L.A. Ovation Award Nominees Announced

Jon Robin Baitz, James Barbour, Veanne Cox, Brian Kerwin, Dakin Matthews, Anika Noni Rose, Cathy Rigby, Jeremy Sisto, Julia Sweeney, and George C. Wolfe are among the nominees for the 2005 L.A. Stage Alliance Ovation Awards, honoring the best in Los Angeles-area theater. The awards will be presented at the Orpheum Theater on Monday, November 14.

Caroline, or Change proved highly popular with the Ovation committee, earning nominations as Best Musical (Large Theater), as well as for Cox, Rose, and Paula Newsome as Best Featured Actress in a Musical and for Wolfe as Best Director. Other shows with multiple nominations include Killer Joe, Ragtime, Pera Palas, Songs for a New World, and Yellowman.

Baitz and Matthews were nominated for World Premiere Play for their respective works The Paris Letter and The Prince of L.A. Barbour was nominated for Best Actor in a Musical for The Ghost and Mrs. Muir; his competition includes Jim Brochu and Steve Schachlin, the co-stars and writers of The Big Voice: God or Merman?. Kerwin gained a nom as Best Actor in a Play for The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? Other nominees in that category include Hector Elizondo for Wrong Turn at Lungfish and Robert Mandan for The Caretaker.

Rigby’s turn in Peter Pan earned her a nomination as Best Actress in a Musical along with six other women, including Bets Malone (Guys and Dolls) and Lynne Wintersteller (The Ghost and Mrs. Muir). Sisto, best known for his work on Six Feet Under, was nominated for Best Featured Actor in a Play for Take Me Out; his competition includes Broadway veteran Anthony Chisholm for Radio Golf. Sweeney gained a nomination for Best Solo Performance for the just-extended Letting Go of God. Also nominated in that category is Leslie Jordan for Like a Dog on Linoleum.

Among the nominees in the technical categories are Tony-winning costume designer Catherine Zuber (School for Scandal) and Tony-winning lighting designers Christopher Akerlind (Dry Cleaning) and Jules Fisher & Peggy Eisenhauer (Caroline or Change).

Two Board of Governor Awards will also be presented this year; the Community Outreach Award will be given to the Shakespeare Festival/L.A., while the James A. Doolitle Award for Leadership in the Theater will be given to Luis Alfaro. For a complete list of nominees, go to www.lastagealliance.com.