Oakbrook Terrace's Drury Lane earns 8 Jeff Awards during virtual ceremony
In the wake of a season cut short by COVID-19, the faithful celebrated excellence in Chicago area equity theater Monday during the 52nd annual Joseph Jefferson Awards ceremony held virtually without acceptance speeches and with videotaped clips from nominated productions substituting for live performances.
Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook Terrace dominated with eight awards, five for its stellar regional premiere of "An American in Paris." The production earned awards for best large musical, lead performer Josh Drake (as an American G.I. turned aspiring artist), supporting performer Skyler Adams (as composer Adam Hochberg), choreographer Lynne Kurdziel-Formato and projection designer Kevan Loney.
Drury Lane's revival of "The Color Purple" earned awards for director Lili-Anne Brown - who won in the mid-size musical category the last two years - principal performer Eben K. Logan (as Celie) and supporting performer Nicole Michelle Haskins (as the defiant Sofia).
In videotaped remarks, many presenters offered works of encouragement for fellow sidelined artists. Others acknowledged the anger, frustration and grief that civil unrest, economic collapse and a global pandemic have wrought. And some urged their colleagues to use this intermission to establish more equitable hiring practices onstage and off.
Jeff Award-winner Michelle Lauto hosted the ceremony which began with a cheery, sitcom-inspired opening. But the satire became more pointed later when Lauto took on sexism and harassment in a number about a woman auditioning for an all-male production team.
Court Theatre's revival of August Wilson's "King Hedley II" was named best large play and earned a principal performer award for Kelvin Roston Jr. Windy City Playhouse's revival of "The Boys in the Band" received awards for mid-size production, director Carl Menninger and ensemble which it shared with Steep Theatre Company's "The Leopard Play, or Sad Songs for Lost Boys."
Designer Theresa Ham received her first equity Jeff for her "Beauty and the Beast" costumes for Aurora's Paramount Theatre production.
Steppenwolf Theatre ensemble member Carrie Coon earned a lead performer Jeff for her alternately vulnerable and ferocious turn as a grieving woman seduced into a shared psychosis in "Bug." The production also earned Takeshi Kata an award for large set design, and Heather Gilbert the award for lighting design. The South African a cappella group Ladysmith Black Mambazo was recognized for the mellifluous melodies composed for Steppenwolf's play-with-music "Lindiwe."
Three plays - Lee Edward Colston II's "The First Deep Breath" at Victory Gardens Theater. Levi Holloway's "Grey House" at A Red Orchid Theatre and Loy A. Webb's "His Shadow: A Parable" at 16th Street Theater - shared the award for new work.
The 90-minute ceremony marked a hail and farewell for Chicago's Mercury Theater. which closed last summer after nine years as a result of the shutdown. The company received the award for mid-size musical production for "Monty Python's Spamalot," which also earned executive director L. Walter Stearns the award for direction of a mid-size musical.
The equity season typically runs August 1 through July 31. However, the season concluded on March 13 when theaters shut down in response to the pandemic. As a result, a total of 62 equity productions were eligible for award consideration for 2020.