2014/15 Critics’ Awards: The best in Philadelphia theater

Once again, Phindie asked theater writers from Phindie and other local publications to vote on the best theatrical work produced in or near the city in the most recent theater season. The winners are…

BEST OVERALL PRODUCTION

The Rape of Lucrece (Philadelphia Artists Collective & PAC / Wilma Theater)

[runners up]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Theatre Exile)
The Hairy Ape (EgoPo Classic Theatre)
Arcadia (Lantern Theater Company)

[honorable mention]
Caught (InterAct Theatre Company)
Hamlet (Wilma)
The Fair Maid of the West (PAC)
Doubt (Lantern)
Intimate Exchanges (1812 Productions)
Dust (<fidget>)
Jeffrey Dahmer: Guilty But Insane (Brainspunk Theater)

BEST NEW PLAY

Christopher Chen, Caught (InterAct Theatre Company)

[runners up]
Whit MacLaughlin and Ensemble, The Adults (New Paradise Laboratories / FringeArts)
Jen Silverman, The Dangerous House of Pretty Mbane (InterAct)
Annie Wilson, Lovertits (Annie Wilson / Fringe Festival)

[honorable mention]
Jennifer Childs, To the Moon (1812 Productions)
Josh McIlvain, Nicole Burgio, Nick Gillette, Ben Grinberg, and Adam Kerbel, Leaps of Faith and Other Mistakes (Almanac Dance Circus Theatre)
Mary Tuomanen, Hello! Sadness! (Kimmel Center)
Chris Davis, Bortle 8 (Chris Davis)
Pete Pryor and Samantha Bellomo, Arthur and the Tale of the Red Dragon (People’s Light & Theatre Company)
Frank. E. Reilly, Post Haste (Hedgerow Theatre)
Kimber Lee, Brownsville Song (B-Side) (Philadelphia Theatre Company)
Chris Davis, Anna K (Chris Davis / Fringe Festival)

BEST DIRECTOR

Joe Canuso, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Theatre Exile)

[runners up]

Brenna Geffers, The Hairy Ape (EgoPo Classic Theatre)
Matt Pfeiffer, The Whale (Theatre Exile)
Charlotte Northeast, The Fair Maid of the West (PAC)
Kathyrn MacMillan, Arcadia (Lantern)

[honorable mention]
Blanka Zizka, Hamlet (Wilma)
Lane Savadore, Death of a Salesman (EgoPo)
Kathryn MacMillan, Doubt: A Parable (Lantern)
Peter Pryor, Bach At Liepzieg (People’s Light)
Rick Shiomi, Caught (InterAct)
Blanka Zizka, Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Wilma)
Rebecca Wright, The Metamorphosis (Quintessence)
Hunter Foster, National Pastime (Bucks County Playhouse)
Gregory Scott Campbell, Quills (Luna Theater Company)

BEST ACTOR (MALE)

Dan Hodge, The Rape of Lucrece (Philadelphia Artists Collective & PAC / Wilma Theater)

[runnners up]
Pearce Bunting, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Theatre Exile)
Matteo Scammell, The Hairy Ape (EgoPo)
Peter DeLaurier, QED (Lantern)

[honorable mention]
Scott Greer, The Whale (Theatre Exile)
Scott Greer, La Bete (Arden)
Ed Swidey, Death of a Salesman (EgoPo)
Ben Dibble, Doubt: A Parable (Lantern)
John Cherney, Human and Autisman (SoLow Fest)
Josh Hitchens, Jeffrey Dahmer: Guilty But Insane (Brainspunk Theater)
Kyle Branzel, Murder for Two (Philadelphia Theatre Company)

BEST ACTOR (FEMALE)

Zainab Jah, Hamlet (The Wilma Theater)

[runners up]
Catharine Slusar, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Theatre Exile)
Mary Martello, Doubt: A Parable (Lantern)
Krista Apple-Hodge, Rapture, Blister, Burn (Wilma)
Mary Tuomanen, Hello, Sadness! (Kimmel Center)

[honorable mention]
Rebekah Sharp, Speech and Debate (Azuka Theatre)
Jen Childs, Intimate Exchanges (1812 Productions)
Kim Carson, Nora (Delaware Theatre Company)
Emiley Kiser, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Quintessence)
Julianna Zinkel, Under The Skin (Arden)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (male)

Jake Blouch, Unnecessary Farce (Act II Playhouse)

[runners up]
Ed Swidey, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (The Wilma Theater)
Ian Merrill Peakes, La Bete (Arden)

[honorable mention]
Steven Wright, The Hairy Ape (EgoPo)
Lindsay Smiling, Great Expectations (Arden)
Russ Widdall, Death of a Salesman (EgoPo)
Jake Blouch, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Theatre Exile)
Trevor William Fayle, Arcadia (Lantern)
Joe Guzmán. Arcadia (Lantern)
Langston Darby, The Hairy Ape (EgoPo)
Daniel Fredrick, Mickle Street (Walnut Street Theatre)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (female)

Emilie Krause, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Theatre Exile)

[runners up]
Alex Boyle, Arcadia (Lantern)
Claire Mahoney, Doubt: A Parable (Lantern)
Bi Jean Ngo, Caught (InterAct)

[honorable mention]
Sally Mercer, Great Expectations (Arden)
Deidre Madigan, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (Bucks County Playhouse)
Mary Martello, Memphis (Walnut Street)
Michelle Pauls, Living in Exile: A Retelling of the Iliad (Philadelphia Experimental Theatre Ensemble)
Kirsten Quinn, Collected Stories (Isis Productions)

BEST ENSEMBLE

Arcadia (Lantern Theater Company)

[runners up]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Theatre Exile)
Penelope (Inis Nua Theatre Company)
Great Expectations (Arden)

[honorable mention]
Hound of the Baskervilles (Lantern)
The Hairy Ape (EgoPo)
In the Blood (Theatre Horizon)
Rhinoceros (Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium)
The Gathering of the Mother Moth Peoples (Olivia Jorgensen)
Rocky Horror Picture Show (Bucks County Playhouse)
Memphis (Walnut Street)
Bach At Liepzieg (People’s Light)
The Metamorphosis (Quintessence)
Leaps of Faith and Other Mistakes (Almanac)
The Adults (New Paradise Laboratories/ FringeArts)

BEST SET DESIGN

Colin McIlvaine, Red Speedo (Theatre Exile)

[runners up]
Meghan Jones, Penelope (Inis Nua)
Brian Sidney Bembridge, Macbeth (Arden)
Matt Saunders, Hamlet (Wilma)

[honorable mention]
Thaddeus Phillips, The Incredibly Dangerous Astonishing Lucrative and Potentially True Adventures of Barry Seal (Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental / FringeArts)
Dan Soule, Stairs to the Roof (EgoPo)
Meghan Jones, Arcadia (Lantern)
Robert Koharchik, Private Lives (Walnut Street)
David P. Gordon, The Beauty and the Beast (Arden)

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN

Thom Weaver, The Adults (New Paradise Laboratories/FringeArts)

[runners up]
Solomon Weisbard, Macbeth (Arden)
Yi Zhao, Hamlet (Wilma)
Lily Fossner, Bach at Leipzig (People’s Light)

[honorable mention]
Matt Sharp, The Hairy Ape (EgoPo)
Andrew Cowles, Long Live the Little Knife (Inis Nua)
Dennis Parichy, The Cherry Orchard (People’s Light)
Jerold Forsyth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre)
John Allerheiligen, Jeffrey Dahmer: Guilty But Insane (Brainspunk Theater)

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Alison Roberts, The Whale (Theatre Exile)

[runners up]
Janice Stephanowicz, Arcadia (Lantern)
Rosemarie McKelvey, La Bete (Arden)
Marla Jurglanis, Bach at Leipzig (People’s Light)

[honorable mention]
Maggie Baker, Penelope (Inis Nua)
Rosemarie McKelvey, The Adults (NPL/FringeArts)
Sarah Mitchell, Don Quixote (Hedgerow Theatre)
Nicole V. Moody, Rocky Horror Picture Show (Bucks County Playhouse)
Machine Dazzle, I Promised Myself To Live Faster (Pig Iron Theatre Company)
Dennis Parichy, The Cherry Orchard (People’s Light)

BEST SOUND DESIGN

James Sugg, Macbeth (Arden Theatre Company)

[runners up]
Christopher Colucci, Uncanny Valley (InterAct)
Bhob Rainey, The Adults (NPL/FringeArts)

[honorable mention]
Scott Gibbons, The Four Seasons Restaurant (Societas Raffaello Sanzio / FringeArts)
Adam Vidiksis, On the Road for 17527 Miles (14th Street)
Ed Chapman, Rocky Horror Picture Show (Bucks County Playhouse)
Jorge Cousineau, Bach at Leipzig (People’s Light)
Dan Perelstein, Passion (Arden)
David Temby, Memphis (Walnut Street)

—
Each theater writer was asked to submit up to five ranked choices in twelve different categories. Votes were ranked using a points system and tabulated to give winners, runners up, and honorable mentions in each category

Previous years:
2013/14 Awards
2012/13 Awards
2011/12 Awards
2010/11 Awards
2009/10 Awards

Judges: Mark Cofta, City Paper; Henrik Eger, Drama Around the Globe and Phindie; Julius Ferraro, Curate This and Phindie; Jessica Foley, Foley Got Comped and Phindie; Lauren Hartranft, Phindie; Deb Miller, Phindie; Christopher Munden, Phindie; Naomi Orwin, Broad Street Review and Phindie; Kathryn Osenlund, Curtain Up and Phindie; Ninni Saajola, Phindie; Phillip Silverstone, Time Out With Phillip Silverstone, TuneIn radio; Lew J Whittington, EdgeMedia and Phindie; Neal Zoren, Neal’s Paper and Phindie; two vetted Philadelphia theater critics who wished to remain anonymous.