San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
S.D. CRITICS ANNOUNCE 2022 CRAIG NOEL AWARD WINNERS
After taking a two-year break as the result of the pandemic and its disastrous impact on the arts community, the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle held its 19th Craig Noel Awards ceremony on Monday evening to honor the top achievements at local theaters.
The awards were held before a capacity crowd of nearly 280 people at the S.E.S. Portuguese Hall of San Diego in Point Loma.
The 20 awards were distributed among 10 local theaters, from small Roustabouts Theatre Co. to the Old Globe and La Jolla Playhouse. The one theater that received the most awards was CCAE Theatricals, which earned a combined four for its inaugural season last year at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido.
CCAE'S world premiere musical “Witnesses,” about five teen Jewish diarists who died at Nazi hands during World War II, won the evening's overall prize, Outstanding New Production. CCAE artistic director J. Scott Lapp also won the top musical prize for directing “Witnesses,” and the company won one of two Don Braunagel Awards for Outstanding Achievement at a Small Theater. Actor Nigel Huckle also won a featured acting award for his performance in CCAE'S “The Light in the Piazza.”
The 2022 Actors of the Year awards went to Megan Carmitchel and Berto Fernández. Fernández appeared in five productions last year, including San Diego Musical Theatre's “Catch Me If You Can” and “In the Heights,” Moonlight Stage Productions' “Ragtime” and “Kinky Boots,” and the Old Globe's “Grinch” musical. Carmitchel starred in four shows, including playing Sally Bowles in Cygnet Theatre's “Cabaret,” Cinderella in New Village Arts and Oceanside Theatre's “Into the Woods,” Mary Shelley in Write Out Loud's “Poefest” and an ensemble member in Cygnet's “A
Christmas Carol.”
Kevin “Blax” Burroughs received the Outstanding Specialty Artist prize for his jampacked 2022 résumé. Last year he was lighting designer for eight productions; he was director/choreographer for two musicals; and he played the Lion in Teatro San Diego's “The Wiz” and Bobby in “Memphis” at Moonlight. He also performed his cabaret-style solo show “Black Boy Joy” at Diversionary's Clark Cabaret.
Also, for the first time in Craig Noel Awards history, two members of the same family won awards on the same night. Mother-daughter actresses Rosina Reynolds and Kate Rose Reynolds won the awards for Best Lead Performance and Best Featured Performance, respectively, for their performances together in The Roustabouts Theatre Co.'s play “Iron.”
Here's the full list of 2022 Craig Noel Awards. Photos and more can be found online at facebook.com/ sandiegotheatrecritics circle.
Outstanding New Production: “Witnesses” – CCAE Theatricals
The Don Braunagel Award for Outstanding Work at a Small Theater:
Onstage Playhouse, CCAE Theatricals
2022 Actors of the Year:
Megan Carmitchel, Berto Fernández
Outstanding Specialty Award: Kevin “Blax” Burroughs
Outstanding Direction of a Musical: J. Scott Lapp – “Witnesses,” CCAE Theatricals
Outstanding Direction of a Play: Yari Cervas – “Desert Rock Garden,” New Village Arts
Outstanding Solo Performance: Nathan Nonhof – “Black Séance,” Blindspot Collective/ LJP Without Walls Festival
Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play: Steven Lone – “Water By The Spoonful,” Cygnet Theatre, Rosina Reynolds – “Iron,” The Roustabouts Theatre Co.
Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical:
Beau Brians – “Catch Me If
You Can The Musical,” San Diego Musical Theatre, Sebastian Montenegro – “In The Heights,” San Diego Musical Theatre
Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical:
Nigel Huckle – “Light In The Piazza,” CCAE Theatricals, Amber Iman –“Lempicka,” La Jolla Playhouse
Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play:
Kate Rose Reynolds – “Iron,” The Roustabouts Theatre Co., Nancy Ross – “Sapience,” Moxie Theatre and Tuyo Theatre
Outstanding Costume Design: Linda Cho – “Come Fall in Love - The DDLJ Musical,” The Old Globe
Outstanding Scenic Design: Yi-chien Lee – “The October Night of Johnny Zero,” Backyard Renaissance
Outstanding Lighting Design: Bradley King – “Lempicka,” La Jolla Playhouse
Because many theaters presented reduced schedules in 2022 and several members of the Critics Circle didn't yet feel comfortable returning to reviewing due to Covid-related health concerns, this year's list of nominees and awardees was reduced by nearly one-third. The Critics Circle plans to return to its full complement of awards for its 2023 awards ceremony early next year.
Longtime local actor Jim Chovick mourned
The theater community was in shock last weekend by news of the unexpected passing of Jim Chovick, a beloved actor who performed at most of San Diego's professional theaters over the past 25 years.
Chovick made his San Diego acting debut at Lamb's Players Theatre in 1997 in “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” and would go on to perform in more than 40 productions at the Coronado Theatre. He was also a regular at Cygnet Theatre, Moonlight Stage Productions, San Diego Musical Theatre and Scripps Ranch Theatre. He was adept at comedy, drama and musicals.
Robert Smyth, artistic director of Lamb's Players, said he suspects that Chovick may have appeared in productions at more theaters than any other San Diego actor.
In 2001, Chovick made a memorable La Jolla Playhouse debut in the Thornton Wilder play “Our Town.” On opening night in the play's finale, he was one of several cast members seated in chairs on the stage in the imagined “cemetery” when his chair creaked ominously and then, unexpectedly, collapsed into a heap. Ever the pro, Chovick remained sitting upright, though at an uncomfortably sharp angle, on the collapsed shards of the chair fro the next 15 to 20 minutes of the scene, rather than disturb the quiet solemnity of the play's closing moments.
I remember being at that opening night performance and was amazed by his poise in the moment. I spoke with him about it a few years later and he said people regularly came up to him and asked whether the moment was staged to represent a weathered tombstone collapsing with age. It was entirely unplanned, he said. Thanks to his quick thinking, the play carried on, and more poetically so.
Smyth said Chovick did not want a memorial service, but a celebration of life is planned in late April.
pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com