Playhouse, Oakland score big in Marquees

The awards chairman said a new voting system worked well.

THE VINDICATOR

AUSTINTOWN — The Youngstown Playhouse’s production of “Harvey” and the Oakland Center for the Arts’ version of “Bat Boy: The Musical” won top honors at the fourth annual Youngstown Area Community Theatre Awards.

The Marquee Awards, as they are called, were given out in a ceremony Saturday evening at the Saxon Club. They honored the best performances of the 2006-07 season at Mahoning Valley theaters.

The winners are chosen by members of the YACTA Board of Governors, nominations committee, Theatre Alliance representatives and local print media via secret ballot. Results are tabulated and verified by an independent accountant.

In the Best Actress category, statues went to Cyndi Weichey for her portrayal of Mrs. Lovett in “Sweeney Todd” at the Youngstown Playhouse, and to Denise Sculli for her role as the demented Annie in “Stephen King’s Misery” at the Oakland Center for the Arts.

For the Lead Actors, winners were David El’Hatton as the revenge-seeking Sweeney Todd in “Sweeney Todd” and Alan McCreary for his sensitive portrayal of Elwood P. Dowd in “Harvey.”

Supporting Actor awards went to Terry Shears as Chumley in “Harvey” and Aaron Franek as Tobias in “Sweeney Todd.” Supporting Actress honors were bestowed upon Lori Broderick for her portrayal of Evaline in “Daddy’s Dyin’ Who’s Got the Will?” at the Oakland and Stephanie Ottey in the role of Martha in the Playhouse production of “The Secret Garden.”

Featured Actress honors went to Sara Klimenko as Rose in “The Secret Garden” with a tie occurring on the Play side with Denise Sculli sharing the award with Erica Stickel for their roles in “Lie, Cheat & Genuflect” at Salem Community Theatre and “Harvey” at the Playhouse, respectively. The Featured Actors were Brian Lee for his role in “Shadowlands” at Trumbull New Theatre and Dave Bedell in the role of The Duke in “Big River” at Salem Community Theatre.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the evening was in the Directing category as the Best Director for a Musical went to Jacqi Loewi for “The Full Monty” at Weathervane Community Playhouse. The Director award on the Play side went to Christopher Fidram for “Stephen King’s Misery.”

Technical

The awards on the technical side went as follows: choreography, Katie Schmid for the Youngstown Playhouse’s “Grease;” follow spot operator, Cheney Morgan for “The Secret Garden;” lighting design, Ellen Licitra for “Sweeney Todd;” scenic design, Jim Lybarger for “Sweeney Todd;” floor crew person, Storm Nevel for “The Secret Garden;” stage manager, Candy DiLullo for “Sweeney Todd;” sound operation, Brooke Slanina for “Bat Boy: The Musical;” sound design, J.E. Ballantyne Jr. for The Victorian Players’ “The Fall of the House of Usher;” and Patricia Petaccio for costumes for “Sweeney Todd.”

The event, hosted by WFMJ-TV 21 personalities Laurie Lehosky and Scott Schneider, began with Cristina Cala singing a number from “Grease,” and Nicole Dionisio performing a song as Sally from the Youngstown Playhouse’s “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.”

Ballantyne, awards chairman, said that the awards committee was pleased with the overall results and noted that this year, in particular, many of the nominees that were expected to win did not. He said that this is a positive thing in some respects, in that it shows that the newly revamped rating system worked properly and that the strongest performances came to the top at voting time.

For a complete list of all the award winners, go to marqueeawards.com.