Veloudos, ART among Elliot Norton honorees
Spiro Veloudos, the American Repertory Theatre, and SpeakEasy Stage Company were all big winners when the 2006 Elliot Norton Awards ceremony was held last night at the Cutler Majestic Theatre.
Veloudos, producing artistic director of the Lyric Stage Company of Boston, won the Norton prize for sustained excellence ``for helping to transform the local theater community with his invigorating work at the Lyric Stage Company of Boston and the Publick Theatre " according to a statement.
Last night Veloudos said ``excellence is not something to take for granted. It takes a lifetime to do your best." He urged those involved in theater to ``seek out that which is not safe or comfortable."
The ART's ``Olly's Prison" was named outstanding production by a large resident company, and two stars were honored for their performances in the production: Bill Camp as outstanding actor and, as outstanding actress, Karen MacDonald , who also won for her performance in the ART's ``No Exit."
SpeakEasy's ``Five by Tenn" also received multiple awards. It was named outstanding production by a midsize resident company, and Scott Edmiston, who directed it, was honored as outstanding director of a small/midsize company. Janie E. Howland picked up the outstanding design award for four shows: ``Five By Tenn," the Lyric's ``Urinetown" and ``Talley's Folly," and ``True West" at the New Repertory Theatre.
Another multiple winner connected with ``Five by Tenn" was Allyn Burrows , a Shakespeare & Company regular, who won the prize for outstanding actor in a midsize company for his role in that show as well as Merrimack Repertory Theatre's ``The Homecoming" and the Actors' Shakespeare Project's ``King Lear."
The 24th Elliot Norton Awards were presented by the Boston Theater Critics Association. The event was MC'd by CBS4 entertainment reporter Joyce Kulhawik, with an appearance by Julie Burns , the new director of the city's Office of Arts, Tourism and Special Events, filling in for the out-of-town Mayor Thomas M. Menino .
Composer/lyricist William Finn was the guest of honor. Finn's Tony Award-winning ``Falsettos," written with James Lapine, played at the Huntington Theatre Company last year.
Finn, a Natick native, brought his high school drama teacher, Gerald Dyer, up to present the sustained excellence award to Veloudos.
``He imbued us with a ridiculous sense of our self worth and taught us how to shape scenes and songs," Finn said of Dyer.
Among other awards, Brian McEleney was named outstanding director at a large company for Trinity Repertory Company's ``Hamlet." Sandra Shipley got the nod as outstanding actress at a midsize company for her role in ``Long Day's Journey Into Night" at Gloucester Stage Company.
Broadway in Boston (whose name has since been changed to Broadway Across America -- Boston) had a good year: ``Monty Python's Spamalot" took the award for outstanding visiting production , and Jefferson Mays won for outstanding solo performance with ``I Am My Own Wife."
The Publick Theatre got the nod for outstanding production by a small resident company for ``Arcadia," and the Alarm Clock Theatre Company won the prize for outstanding production by a local fringe company for ``P.S. Page Me Later."
Overture Productions won the prize for outstanding musical production for ``On the Twentieth Century." Songs from that show, ``Kismet," ``Falsettos," and ``Urinetown" were interspersed throughout the evening. The Boston Conservatory won a special citation ``for training musical theater stars of tomorrow and presenting them in outstanding productions that enchant Boston audiences."
The awards are named for Boston's dean of American drama critics, Elliot Norton, who passed away in May 2003.
