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The Theater Critics Forum Awards Announced


by Jerome Weeks 10 Sep 2012 9:09 AM

Eleven North Texas critics got together Saturday and thrashed out their annual Dallas Fort Worth Theater Critics Forum Awards. We give a quick analysis.

CTA TBD

Almost the only thing the critics found worth celebrating the past season at the Dallas Theater Center was Beowulf Borrit’s set design for The Tempest

Saturday, the Dallas Fort Worth Theater Critics Forum voted on its annual awards. You can find Mark Lowry’s report here and Lawson Taitte’s here.

Quick take: Theatre Three had an excellent season, figuring more prominently in these selections than it has in years, with direction awards for Superior Donuts (Bruce Coleman), The Farnsworth Invention (Jeffrey Schmidt) and Avenue Q (Michael Serrecchia) — no other company had as many, although independent director Rene Moreno himself matched that total for shows with three different theater companies.  T3 also received two ensemble awards for the casts of Farnsworth and Avenue Q (which also won a design award for Michael Robinson’s puppets).

Other notable productions, according to the 11 critics, included Lyric Stage’s Oklahoma! (director, actor, actress, ensemble and choreography) and Contemporary Theatre’s The Night of the Iguana (director, two actors), the Undermain’s The Birthday Party (director, ensemble) and Water Tower Theatre’s August: Osage County (strangely enough receiving notice its direction and both an individual actor, plus the entire  ensemble). Fort Worth theaters didn’t shine as brightly — with Stage West, Jubilee Theatre and Trinity Shakespeare Festival picking up only one acting award each.

But even more notable, perhaps, was the near shut-out of the Dallas Theater Center, which received only one design award (for Beowulf Borrit’s set for The Tempest) and one performance prize (Sally Nystuen Vahle for God of Carnage).  As for new works, Nouveau Theatre 47 was given a special citation for its commitment to premiering original work.

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