Theater News

Olympia Dukakis to Receive 2014 Elliot Norton Lifetime Achievement Award

Read the complete list of nominees for this year’s Boston theater awards.

Academy Award winner Olympia Dukakis is the 2014 recipient of Boston's Elliot Norton Lifetime Achievement Award.
Academy Award winner Olympia Dukakis is the 2014 recipient of Boston's Elliot Norton Lifetime Achievement Award.
(© David Gordon)

The Boston Theater Critics Association has announced the list of nominees for Boston's 32nd annual Elliot Norton Awards, to be presented on Monday, May 19, at the Wheelock Family Theatre. This year's Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence will go to Paul Daigneault, founder and producing artistic director of SpeakEasy Stage Company. Academy Award winner and stage veteran Olympia Dukakis will receive the 2014 Elliot Norton Lifetime Achievement Award, with special remarks by her cousin and former Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis. The ceremony will also include award tributes for the late Broadway legend Julie Harris and American Repertory Theater founding member Jeremy Geidt.

Read the complete list of 2014 nominees below:

Outstanding Visiting Production
Mies Julie (Baxter Theatre Centre, presented by ArtsEmerson)
Waiting for Godot (Gare St Lazare Players and Dublin Theatre Festival, presented by ArtsEmerson)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (Bristol Old Vic in association with Handspring Puppet Company, presented by ArtsEmerson)

Outstanding Production by a Large Resident Theater
All the Way (American Repertory Theater)
The Heart of Robin Hood (American Repertory Theater)
Venus in Fur (Huntington Theatre Company)

Outstanding Production by a Midsize Theater
Tribes (SpeakEasy Stage Company)
Imagining Madoff (New Repertory Theatre)
The Cherry Orchard (Actors' Shakespeare Project)

Outstanding Production by a Small Theater
Windowmen (Boston Playwrights' Theatre)
How We Got On (Company One)
The Flick (Company One)

Outstanding Production by a Fringe Theater
Punk Rock (Zeitgeist Stage Company)
The Normal Heart (Zeitgeist Stage Company)
The Libertine (Bridge Repertory Theater)

Outstanding Design, Large Theater
The Heart of Robin Hood: Set design by Börkur Jónsson, costumes by Emma Ryott, lighting by Björn Helgason, sound by Jonathan Deans (American Repertory Theater)
Mies Julie: Set and lighting design by Patrick Curtis, original lighting design by Paul Abrams, costumes by Birrie Le Roux, music composed and performed by Daniel and Matthew Pencer (Baxter Theatre Centre, presented by ArtsEmerson)
The Jungle Book: Scenic design by Daniel Ostling, costumes by Mara Blumenfeld, lighting by T.J. Gerckens, sound by Joshua Horvath, Ray Nardelli, and Andre J. Pluess (Huntington Theatre Company)

Outstanding Design, Midsize, Small or Fringe Theater
Windowmen: Scenic design by Anthony R. Phelps, sound and lighting by David Wilson, costumes by Rachel Padula Shufelt (Boston Playwrights' Theatre)
The Flick: Scenic design by Cristina Todesco, lighting by Jen Rock, costumes by Amanda Maciel Antunes, sound by Edward Young, props master Anita Shriver (Company One)
The Whale: Scenic design by Cristina Todesco, costumes by Gail Astrid Buckley, lighting by Jeff Adelberg, sound by David Remedios (SpeakEasy Stage Company)

Outstanding Musical Production by a Large Theater
Once (Broadway in Boston)
The Jungle Book (Huntington Theatre Company)
Witness Uganda (American Repertory Theater)

Outstanding Musical Production by a Midsize, Small or Fringe Company
Thoroughly Modern Millie (Stoneham Theatre)
It's a Horrible Life (Gold Dust Orphans)
Hairspray (Wheelock Family Theatre)

Outstanding Musical Performance by an Actor
Andre De Shields, The Jungle Book (Huntington Theatre Company)
Paul Melendy, It's a Horrible Life (Gold Dust Orphans)
Francis Jue, Miss Saigon (North Shore Music Theatre)

Outstanding Musical Performance by an Actress
Melody Betts, Witness Uganda (American Repertory Theater)
Aimee Doherty, On the Town (Lyric Stage Company of Boston), Hairspray (Wheelock Family Theatre)
Ephie Aardema, Thoroughly Modern Millie (Stoneham Theatre)

Outstanding New Script
Windowmen, by Steven Barkhimer (Boston Playwrights' Theatre)
Absence, by Peter M. Floyd (Boston Playwrights' Theatre)
Breaking the Shakespeare Code, by John Minigan (Vagabond Theatre Company)

Outstanding Director, Large Theater
Gisli Örn Gardarsson, The Heart of Robin Hood (American Repertory Theater)
Mary Zimmerman, The Jungle Book (Huntington Theatre Company)
Yael Farber, Mies Julie (Baxter Theatre Centre, presented by ArtsEmerson)

Outstanding Director, Midsize Theater
M. Bevin O'Gara, Tribes (SpeakEasy Stage Company)
Ilyse Robbins, Thoroughly Modern Millie (Stoneham Theatre)
Melia Bensussen, The Cherry Orchard (Actors' Shakespeare Project)

Outstanding Director, Small or Fringe Theater
Summer L. Williams, How We Got On (Company One)
David J. Miller, Punk Rock and The Normal Heart (Zeitgeist Stage Company)
Shawn LaCount, The Flick (Company One)

Outstanding Actor, Large Theater
Bryan Cranston, All the Way (American Repertory Theater)
Bongile Mantsai, Mies Julie (Baxter Theatre Center, presented by ArtsEmerson)
Denis O'Hare, An Iliad (Homer's Coat, presented by ArtsEmerson)

Outstanding Actress, Large Theater
Hilda Cronje, Mies Julie (Baxter Theatre Center, presented by ArtsEmerson)
Andrea Syglowski, Venus in Fur (Huntington Theatre Company)
Christina Bennett Lind, The Heart of Robin Hood (American Repertory Theater)

Outstanding Actor, Midsize Theater
John Kuntz, The Whale (SpeakEasy Stage Company)
Steven Barkhimer, The Cherry Orchard (Actors' Shakespeare Project)
Jeremiah Kissel, Imagining Madoff (New Repertory Theatre)

Outstanding Actress, Midsize Theater
Erica Spyres, Tribes (SpeakEasy Stage Company)
Georgia Lyman, The Whale (SpeakEasy Stage Company)
Marianna Bassham, The Cherry Orchard (Actors' Shakespeare Project)

Outstanding Actor, Small or Fringe Theater
Phil Gillen, Punk Rock (Zeitgeist Stage Company)
Alex Pollock, This Is Our Youth (Gloucester Stage Company), Windowmen (Boston Playwrights' Theatre), The Flick (Company One)
Victor Shopov, The Normal Heart (Zeitgeist Stage Company)

Outstanding Actress, Small or Fringe Theater
Maureen Adduci, The Normal Heart (Zeitgeist Stage Company)
Brenna Fitzgerald, The Flick (Company One)
Cloteal Horne, How We Got On (Company One)

Outstanding Ensemble, Large Theater
All the Way (American Repertory Theater)
The Heart of Robin Hood (American Repertory Theater)
The Seagull (Huntington Theatre Company)

Outstanding Ensemble, Midsize, Small or Fringe Theater
Punk Rock (Zeitgeist Stage Company)
Windowmen (Boston Playwrights' Theatre)
Hairspray (Wheelock Family Theatre)
Thoroughly Modern Millie (Stoneham Theatre)