CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Hedy Weiss: "COSTUME DESIGN (LARGE):
Nikki Delhomme, 'La Cage aux Folles' (Theatre at the Center)
Ana Kuzmanic, 'The Comedy of Errors' (Chicago Shakespeare Theater)
Nancy Missimi, 'The Producers' (Marriott Theatre)
Nancy Missimi, 'Les Miserables' (Marriott Theatre)
Tatjana Radisic, 'Meet Me in St. Louis' (Drury Lane Oakbrook)"
4 comments:
Money always has and always will be one of the biggest, most frustrating obstacles for theater. I think it's admirable that annual budget is taken into account for the Jeff Award nominations; it's better to judge a performance while considering its resources. As the article mentioned, it's hard for a theater with an annual budget of $7,000 to make a better impression than one with an annual budget of $25,000.
Unfortunately budget can often put a damper on creative ability and it is interesting that the Jeff Awards are separating two tiers like this. However sometimes the best designs are from lower budgeted shows.
I found this just wierd. I've always been a fan of no restrictions on awards giving equal chance for any little theater to knock out a huge production theater on quality. Yes it's harder for the little theater to do it with small budgets, but it has been done before.
Being from Chicago Theater for the past 10 years and also working the Jeff Equity ceremony for the past two, I have some issues with this article.
First: I disagree with the Jeff Committee decision to break the categories up by theater budget. If you are a talented enough designer with a talented enough production team, then you should be able to compete against any show. I think it should also be the responsibility the committee members to decide how they stack up against each other, and dividing by budget is not a reasonable option. Just because a show has more money for bigger sets, lights, etc. does not mean it is a better production.
Second: At the end of the article, Hedy makes a dig about the awards being held in Skokie. For those of you who don’t know, Skokie is a suburb just north of the city. She is right that it is cost prohibitive to have the awards at the larger theaters in the city. However, many of the productions nominated are also not in the city. As a matter of fact, one of the eligible theaters is in the same building that the ceremony is held in. Maybe she is looking to get some one to donate their space and man power to put up the event. However, aside from the Monday night event, there are one to two days of load in and tech of the show that also needs to take place. So maybe an open rental house is the best option.
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