Drama Prom - 2010

Some shots from Helen Hayes 2010 - the best thing to happen from which was Eleasha Gamble FINALLY winning an award.

2010 Helen Hayes Award Nominations

I have been nominated, along with my fellow cast mates for a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Ensemble in a Musical for The Civil War at Ford's Theatre. Here are some of the other nominations garnered from show that I have been blessed enough to be in:

THE CIVIL WAR
Outstanding Director, Resident Musical
Jeff Calhoun, The Civil War, Ford's Theatre
Outstanding Musical Direction, Resident Production
Jay Crowder, The Civil War, Ford's Theatre
Outstanding Supporting Actress, Resident Musical
Eleasha Gamble, The Civil War, Ford's Theatre
Kellee Knighten, The Civil War, Ford's Theatre
Outstanding Resident Musical
The Civil War, Ford's Theatre
The Canadian Embassy Award for Outstanding Ensemble, Resident Musical
The Civil War, Ford’s Theatre






ADDING MACHINE: A MUSICAL
Outstanding Lead Actor, Resident Musical
David Benoit, Adding Machine: A Musical, The Studio Theatre
Outstanding Musical Direction, Resident Production
Christopher Youstra, Adding Machine: A Musical, The Studio Theatre
Outstanding Resident Musical
Adding Machine: A Musical, The Studio Theatre
Congrats to all, and I am so proud of all of my fellow cast mates from both of these incredible shows!
For a full list of nominees, click HERE.

SIGNATURE THEATRE DOMINATES 2009 HELEN HAYES AWARD NOMINATIONS WITH 39 NOMINATIONS!

A full list of nominees HERE.

The Washington Post's article HERE.

Further DC Theatre Scene Coverage HERE.

Les Miserables alone garnered 13 nominations!
Get your tickets while you still can for the final two weeks! Les Miserables MUST CLOSE on February 22nd! GET TICKETS HERE!

Helen Hayes Awards 2008

Congrats to all of my friends who received the award tonight! Congrats to Eric for Best Direction in Meet John Doe. Jon Kalbfleisch for Merrily We Roll Along. Heidi Blickenstaff for Meet John Doe, Marc Kudisch for Witches of Eastwick, Nancy Robinette and J. Fred Shiffman for Souvenir, Matt Gardiner for everything he won (I've lost track)!
And for everyone who was nominated as well. Congratulations all around, and in the immortal words of Tory Ross: "Well Done!"
Here are some photos of the mayhem...

Congrats!

I want to say a warm and happy congratulations to fellow cast mates from Assassins, Will Gartshore, Donna Migliaccio, and Andy Brownstein, who all won Helen Hayes Awards for their excellent work in Assassins at Signature Theatre. I would also like to congratulate Joe Calarco, who won for Best Direction for Assassins. This show's bold and in your face concept was so fresh and exciting, I am so happy that he was recognized for his work.
Last night was a fun night as always, but I am a little bummed that I forgot my camera. :(
Congrats to all of you.
:)

See you there...

(Matt Conner and J. Fred Shiffman walking to last years awards)
Well, I probably won't get to post again till after the HH Awards tomorrow night. Scratch that, till Tuesday.
So I will either see you there, or talk to you later!

On Tidy Endings...

There are a few things that you as the reader need to know about me.
I know that some people are upset about the Helen Hayes nominations. I am sorry to be one of them. I have been vocal in this, however...I have not come out against anyone's shows or performance nominations. I have never damned anyone on this or any other site for being nominated.
I believe in these awards, and feel sad when things are blatantly overlooked.
That is not to say that I think that other things should be bumped out and other shows bumped in. Get me? I'm saying "in addition to".
I started this blog out of boredom as an artist when I wasn't working...look to my archives to the right. This is my personal website which I try not to be deconstructive on, but try to encourage and engage creativity...even through my own writing and photography.
That being said, there have been some changes made.
I have excluded comments, because so many anonymous commentors come onto my site, don't know the connotation of what I'm talking about and leave comments that make no sense.
Several people viewed my anger over Nevermore as if I was in it, saying things like "your day will come little buddy" .
I was not speaking about actor nominations. I was speaking of my husband's piece. I am not speaking for him, either. These are all my own words.
Except these...I was watching "V for Vendetta" tonight, and these words rang out to me...
"Our integrity sells for so little, but it is all that we really have. It is the very last inch of us...but within that inch, we are free.
An inch...it is small and it is fragile, but it is the only thing in the world worth having. We must never lose it or give it away, and we must never let them take it from us..."
What you need to know about me as a reader is this:
I am loyal to the death.
If I believe in something, I would throw myself in front of a bus for it. I feel this for my husband's work. If I am judged negatively for this quality, so be it.
What are we as artists if not passionate? This blog is written by someone who possesses a heart.
I cannot hide that fact.
Luv,
SGS

My Joys...

Here are some photos of the Assassins photo call that someone shared with me, I am so proud of my fellow cast members and creative staff who were nominated for this labor of love. Evident in these photos were Donna and Will, and beyond these, Andy and Mica, and Joe.
I am SO happy that
these folks were nominated for their work.
While I have plenty to grumble/grouse about, I in NO way am deterring from my fellow cast member's noms. Assassins was an incredible piece of theatre, and I loved doing it every night...More to follow about Assassins.

Perspective

I congratulate my friends and colleagues who were nominated this year. I do not want to deter or take away from what you have earned, but I cannot wrap my head around the glaring holes of the nominations, and who was left out. I hope that these strange and uneven nominations serve as a referendum on the "new" nominating process for Helen Hayes Awards.
YET AGAIN, this is not to say that I am negating the nominations given.
They have dropped The Faculty Room from the Charles MacArthur nomination, leaving 4 new works up for that...while 8 directors are nominated for Resident Play. ?
Wouldn't an organization such as Helen Hayes do better by nominating 8 new works, instead of 8 directors? Tons of blood, sweat, and tears is poured out by local playwrights and composers, and there is very seldom a carrot at the end of the stick that they are chasing. There is little reward for creating a new work of art for this community. Even getting it seen by more than 10 people in the first place is in its own right a reward. The DC theatre community, which is striving to be another major theatre destination, should take some stock of this and nourish these new and emerging voices more.
What would DC as a theatre community be with NO NEW WORKS? We'd be doing Arsenic and Old Lace, The Music Man, Antigone, and Plaza Suite all year. Yikes. There are few who are talented enough to be real creators and writers for the theatre. I applaud these people, because they are trying to shape and create a future for the craft that I work in. Sometimes all a playwright needs is an addendum to tag onto his manuscript like, "Charles MacArthur nominated" for another theatre somewhere else to take a second look as they rifle through their mail. I would rather see 8 Charles MacArthur nominations than 8 director noms. Of all of the new work produced in this city in the past year, there are 4 that were deemed "worthy" of a sticker this year?
Is creativity dead in our city? I think not.
As a former Helen Hayes Award recipient, I would like to politely ask the Helen Hayes committee to look into what happened this year and fix the errors in future years. Can I say this again...I was NOT in Nevermore, I was an audience member. This is not out of sour grapes, but out of genuine concern that this "new way" to nominate, is not yet the right way.
Nevermore is in terrific company of those who were "looked over". Fat Pig at Studio Theatre (Washingtonian magazine's play of the year), Mame at the Kennedy Center, Shennandoah at Ford's, Two Queens, One Castle and The Girl in the Goldfish Bowl at Metro Stage, Death of a Salesman at Keegan, Brian Hemmingsen, Susan Lynskey, Ariel Dorfman, Scott Fortier, Harriet Harris, Christine Baranski, Sally Murphy, Andrew Long, Eric Schaeffer, and the list goes on.
The real reward that a new work can get is to be produced, and Nevermore is being done multiple times across the country in the coming months. The first of which productions will be done at Kensington Arts Theatre. Here is the poster. I will have details of this production to follow.
I have said my peace now.





love,
a concerned DC Theatre supporter

ROBBED.

What the fu*k?