Bill T. Jones, Chad Kimball, Patrick Page, Lillias White, and More Honored by San Diego Theatre Critics Circle

The San Diego Theatre Critics Circle has announced the winners of the annual Craig Noel Awards for Theatrical Excellence, honoring the best local stage work of 2008.

The Joe DiPietro/David Bryan musical Memphis, currently playing Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre with an eye on Broadway, took home the award for outstanding new musical, as well as one for lead actor Chad Kimball.

Broadway veteran Patrick Page was honored in the “Featured Performance in a Musical, Male” category for his work in the Old Globe’s Dancing in the Dark, as were Tony Houck (Scrooge in Rouge) and Tonéx (Dreamgirls, The Princess and the Black-Eyed Pea). Lillias White won in the “Featured Performance in a Musical, Female” category for The Princess and the Black-Eyed Pea at San Diego Rep.

Notable awards also include a choreography win for Bill T. Jones’ work in The Seven at La Jolla Playhouse, leading actress Deborah Smyth (The Light in the Piazza), and Cygnet Theatre’s production of August Wilson’s Fences, which won a total of five awards for dramatic production, direction, ensemble, and lead actors Antonio T.J. Johnson and Sylvia M’Lafi Thompson.

For a complete list of winners, visit www.sdcriticscircle.org/2008.htm.