Non-Equity Jeff Awards wrap-up

The 2007–08 Non-Equity Joseph Jefferson Awards ceremony kicked off last night at the Park West with a montage of Joseph Jefferson himself. As the room darkened and the video screens on each side of the stage displayed archival footage of Jefferson "in the role he was best known for"—playing Rip Van Winkle in a series of early silent shorts—the vibe in the room went from a what-are-they-gonna-do-with-this hush to a low murmur of what-the-fuck-are-they-doing? as the crowd watched JoJef hamming it up, swilling hooch and cavorting with dwarves. Just as the collected throngs of theater people reached their zenith of confusion, the joke was revealed by ultra-suave announcer James Anthony Zoccoli: "And now that we've all seen the high standard of performance to which we're being held, here are the 35th Annual Non-Equity Jeff Awards!"

And with that well-timed zinger, the Theater Prom was underway. What I've always loved about the Non-Equity Jeffs is the good-naturedness of it all. The ceremony is a healthy mix of self-indulgence and self-deprecation by the non-Equity community—along with the occasional love/hate digs at the theater press and the game Jeff Committee. At the podium and in mixed company, everyone is truly honored to be nominated and ecstatic to be part of such a dynamic artistic scene. (Disagreements with the outcomes are kept to sotto voce whispers and across-the-room text messages.)

The show came with the expected non-union pride, since it was arguably not the 35th Annual Non-Equity Awards but rather the first, as emcee Jon Steinhagen put it. Given the controversy over this year's semantic shift away from "citation"—perhaps you'll recall when the shit hit the fan 73 times on this TOC blog post—the mood tended toward the defiant, with Steinhagen asking for a show of hands from everyone who came to the ceremony from a day job (nearly the whole room). How many couldn't pay for two weeks' gas on the stipend from their last show? (The same hands again.) How many love what they do and would never give it up? (Absolutely everyone.) "Congratulations, you're all clinically insane," said the host.

As for the awards themselves, they were spread far and wide, with few productions taking home multiple plaques (Lifeline's The Island of Dr. Moreau, with five, and Theo Ubique's Cabaret, with four, were the biggest winners). And while the "non-competitive" rules for the Non-Equity Awards allow for multiple winners in each category, only three had more than one recipient this year, allowing Steinhagen to bring the show in at a mercifully brief two hours.

Acceptance speeches tended toward the upbeat. Kathleen Ruhl (a recipient for her turn in TimeLine's Dolly West's Kitchen) declared how nice it was to have celebrated her 65th birthday in the same theater space where she first appeared on stage in 1968. Vanessa Greenway, a winner for Griffin's The Constant Wife, marked her own 10 years on the scene (and was one of many to thank supportive parents—"They have seen a lot of theater for people who live in Eugene, Oregon"), as did Jeremy Trager, who won for Cabaret and got in a slick in-joke at the expense of the Bailiwick, where he said he got his start a decade ago in a show with Steinhagen: "A lovely gay pirate musical, one of the many gay pirate musicals the Bailiwick has done. It's called initiation!"

Even the more elegiac speeches couldn't help veering away from the maudlin martyrdom so often evident in artsy award shows from the Tonys to the Oscars. Brenda Didier, a winner for her choreography of BoHo's The LIfe (and a regular presence on the Theatre Building-Bailiwick corridor of Belmont who's known for making non-dancers look good, as Jerry Springer winner Jeremy Rill noted in his own speech), remembered losing her brother to brain cancer this year and her reluctance to rejoin the theater world: "Many of you have helped me, whether it's by going to Joey's or Cooper's or—I drink a lot, sorry."

And that's as it should be at the Non-Equity Jeffs. If there's one thing all of these overworked, underpaid artists deserve, it's a good goddamn party.

A full list of winners follows:

PRODUCTION – PLAY        
The Island of Dr. Moreau – Lifeline Theatre

PRODUCTION – MUSICAL        
Jerry Springer – The Opera – Bailiwick Repertory Theatre
1776 – Signal Ensemble Theatre

ENSEMBLE        
Machos – Teatro Luna

DIRECTOR – PLAY        
Greg Kolack – columbinus – Raven Theatre

DIRECTOR – MUSICAL        
Fred Anzevino  – Cabaret – Theo Ubique Theatre Company i/a/w Beverle Bloch & Michael James

NEW WORK        
Teatro Luna & Coya Paz  – Machos – Teatro Luna

NEW ADAPTATION        
Robert Kauzlaric – The Island of Dr. Moreau – Lifeline Theatre

ACTRESS IN A PRINCIPAL ROLE – MUSICAL        
Elizabeth Lanza – Can-Can – Circle Theatre

ACTRESS IN A PRINCIPAL ROLE – PLAY        
Vanessa Greenway – The Constant Wife – Griffin Theatre Company

ACTOR IN A PRINCIPAL ROLE – MUSICAL        
Jeremy Trager – Cabaret – Theo Ubique Theatre Company i/a/w Beverle Bloch & Michael James

ACTOR IN A PRINCIPAL ROLE – PLAY        
Sam Wootten – Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde – Bohemian Theatre Ensemble

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – MUSICAL        
Danielle Brothers – Cabaret – Theo Ubique Theatre Company i/a/w Beverle Bloch & Michael James

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – PLAY        
Kathleen Ruhl – Dolly West’s Kitchen – TimeLine Theatre Company

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – MUSICAL        
Jeremy Rill – Jerry Springer – The Opera – Bailiwick Repertory Theatre

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE - PLAY        
Hans Fleischmann – In a Dark Dark House – Profiles Theatre
Ron Wells – A Prayer for My Daughter – Mary-Arrchie Theatre Co.

SCENIC DESIGN        
Michael Menendian & Leif Olsen – The Night of the Iguana – Raven Theatre

COSTUME DESIGN        
Elizabeth Shaffer – An Ideal Husband – Circle Theatre

LIGHTING DESIGN        
Kevin D. Gawley – The Island of Dr. Moreau – Lifeline Theatre

SOUND DESIGN        
Stephen Ptacek – Faster – the side project

CHOREOGRAPHY        
Brenda Didier – The Life – Bohemian Theatre Ensemble

ORIGINAL INCIDENTAL MUSIC        
Victoria DeIorio – The Island of Dr. Moreau – Lifeline Theatre
Gregor Mortis & Mikhail Fiksel – A Lie of the Mind – Strawdog Theatre Company
Kevin O'Donnell – The Nutcracker – The House Theatre of Chicago
 
MUSIC DIRECTION        
Joshua Stephen Kartes – Cabaret – Theo Ubique Theatre Company i/a/w Beverle Bloch & Michael James

MASK DESIGN        
Kimberly G. Morris – The Island of Dr. Moreau – Lifeline Theatre