The 2009 Spokies

Every year when I hand out our annual Spokie awards, I suddenly become very popular in the local theater community.

And theater folks have had a tough year: The season saw CenterStage and Actors Rep collapse right around the start of the recession — a triple whammy of theatrical ruination. Yet our local theaters continued to operate at high levels.

Ironically, because of their night-after-night audition/rehearsal/performance schedules (not to mention their day jobs), actors and techies are among the people least likely to have seen other theaters’ shows. So here’s some of what you missed, folks, from a guy whose job includes seeing as much of it as possible.

Revisiting the past season is a pleasure, because we are blessed with more talent than any edge-of-the-Palouse burg has a right to have.

And here’s the evidence.

(A full list of nominees is available here.)

Outstanding Choreography
Tralen Doler for La Cage aux Folles,
Coeur d’Alene Summer Theater
The gender-bended chorus line exploded
cannonball splits all over the stage.

Outstanding Lighting Design
Joel Williamson for Les Misérables, CdA Summer Theater
From the brilliance of the barricades to a darkened jail cell

Outstanding Set Design for a Musical
Michael McGiveney for Les Misérables, CdA Summer Theater
Detailed set dressing on the turntable within a generalized, versatile framework

Outstanding Set Design for a Play
David Baker for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Spokane Civic Theater
Sterile institutional menace

Outstanding Costume Design
Judith McGiveney for Les Misérables, CdA Summer Theater (pictured)
From ragamuffins to commanders, three dozen characterizations all sewn up

Featured Actor in a Musical
Cameron Lewis as Billy Trainor in No, No, Nanette, Civic
The wily lawyer combined smooth Astaire dancing with nervous double-takes.

Featured Actor in a Play
Damon Abdallah as Pozzo in Waiting for Godot, Spokane Interplayers Ensemble
Commanding because he’s vulnerable, absurd because he’s miserable

Featured Actress in a Musical
Darcy Wright as Eponine in Les Misérables, CdA Summer Theater
For the power of “On My Own” alone: yet another picture of unrequited love

Featured Actress in a Play
Karen Kalensky as Audrey in Together Again for the First Time, Interplayers
She smacked her adult son on the head, but her affection for him was clear.

Leading Actress in a Musical
Krystle Armstrong as Cosette in Les Misérables, CdA Summer Theater
Protecting her father, loving Marius, shining in all of it

Leading Actor in a Play
George Green as Randall P. McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Civic
The quick-thinking, life-loving terrier nipped at their heels until they carved out a chunk of his brain.

Leading Actor in a Musical
Jerry Christakos as Albin/“Zaza” in La Cage aux Folles, CdA Summer Theater
The theatrics of a drag queen combined with the selflessness of a great parent

Leading Actress in a Play
Ellen Crawford as Emily Dickinson in The Belle of Amherst, Interplayers
Cordial loneliness, reticent passion: wide emotional range

Outstanding Direction of a Play
Yvonne A.K. Johnson for Never Swim Alone, Civic’s Studio
A prowling, threatening macho standoff in a confined space

Outstanding Direction of a Musical
Kirk Mouser for Les Misérables, CdA Summer Theater
Keeping the focus whether on the barricades or in an embrace

Best Ensemble
Les Misérables, CdA Summer Theater
Uniformly high talent and multiple role-playing in a complex show

Best Touring Musical
Phantom of the Opera
You want lavish, forbidden, unrequited love? They had buckets of it.

Best Comedy
Together Again for the First Time
Among the dysfuncts, fraternal devotion ... with jokes

Best Drama
Never Swim Alone
Suits and ties conceal gangbangers: Just to ascend the pecking order, they’d kill ya.

Best Local Musical
Les Misérables
Is there a better example of perseverance in pursuit of justice, set to soaring melodies?