2012 Austin Critics Table Awards

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