Stage Directions: The New York Innovative Theatre Awards, honoring the best of Off-Off-Broadway, took place Monday, Sept. 24 at the Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College. Several awards were announced ahead of time, including the the Artistic Achievement Award, won by the 5 Lesbian Brothers; the Ellen Stewart Award which went to the Theatre Development Fund; the Caffé Cino Fellowship Award which went to the Astoria Performing Arts Center; Outstanding Stage Manager, won by Katie Kavett; and the 2012 Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award, which was won by Donnetta Lavinia Grays. The rest of awards were distributed among many different Off-Off-Broadway productions. One category in particular recognized the experimentation and new methods of theatre that take place in these small venues: Outstanding Innovative Design. Troupes and designers were recognized for such designs as “Phone and Text Design” (Gyda Arber & Aaron Baker, for Red Cloud Rising), “Animation and Sculpture” (Maia Cruz Palileo, for Penetrating the Space), “Interactive Technology Design” (Suchan Vodoor, Endure: A Run Woman Show) and others. The winner in that category was Joe Osheroof for his mask design on Homunculus: Reloaded.
1 comment:
It's very cool to see that these smaller productions get greater recognition through this awards presentation. Also, I see this as an effort at community-building, as these small theatres may not even have the exposure to each other (nor do the patrons have an idea of how many theatrical productions are going on around the city). Many of these production companies do not have a dedicated space that they can take over and build a home for themselves - they receive support and potentially a space from Incubator Arts Project or Horse Trade, LaMaMa Experimental, etc, so building the community and collaborating to share patrons and resources could be incredibly useful to presenting their shows and achieving their independent artistic missions.
Heck, they even honor a Stage Manager every year! That's cool.
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