A commonly heard complaint about awards programs is that theaters with more financial resources have an unfair advantage over those that are more impoverished. Well, that charge cannot be leveled against South Florida’s Carbonell Awards after Monday night’s results.
Walking off with six Carbonell statues at the 38th annual event that celebrates professional theater in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties was Fort Lauderdale’s scrappy, small and low-budget Island City Stage, whose mission is to produce plays on gay and lesbian subjects.
It won all six of its awards for Dan Clancy’s The Timekeepers, a three-character Holocaust drama, in which a watchmaker and a gay man must bond to survive in a Nazi concentration camp. It received Carbonells for best production of a play, best director (Michael Leeds), best actor (Michael McKeever), best scenic design (Michael McClain), best sound design (David Hart) and best lighting design (Preston Bircher).
In contrast, some wealthier companies that traditionally dominate the awards took a back seat to Island City. Coral Gables’ Gable Stage — which recently raised $700,000 for its co-production of a new adaptation of Antony and Cleopatra — won in no competitive categories. The Maltz Jupiter Theatre recently received a million-dollar gift for its facility expansion and last year won nine Carbonells, victorious in every musical category. Monday night, however, it only had one win, for Denis Jones’s choreography of Thoroughly Modern Millie.
In the informal competition among the counties, Palm Beach has been the big award earner in recent years. Last night, it was Miami-Dade that got the bragging rights with nine Carbonells, then Broward with six — yup, the Island city wins — and Palm Beach could only muster five.
Of those five for Palm Beach, two Boca Raton companies received their first awards in their initial year of eligibility. Slow Burn Theatre Co., another troupe with limited resources, increased its performance totals to become eligible and was rewarded with a best director of a musical win for its co-artistic director Patrick Fitzwater, who staged an edgy production of the bi-polar show, Next to Normal. The Wick Theatre, currently in its first season of operation, pulled in a Carbonell for Lourelene Snedeker, best supporting actress for playing the Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music.
That leaves Palm Beach Dramaworks as the big winner in Palm Beach County with two Carbonells — for Brian O’Keefe’s costumes in The Lion in Winter and for Angie Radosh, for her best supporting performance as the queen in Exit the King. Delray Beach’s Theatre at Arts Garage had nine nominations — largely for a musical revue, The Longing and the Short of It, and the two-character play, Lungs — but failed to earn its frst Carbonell.
Miami-Dade’s nine Carbonells were split between two theaters. Actors Playhouse, which specializes in large-scale musicals, won best production of a musical for In The Heights. It also was recognized for its lead actor, Nick Duckart, and for the musical direction of Emmanuel Schvartzman. Its other two Carbonells were for the backstage satire Ruthless!, with wins for best actress (Amy Miller Brennan) and best supporting actor (Gabriel Zenone).
Zoetic Stage, which produces at Miami’s Arsht Center, copped four Carbonells — two for Christopher Demos-Brown post-war drama Fear Up Harsh (best new work and best actress, Karen Stephen) and the Zach Braff comedy All New People (best ensemble and best supporting actor, Todd Allen Durkin).
The Carbonell Awards ceremony was held at the Broward Center, and covered the productions of 25 companies that opened during the calendar year 2013.
The winners:
Best New Work/Play or Musical: Fear Up Harsh, Christopher Demos Brown, Zoetic Stage
Best Production of a Play: The Timekeepers, Island City Stage
Best Director/Play: Michael Leeds, The Timekeepers, Island City Stage
Best Actor/Play: Michael McKeever, The Timekeepers, Island City Stage
Best Actress/Play: Karen Stephens, Fear Up Harsh, Zoetic Stage
Best Supporting Actor/Play: Todd Allen Durkin, All New People, Zoetic Stage
Best Supporting Actress/Play: Angie Radosh, Exit the King, Palm Beach Dramaworks
Best Production of a Musical: In the Heights, Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre
Best Director/Musical: Patrick Fitzwater, Next to Normal, Slow Burn Theatre Company
Best Actor/Musical: Nick Duckart, In the Heights, Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre
Best Actress/Musical: Amy Miller Brennan, Ruthless!, Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre
Best Supporting Actor/Musical: Gabriel Zenone, Ruthless!, Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre
Best Supporting Actress/Musical: Lourelene Snedeker, The Sound of Music, The Wick Theatre
Best Musical Direction: Emmanuel Schvartzman, In the Heights, Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre
Best Choreography: Denis Jones, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Maltz Jupiter Theatre
Best Scenic Design/Play or Musical: Michael McClain, The Timekeepers, Island City Stage
Best Lighting Design/Play or Musical: Preston Bircher, The Timekeepers, Island City Stage
Best Costume Design/Play or Musical: Brian O’Keefe, The Lion in Winter, Palm Beach Dramaworks
Best Sound Design/Play or Musical: David Hart, The Timekeepers, Island City Stage
Best Ensemble Production/Play or Musical: All New People, Zoetic Stage