Theater News

LA STAGE Alliance Admits to Errors in Ovation Award Nominations

Rene Millan and Stephanie Beatriz in <i>American Night: The Ballad of Juan Jose</i>
Rene Millan and Stephanie Beatriz in American Night: The Ballad of Juan Jose
(© Craig Schwartz)

The LA STAGE Alliance, which administers the Ovation Awards honoring the best in Los Angeles-area theater, has revised its 2012 nominations, after the discovery that several nominees are not, in fact, eligible per the Ovation Awards Rules.

The artists in question will remain nominees, but will not be eligible to receive the awards in their respective categories. These include the late costume designer Alvin Colt, whose designs for Forbidden Broadway: Greatest Hits, Part Two were created for a previous production several years past, as well as those involved with American Night: The Ballad of Juan Jose, which was previously produced with almost the same production team at Oregon Shakespeare, thereby making the work by designers ESosa (costumes), David Weiner (lighting), and Darron West (sound) ineligible. The video designer for that production, Shawn Sagady, will also no longer receive the Ovation Honors in Video Design that was previously announced, but will instead receive a Certificate of Achievement from the Ovation Awards and will be treated as a nominee.

An official press statement reads, “LA STAGE Alliance and the Ovation Awards wish to specifically acknowledge the excellent work of Mr. Colt, ESosa, Mr. Weiner, Mr. West and Mr. Sagady. Although their work on these productions is not eligible to win an Ovation Award, their status as nominees reflects the high quality of their work, which deserves to be lauded by the Los Angeles theater community.”

Additionally, the adjustments to nominees eligible to win awards has resulted in the addition of the following nominees: Kim DeShazo, Southern Comforts (Costume Design, Large Theatre); Christopher Acebo, Waiting for Godot (Costume Design, Large Theatre); Brian Gale, A Wrinkle in Time (Lighting Design, Large Theatre); and Jon Gottlieb, Radiance: The Passion of Marie Curie (Sound Design, Large Theatre). In addition, the Ovation Honors for Video Design will now be awarded to Brian Gale for Waiting for Godot.

For more information, including a complete, revised nominee list, visit LASTAGEOvations.com.