moving tribute to two of our departed “family,” Jason Nabeta and Cathy Bagley, both of whom gave to our companies and we will never forget. Louis Lopardi read two of his poems written in honor of our friends. Thank you Louis. It was a very special moment for all of us.
Interesting Awards Facts
§ Attendance for the Awards has grown in leaps and bounds from 90 to 120 to this year’s room filler 180!
§ Myles Cohen , Teresa Fischer & Julie Zimmermann have been nominated in at last one acting category for all three years!
§ We have two sets of parent/child nominees. Curtis and Kendra Kaine (father/daughter) were both nominated for Antigone (1998) (Best Actor/Best Bit) and Carol and Maria Biaggi (mother/daughter) were both nominated for Saville Row Murders (2001) (Best Supporting Actress/ Best Bit or Cameo)
§ There have been 5 incarnations of the Grove St. Wannabess and 3 incarnations of 3 Broads and all shows have had multiple nominations (the Wannabees just enjoyed their 6th incarnation during last summer’s John Chatterton’s Midtown International Theater Festival)
§ Peter Valentyne is the only playwright to win 3 playwrighting awards – all in the same year! (Best Full Length, Best One Act and Best Reading!!)
§ 3 Guys in Drag Selling Their Stuff is the only play to have ALL (except for one-man shows of course) of its actors win awards (Dick Nagel, Myles Cohen & Ellen Sandberg (Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Best Bit for the one act version) and Robert C. Boston, Jr. (Best Actor for the full length version.)
§ The only person to win twice in the Best Bit/Cameo is Bill Greville (in the same year as a tie!–1998)
§ During our first year all of the winners in the best actor/actress in a one act play category were from one-person shows. There were four winners in all (we produced so many one act plays that we gave out two awards in each category). We did not have a one person category that year and all one person shows were either put in the full length or one act category depending on their length.
AND THE 2000-2001 WINNERS ARE:
FULL LENGTH
Best Production
DADDY’S HOME
Best Director
STEVEN THORNBURG (The Twilight Ladies)
Best Play (Playwrights Award)
LOUIS LOPARDI (Purgatory Project, 2)
Best Actor
ROBERT C. BOSTON, JR. (3 Guys In Drag Selling Their Stuff)
Best Actress
ELYSE SEIDEN (The Twilight Ladies)
Best Supporting Actor
MARC DIRAISON (The Twilight Ladies)
Best Supporting Actress
SUSAN SCUDDER (The Twilight Ladies)
Best Bit or Cameo
MAX FRESCOLN (Marrow)
Best Sound Design
JEFF MANWARING (Love's Hollow)
Best Lighting Design
JOHN TEES, III (Circle)
Best Set Design
(tie) STEVEN THORNBURG & TOMMY BARZ (The Twilight Ladies) &
TRISH MINSKOFF (Circle)
Best Costume Design
JOHN NAKOVICH & TERESA FISCHER (The Twilight Ladies)
ONE ACT – LONG FORM
Best Production/Director
FRONT ROW CENTER - TONY CICOTTELLI (director)
Best Technical Achievement
ROBERT C. BOSTON, JR., MIDNIGHT SYNDICATE, HORST STAUDNER (The Callback)
Best Actor
MICHAEL MARTINO (Secrets Every Naked Dancer Should Tell)
Best Actress
REGGAN HOLLAND (Calling Viola)
BEST ONE ACT – SHORT FORM
Best Production/Director
THE GREED GENE - LARRY ROSEN (director)
Best Technical Achievement
LARRY ROSEN & LOUIS LOPARDI (The Greed Gene)
Best Actor
JIM BOERLIN (The Greed Gene)
Best Actress
KARA PETERSON (5 Sleazy Pieces)
Best Supporting Actor (male or female)(long or short form)
(tie) A. YAMINA COLLINS (Calling Viola) &
DINAH GEIGER (Front Row Center)
Best Play (Best Written Shorter Work)
ANTHONY NOBODY... THERE IS A WORLD OUTSIDE (by Anthony Valbiro)
ONE PERSON
Best Production/Director
ANTHONY NOBODY- CHARLES GEYER &
ANTHONY VALBIRO (Directors)
Best Technical Achievement
THE 9TH ENVELOPE
(Miriam Eusubio - Dir., John Cowan-set designer, Aldin Baroza-slide illustrations, Catherine Webster-Emery - Costumes, John Weber-Sound Design, John Reihaar Olson-Graphics, Gioia DeCari-Actress)
Best Performer
ROBERT BOARDMAN (Purgatory Project, 2)
READINGS
Best Reading/Director
GOING TO BORDEAUX (RICHARD LAY (author)-GUS SMYTHE (Director))
Best Performer
TOMMY BARZ (Authors Reading Their Own)
MUSICAL/COMEDY REVUE
Best Production/Director
NEW FACES OF 2001 (Grove St. Wannabees)- BRIAN SAXE (dir.)
Best Technical Achievement
BRIANE SAXE, DIRECTOR / MARTIN ST. LAWRENCE, MUSICAL DIRECTOR & JENNIFER MACQUEEN, CHOREOGRAPHER
(New Faces of 2001)
Best Actor
WILLIAM PATRICK DUNNE (New Faces of 2001)
Best Actress
JENNIFER MACQUEEN (New Faces of 2001)
Best Singer (Male)
(tie) FIL STRAUGHAN (New Faces of 2001)
MICHAEL BRUCK (The Grove St. Wannabees - 6/01)
Best Singer (Female)
JENNIFER MACQUEEN (New Faces of 2001)
Best Bit or Sketch
BETTE DAVIS & THE ENGENUE (William Patrick Dunne &
Jessica Sher)
OTHER AWARDS
Best Flyer/Postcard Design
TONY VIOLA (The Chill On Lake St. Claire)
Ken Bachtold Award of Excellence
ANDREA HOFFMAN
ALAN KANEVSKY
PAST WINNERS
1999-2000
FULL LENGTH
Best Costume Design
BUNNY MATEOSIAN (Ice In April)
Best Lighting Design
LOUIS LOPARDI (Out of Nowhere)
Best Sound Design
ROBERT DESCHERER (Ice In April)
Best Set Design
KEN BACHTOLD (Out of Nowhere)
Best Bit or Cameo
TRACY FRIEDMAN (as Floyd for Blinders)
Best Supporting Actress
JULIE ZIMMERMANN (Winter Wedding)
Best Supporting Actor
DAVID DOTTERER (Out of Nowhere)
Best Actress
NICOLE VERBOIS (Blinders)
Best Actor
CRAIG SKELTON (Stars)
Best Play (Playwrights Award)
KEVIN BROFSKY (Stars)
Best Director
FRANK CALO (Blinders)
Best Production
BLINDERS (Pat Gabridge-Author, Frank Calo- Director)
ONE ACT PLAYS
Best Costume Design
PAUL MAULUCCI (3 Guys In Drag Selling Their Stuff)
Best Director
FRANK CALO (3 Guys In Drag Selling Their Stuff)
Technical Achievement
3 GUYS IN DRAG SELLING THEIR STUFF (Set: TOMMY BARZ, Lights: LOUIS LOPARDI, Sound: FRANK CALO)
Best Supporting Actor
MYLES COHEN (3 Guys In Drag Selling Their Stuff)
Best Bit or Cameo
ELLEN SANDBERG (3 Guys In Drag Selling Their Stuff)
Best Supporting Actress
JENNY GREEMAN (The Difference of Snake and Dove)
Best Actor
DICK NAGEL (3 Guys In Drag Selling Their Stuff)
Best Actress
TERESA FISCHER (The Difference of Snake and Dove)
Best One Act
3 GUYS IN DRAG SELLING THEIR STUFF
(Edward Crosby Wells (author) & Frank Calo (dir.)
Best Play (Playwrights Award)
HOWARD SIMON (James: A Soul On Fire)
SHOWCASES
Best Showcase
THE LIVING TABLEAU
Best Actress - tie
TERESA FISCHER (The Living Tableau)
INGRID SWEN (The Living Tableau)
Best Actor
ALAN KANEVSKY (Summer STI)
Best Scene or Monologue
SUFFERIN’ SASSAFRAS (Elias Stimac, author)
ONE PERSON
Best One Person Show
(tie) POSTER OF THE COSMOS (Steven Thornburg, dir.) &
BIBLE BELT (Renee Flemings, dir./ author)
Best Director/Technical Achievement
THE 9TH ENVELOPE (Jim Lopata - Dir., John Cowan-set designer, Aldin Baroza-slide illustrations, Catherine Webster-Emery - Costumes, John Weber-Sound Design, John Reihaar Olson-Graphics, Gioia DeCari-Actress)
Best Performer
RENEE FLEMINGS (Bible Belt)
READINGS
Best Reading
AUTHORS READING THEIR OWN (Dir. Vera E. Chazen)
Best Director/Overall look
VERA E. CHAZEN (Authors Reading Their Own)
Best Actor
KEN BACHTOLD (Authors Reading Their Own)
Best Literary Piece
SLEEPSEX (Sleepytime by Louis Lopardi - actor: Terry Ann Bennett, Michael Shapiro & Steven Thornburg)
MUSICAL/COMEDY REVUE
Best Actor or Actress
KEN ANDERS (Grove St. Wannabees)
Best Production
GROVE ST. WANNABEES (Dir. Brian Saxe)
Best Director
TERESA FISCHER (3 Broads Singing to Beat the Blues)
Bet Bit or Sketch
MADAMA BUTTERFLY (Ken Anders & Martin St. Lawrence)
Best Male Singer
KEN ANDERS (Grove St. Wannabees)
Best Female Singer
TERESA FISCHER (3 Broads Singing to Beat the Blues)
OTHER AWARDS
Best Flyer/Postcard Design
KEN BACHTOLD & PETER VALENTYNE (Blinders)
Award of Excellence (renamed the Ken Bachtold Award of Excellence)
TOMMY BARZ
STEVEN THORNBURG
1998-1999 season
FULL LENGTH
Best Production - (tie)
THE ALUMINUM GARDEN (Peter Valentyne & Steven Thornburg) &
ANTIGONE (Ken Bachtold)
Best Director - (Tie)
STEVEN THORNBURG (The Aluminum Garden)
KEN BACHTOLD (Antigone)
Best Play (Playwright’s award) ENCOUNTERS IN PASSAIC (Michael Bruck)
Best Actor
CURTIS KAINE (Antigone)
Best Actress
DEBORAH PHILLIPS (The Aluminum Garden)
Best Supporting Actor
MYLES COHEN (The ABC’s of Selling)
Best Supporting Actress
JULIE ZIMMERMANN (Encounters In Passaic)
Best Bit or Cameo (Male)
STEVE BENISTY (Dahmer)
Best Bit or Cameo (Female)
KENDRA KAINE (Antigone)
Best Sound Design
(tie) LOUIS LOPARDI, STEVEN THORNBURG, PETER VALENTYNE
(The Aluminum Garden)
LOUIS LOPARDI, KEN BACHTOLD (Antigone)
Best Lighting Design
LOUIS LOPARDI (The Aluminum Garden)
Best Set Design
STEVEN THORNBURG (The Aluminum Garden)
ONE ACTS
Best One Act
ALL IN ME (Michael Shapiro, author & Frank Calo, director)
Alternate
TRUSTING MR. UNIVERSE (Peter Valentyne, author & James Lopata, dir.)
Best Technical Achievement (lights, sound, set)
ALL IN ME (Sound, set: Frank Calo & Lights: Krista Stella)
Alternate
DEER DANCE (Sound, Set: Barbara Calvano & Lights: Louis Lopardi)
Best Dramatic One Act
SKYDIVER (Vonder Gray, author/director)
Alternate
TRUSTING MR. UNIVERSE (James Lopata, dir. & Peter Valentyne, author)
Best Comedic One Act
ALL IN ME (Frank Calo, dir. & Michael Shapiro, author)
Alternate
PAINT IT BLACK (Michelle Macau, director & Mark Olsen, author)
Best Play (playwright’s award) ALL IN ME (Michael Shapiro)
Alternate
BLACKLIST (Alan Kanevsky)
Best Director
FRANK CALO (All In Me)
Alternate
EDDIE LEW (Blacklist)
Best Actor
MICHAEL SHAPIRO (All In Me)
Alternate
JASE DRAPER (Paint It Black)
Best Actress
VONDER GRAY (Skydiver)
Alternate
CAROL CLARK (Lavinia Speaks)
Best Bit Player
BILL GREVILLE (Tikkun Olam)
Alternate
(tie) BILL GREVILLE (Blacklist)
MYLES COHEN (The Bench, Testosterone & And A Revelation)
Best Costume Design
DEER DANCE (Barbara Calvano)
Alternate
AFTERNOON OF THE BULL (Sok Ho Sung)
MUSICAL/COMEDY REVUE
Best Show
THREE BROADS SINGING TO BEAT THE BLUES
(Teresa Fischer, Dir.)
Best Director
TERESA FISCHER (Three Broads Singing to Beat the Blues)
Best Male Singer
(tie)DAVID DOTTERER (The Old Songs)
CHAD SMYZER (The Grove St. Wannabees)
JOHN DEPALMA (The Grove St. Wannabees)
Best Female Singer
(tie) Three Broads Singing to Beat the Blues (TERESA FISCHER, BONITA HANSON, JENNY GREEMAN)
READINGS
Best Work
PRATER AT LETHE (Peter Valentyne & Steven Thornburg)
Best Actor
PETER CARLINO (Prater at Lethe)
Best Actress
ALEXIS IACONO (Deer Dance)
Best Director
STEVEN THORNBURG (Prater at Lethe)
Best Actor at a Special Event
VERA E. CHAZEN (“Don’t Sweat The Small Things” the walking monologue)
ADDITIONAL AWARDS
Best Poster/Flyer Design
KANE TUNG, PETER VALENTYNE (The Aluminum Garden)
Best Comedic Performance - Male
MICHAEL SHAPIRO (All In Me- one act)
Best Comedic Performance - Female
VERA E. CHAZEN (Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff (monologue))
Best Dramatic Performance - Male
(tie) ROD BROGAN (Three Voices (one Act) and Uncle Adolf (full length))
JASON OATES (Encounters in Passaic (full length))
Best Dramatic Performance - Female
(tie) VONDER GRAY (Encounters in Passaic-full length play)
DEBORAH PHILLIPS (The Aluminum Garden-full length play)
Award of Excellence
KEN BACHTOLD
FINAL NOTES
The preparation for an awards ceremony seems to take forever. Meeting with all the voters (this year 22). Tallying up the number of shows each voter saw, giving each voter a point value, adjusting the instructions to accommodate and update any all productions within the timeframe. And let’s not forget listing every actor, technician and production (in table format) so that each voter can have easy access to information. Yes, a lot goes into each awards ceremony but it is all worth it when it culminates into a memorable evening such as we had. An evening where each and every one of you are recognized and thanked for the many and diverse contributions to Sage Theater and Spotlight On Productions. Thank you and see you at next year’s awards! Frank Calo
Upcoming Events
Spotlight On
Hell of a Mess – The Eugene Ionesco Festival (at Stage 24 (The Comedy Club) – 24th St. and 2nd Ave.) through October 19 – for information 718-729-5672
Sage Theater
Going to Bordeaux by Richard Lay (to be performed at The Jan Hus Playhouse in November) for information 212-929-3423
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