Apple Tree Theatre, a 177-seat auditorium in a second-floor space in Highland Park, led the field in the 29th annual Joseph Jefferson Awards for excellence in professional theater in the Chicago area.
At the awards ceremony Monday night at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, Apple Tree, celebrating its 15th season this year, picked up eight Jeffs, including both best musical (“Assassins”) and best play (“Blade to the Heat”) awards.
Under a new system, instituted last year, which allows for multiple winners in each category, best play awards also went to Shakespeare Repertory Theater for its “Hamlet” and Famous Door Theatre Co. for its “The Living.” (Sadly, Famous Door is now homeless, having lost its lease at the Jane Addams Hull House.)
A total of 53 awards were handed out to theaters that have contracts with the Actors Equity union. The 40-member Jeff committee judged 107 productions by 47 producing organizations for the period Aug. 1, 1996, through July 31, 1997.
Goodman Theatre, largest of all eligible theaters, took home seven awards, followed by Shakespeare Rep with five, and Drury Lane, Marriott’s Lincolnshire Theatre, Steppenwolf and Second City, which won best revue for its “Paradigm Lost,” with four each.
Here are the other Jeff winners:
Director, play: Calvin MacLean, “The Living.”
Director, musical: Gary Griffin, “Assassins.”
Director, revue: Mick Napier, “Paradigm Lost.”
Actress in a principal role: Laila Robins, “A Streetcar Named Desire,” Steppenwolf.
Actor in a principal role, play: Tim Decker, “Toys in the Attic,” American Blues Theatre and Jeffrey E. McCourt; Harry J. Lennix, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” Goodman; Mike Nussbaum, “Racing Demon,” Organic Touchstone Company; Chris O’Neill, “Frankly Brendan,” Turnaround Productions with Nolan Harins.
Actor in a principal role, musical: Tom Mula, “Hot Mikado,” Drury Lane.
Actress in a principal role, musical: Pamela Harden, “Phantom,” Drury Lane; Alene Robertson, “Kismet,” Marriott’s.
Actor in a revue: Scott Adsit, “Paradigm Lost.”
Actress in a revue: Rachel Dratch, “Paradigm Lost.”
Actor in a supporting role, play: Rick Boynton, “A Flea in Her Ear,” Drury Lane Oakbrook Terrace; Stef Tovar, “Blade to the Heat”; Greg Vinkler, “Hamlet.”
Actress in a supporting role, play: Greta Oglesby, “Do Lord Remember Me,” Chicago Theatre Company.
Actor in a supporting role, musical: Kevin Earley, “Assassins”; James FitzGerald, two awards, for “Assassins” and “Kismet”; David Girolmo, “Phantom.”
Actress in a supporting role, musical: Susan Moniz, “Kismet.”
Actor in a cameo role, play: Thomas Carroll, “Light Up the Sky,” Goodman.
Actress in a cameo role, play: Beatrice Winde, “The Young Man from Atlanta,” Goodman.
New work: Keith Reddin’s “All the Rage,” Goodman.
New adaptation: Mary Zimmerman’s “Mirror of the Invisible World,” Goodman.
Ensemble: “Do Lord Remember Me”; “Time to Burn,” Steppenwolf.
Choreography: Marc Robin, “Hot Mikado.”
Original music: Andy Jones, “Blade to the Heat.”
Musical direction: Thomas Murray, “Assassins”; Jimmy Tilllman, “The Otis Redding Story,” The Black Ensemble Theater.
Scenic design: John Stark, “The Living.”
Costume design: Nancy Missimi, “Kismet”; Kaye Voyce, “Tartuffe,” Court Theatre.
Lighting design: Pat Collins, “All the Rage”; Anne Militello, two awards, for “Hamlet” and “Timon of Athens” at Shakespeare Repertory; Kevin Rigdon, “A Streetcar Named Desire”; Scott Zielinski, “Time to Burn.”
Sound design: Michael Bodeen and Rob Milburn, “All the Rage”; Matt Kozlowski and John Ridenour, “Hamlet,” Powertap Productions and Rivendell Theatre Ensemble; Robert Neuhaus, “Timon of Athens.”
