2012 Austin Critics Table Awards
Giving lots of sweet bouquets (and taking their sweet time doing it)
By Robert Faires, Fri., June 8, 2012
The idea that you get slower as you get older seemed in full force as the Austin Critics Table marked its 20th year of presenting annual awards for outstanding achievements in the arts on Monday, June 4. The ceremony at Cap City Comedy Club crept along like a senior citizen in the passing lane, taking more than three hours to hand out honors in 47 categories and welcome five new members into the Austin Arts Hall of Fame; all this despite the best efforts of the arts writers at the mic and house band the Invincible Czars to move things along – and even the introduction of a drinking game to keep spirits high.
Still, the crowd sat patiently through it all, and the winners' acceptance speeches were alternately funny and touching. Taking top honors this year was the Austin Shakespeare production of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia, winning four awards. The UT Department of Theatre & Dance's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Hyde Park Theatre's The Aliens, Zach Theatre's Hairspray, and Sharon Marroquin's dance work The Materiality of Impermanence were all recognized with three honors each. Overall, 61 productions, exhibits, works, and artists were recognized.
Critics participating in this year's awards – covering the period from May 1, 2011, to April 30, 2012 – were the Austin American-Statesman's Michael Barnes (arts), Cate Blouke (theatre), Claire Canavan (theatre), Luke Quinton (classical music/visual arts), Claire Spera (dance), and Jeanne Claire van Ryzin (arts), and the Chronicle's Elizabeth Cobbe (theatre), Jonelle Seitz (dance), Jillian Owens (theatre), and Robert Faires (arts).
THEATRE
Production, Drama
Arcadia, Austin Shakespeare
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, UT Department of Theatre & Dance
Production, Comedy
The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler, Mary Moody Northen Theatre
Production, Musical
Oklahoma!, Texas State University Dept. of Theatre and Dance
Theatrical Event
Bottled-in-Bond: The Decline and Fall of a Thug as Told in Five Drinks, Fusebox Festival: Digestible Feats
Direction
Daria Davis, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Ken Webster, The Aliens
Acting in a Leading Role
Liz Beckham, Arcadia
Jude Hickey, The Aliens
Eugene Lee, The Book of Grace/God of Carnage
Sam Mercer, Housebreaking
Nikki Zook, The Children's Hour
Acting in a Supporting Role
Shelby Davenport, Arcadia
Jarrett King, The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler
Kelli Schultz, Next to Normal
Janis Stinson, Hairspray
Ensemble Performance
69 Love Scenes, Gnap! Theatre Productions
Jubilee, Rubber Repertory
David Mark Cohen New Play Award
River City, Diana Grisanti
Music Direction
Greg Bolin, Oklahoma!/Hair, Texas State University Dept. of Theatre and Dance
Movement
Amanda Mayi Moss & Sadé Jones, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf
Touring Show, Theatre
Poste Restante, The Secret Agents, Trouble Puppet Theatre Company
DANCE
Dance Concert
The Materiality of Impermanence, Sharon Marroquin
Short Work
"Poet's Love," Ready|Set|Go!
Choreographer
Tapestry Dance Company with Acia Gray, April Fools/Of Mice and Music: A Jazz Nutcracker
Dancer
Sharon Marroquin, The Materiality of Impermanence
Alvin Rangel, "Tango Vesre"
Michelle Thompson, "things that keep me from myself"
Ensemble
Ballet Austin II, Hansel and Gretel
Touring Show, Dance
Max, Batsheva Dance Company, Texas Performing Arts
DESIGN
Scenic Design
Ia Ensterä, Uncle Vanya/Down the Drain/Ghosts/The Schooling of Bento Bonchev/The 21 Would-Be Lives of Phineas Hamm/Messenger No. 4/The Aliens/The Materiality of Impermanence
Costume Design
Yao Chen, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Lighting Design
Jason Amato, Devotion/Hairspray/Sarah Silver Hands/Next to Normal/Arcadia
Sound Design
K. Eliot Haynes, Riddley Walker
Video Design
Jeff Kurihara, "Broken Pieces"/"Just for the Night" (New York Stories)
CLASSICAL MUSIC
Symphonic Performance
Dvorak: Cello Concerto in B Minor, Austin Symphony with Bion Tsang
Chamber Performance
Cage: Musicircus, Steve Parker, et al., Blanton Museum of Art
Choral Performance
Samuel Barber: American Romantic, Conspirare
Opera
Turandot, Austin Lyric Opera
Singer
Elizabeth Caballero, Turandot
David Farwig, Samuel Barber: American Romantic
Original Composition/Score
"For So Long It's Not True," Steven Snowden
"Musa," Ian Dicke
Instrumentalist
Daniel Ching, violin, Puts: Credo
Ensemble
New Music Co-op
VISUAL ART
Museum Exhibition
"Art on the Green," AMOA-Arthouse, curator: Andrea Mellard
Solo Gallery Exhibition
"Dust Spreads Contempt: Colby Bird," Lora Reynolds Gallery
Group Gallery Exhibition
"Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow," Mexican American Cultural Center, curators: Los Outsiders
Work of Art: Independent or Public Project
Last New Year, Ink Tank Lab
Work of Art: One of a Kind
Loop, "Art on the Green," Legge Lewis Legge
Work of Art: Installation
"seeing times are not hidden," Line Upon Line/Norma Yancey and Emily Little, Architecture in Music/Music in Architecture
Artist
Miguel Aragon
Laurie Frick
Touring Show, Art
"El Anatsui: When Last I Wrote to You About Africa," Blanton Museum of Art
Special Citation
John Bustin Award for Conspicuous Versatility
Kim Adams
W.H. "Deacon" Crain Award for Outstanding Student Work
Tim Heller, Texas State University; Liz Kimball, UT Department of Theatre & Dance; Tyler Mount, St. Edward's University
Mt. Everest Award
The Laramie Project, Parts I and II, Zach Theatre
A Bit of the Old Ultra-Violence Award
Andrew Rodgers, for the fight choreography in Last Act Theatre Company's Titus Andronicus
Monumental Tease Award
Willa Kaye Warren, for the wigs in Zach Theatre's Hairspray
Sorcery by Silhouette Award
Larry Reed and Caryl Kientz of ShadowLight Productions, for the shadow puppetry in Ballet Austin's The Magic Flute
Classical Revolution Award
Rappahannock County, Texas Performing Arts
'This Is Your Operator Speaking' Award
Bridget Quinn, The Pay Phone Revival Project
