2012 Craig Noel Award Nominees Announced

More than 110 local and national theatre artists representing more than 45 San Diego, California theatrical productions will compete for the 2012 Craig Noel Awards, the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle announced December 21.

The awards ceremony will be held February 4 in La Jolla, California.

Outstanding Sound Design nominations went to Kevin Anthenill, for Moxie Theatre's The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek; Mark Bennett for An Iliad at La Jolla Playhouse; Melanie Chen at ion theatre for Blasted; Lindsay Jones for The Recommendation at The Old Globe; and to Shahrokh Yadegari for Blood and Gifts at La Jolla Playhouse.

In the category of Outstanding Lighting Design, nominations went to Howell Binkley for Allegiance at The Old Globe; Alan Burrett, As You Like It, The Old Globe; David Lander, A Room With a View, The Old Globe; Jean-Yves Tessier, Fiddler on the Roof, Moonlight Stage Productions; and Scott Zielinski, An Iliad, La Jolla Playhouse.

Robert Brill was nominated for his work in Outstanding Scenic Design on Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots at La Jolla Playhouse, as were Wilson Chin for Anna Christie at The Old Globe; Jennifer Brawn for Gittings, Hickorydickory, Moxie Theatre; Todd Rosenthal, Glengarry Glen Ross, La Jolla Playhouse; and Bruce Wilde, The Sugar Witch, OnStage Playhouse.

Nominations for Outstanding Costume Design included Deirdre Clancy for Inherit the Wind at The Old Globe; Mary Larson, Zoot Suit, San Diego Repertory Theatre; Shirley Pierson, Pippin, Diversionary Theatre; Jeanne Reith, Joe vs. the Volcano, Lamb's Players Theatre; and Deborah Roberts, White Christmas, San Diego Musical Theatre.

Outstanding Projection Design nominations went to Darrel Maloney, Allegiance, The Old Globe; Michael McKeon, Joe vs. the Volcano, Lamb's Players Theatre; Shawn Sagady, American Night: The Ballad of Juan Jose, La Jolla Playhouse; and Ian Wallace, Tortilla Curtain, San Diego Repertory Theatre.

Both Allegiance and Moxie Theatre's revival of Lorraine Hansberry's, A Raisin in the Sun led the nominations with six each. Cygnet Theatre's production of the musical Parade and The Old Globe's production of the musical The Scottsboro Boys each received five nominations.

Productions with four nominations included The Old Globe's musical Nobody Loves You; Moonlight Stage Productions' Sweeney Todd; The Old Globe's Summer Shakespeare Festival revival of Inherit the Wind; and two productions from ion theatre: Topdog/Underdog and The Little Flower of East Orange.

Competing for the outstanding resident musical award will be The Scottsboro Boys, Parade, and Moonlight's Fiddler on the Roof. Competing for outstanding new musical will be Allegiance, the Broadway-bound La Jolla Playhouse production of Hands on a Hardbody, Nobody Loves You, Diversionary Theatre's world premiere production of Harmony, Kansas, and La Jolla Playhouse's adaptation of the Flaming Lips' Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. Competing for the outstanding dramatic production award will be A Raisin in the Sun, Inherit the Wind, Topdog/Underdog, and two La Jolla Playhouse offerings: Blood and Gifts and An Iliad.

In the musical acting categories, the nominees for outstanding female leading performance in a musical are Sandy Campbell (Parade), Bets Malone (Sweeney Todd), along with Natalie Storrs for the Welk Resorts Theatre's production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Hilary Maiberger for Moonlight's Little Women: The Musical. The nominees for outstanding male lead in a musical are Hunter Foster (Hands on a Hardbody), and Robert Townsend (Sweeney Todd), along with Sean Murray (Man of La Mancha, produced by Cygnet Theatre), Nicholas Mongiardo-Cooper (Words By ... produced by North Coast Repertory Theatre), and Shaun Tuazon (Deconstruction of a Drag Queen, produced by Circle Circle dot dot Theatre).

The award ceremony will take place from 6pm to 10pm Monday, February 4, at the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, 700 Prospect Drive, La Jolla. Admission to the ceremony is free. Reservations and details can be found at the URL below.