Theater professionals take their bows at the Iveys
Tonight's the night when actors. directors and other theater professionals all get to dress up and put on a show... for themselves. I'm not talking about the Tony Awards; I'm talking about the Ivey Awards.
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Actress Regina Williams in a dress made of scripts, a promotional image for this year's Ivey Awards.
Photo: William Clark
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The Ivey Awards recognize talent in Twin Cities theater, as well as stand-out productions from the past year. Tonight, the awards went to:
Bain Boehlke, Artistic Director of the Jungle Theater, in the category of Lifetime Achievement.
FYI, Boehlke was also the recipient of the McKnight Distinguished Artist award a few years ago, and I did a pretty thorough interview with him about his career.
Anna Sundberg, actress, in the category of Emerging Artist.
Sundberg was recently listed in Minnesota Monthly under "Artists We Love." Equally at home in drama and comedy, in the past year you might have seen her in Street Scene, Holocaust Witness: The Legacy of Anne Frank (directed by Bain Boehlke), or Sexy Librarian: File Under Rock Musical.
In addition, the following were awarded for there excellent work in a particular performance:
Craig Johnson, Director, Street Scene (Girl Friday Productions)
Peter Christian Hansen, Acting, Burn This (Gremlin Theatre)
Dennis Spears, Acting, I Wish You Love (Penumbra Theatre Company)
Ben Bakken, Acting, Jesus Christ Superstar (Chanhassen Dinner Theatres)
Gary Rue, Music, Buddy-The Buddy Holly Story (History Theatre)
David Bolger, Choreographer, H.M.S. Pinafore (Guthrie Theater)
Finally, two productions were cited for their exceptional nature: Doubt, staged by Ten Thousand Things and The 7-Shot Symphony , staged by Live Action Set.
Ivey Awards are given out based on evaluations completed by the general public and more than 150 volunteer theater evaluators who saw more than 1,000 performances in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area from September 2010 through August 2011.
Congratulations to the winners!