Theater Critic Picks

Dallas-Fort Worth theater critics bestow honors on 2015-16 standouts

Members of the Dallas-Fort Worth Theater Critics Forum convened on September 3 for their annual volley of voting, determining who deserves recognition for the 2015-16 season.

In categories covering new works to stellar performances, the six critics fought for their favorites. Not everyone's picks made it through the voting process, which needed either 50 percent of the votes or a unanimous decision if only two or three critics had seen the production, so look out for personal favorites to pop up in those end-of-year lists.

Dallas Theater Center had a stellar year, as did Stage West and Undermain Theatre. Some artists scored both on and off the stage, earning nods for their performances as well as directing and design contributions. Without further ado, here are the awards:

Outstanding Direction

Akín Babatundé, Bootycandy, Stage West, and The Mountaintop, Dallas Theater Center
Emily Scott Banks, The Big Meal, WaterTower Theatre
David Lozano, Blood Wedding, Cara Mía Theatre Company
Katherine Owens, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Undermain Theatre
Artie Olaisen, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, Dallas Children’s Theater
Len Pfluger, Grand Hotel, Lyric Stage
Susan Sargeant, Play, WingSpan Theatre Company
Ryan Mathieu Smith, Trainspotting, L.I.P. Service
Garret Storms, The Nether, Stage West
Regina Washington, Harriet Jacobs, African American Repertory Theater

Outstanding New Play or Musical

Clarkston by Samuel D. Hunter, Dallas Theater Center
Deferred Action by David Lozano and Lee Trull, Cara Mía Theatre Company and Dallas Theater Center
Faust by Michael Federico, Lydia Mackay, and Jeffrey Schmidt, The Drama Club
Stacy Has a Thing for Black Guys by Ruben Carrazana, The Tribe
Temple Spirit by Susan Felder, Echo Theatre

Outstanding Touring Production

Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs, AT&T Performing Arts Center Off-Broadway on Flora Series
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, AT&T Performing Arts Center Broadway Series
Eric Bogosian’s Bitter Honey: The Best of 100 (Monologues), AT&T Performing Arts Center Off-Broadway on Flora Series
Cabaret, AT&T Performing Arts Center Broadway Series
A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, AT&T Performing Arts Center Broadway Series
Ghost Quartet, AT&T Performing Arts Center Off-Broadway on Flora Series
The Sound of Music, Dallas Summer Musicals and Performing Arts Fort Worth

Outstanding Performance by an Actor

Christopher J. Deaton, Grand Hotel, Lyric Stage
Bruce DuBose, The Night Alive, Undermain Theatre
Hassan El-Amin, A Christmas Carol, Dallas Theater Center, and The Mountaintop, Dallas Theater Center
Ivan Jasso, Deferred Action, Cara Mía Theatre Company and Dallas Theater Center
Jason Leyva, The Whale, L.I.P. Service
Barry Nash, I’m Gonna Pray for You So Hard, Kitchen Dog Theater
Alex Organ, Constellations, Dallas Theater Center
Brandon Potter, Richard III, Shakespeare Dallas and Shakespeare in the Bar
Garret Storms, The Big Meal, WaterTower Theatre
Terry Vandivort, The Fantasticks, Theatre Three

Outstanding Performance by an Actress

Emily Scott Banks, Jacob Marley’s A Christmas Carol, Stage West
Jessica Cavanagh, Outside Mullingar, WaterTower Theatre
Amber Devlin, Picnic, Theatre Three
Frida Espinosa-Muller, Blood Wedding, Cara Mía Theatre Company and Deferred Action, Cara Mía Theatre Company and Dallas Theater Center
Tiana Johnson, The Mountaintop, Dallas Theater Center
Jenny Ledel, I’m Gonna Pray for You So Hard, Kitchen Dog Theater
Denise Lee, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, Jubilee Theatre
Janelle Lutz, End of the Rainbow, Uptown Players, and Miracle on 34th Street, Dallas Children’s Theater
Karen Parrish, Blackberry Winter, Kitchen Dog Theater
Allison Pistorius, Constellations, Dallas Theater Center
Joanna Schellenberg, Long Day’s Journey into Night, Undermain Theatre
Diane Worman, The Thrush and the Woodpecker, Kitchen Dog Theater

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble Cast

The Big Meal, WaterTower Theatre
Bootycandy, Stage West
Faust, The Drama Club
Grand Hotel, Lyric Stage
Long Day’s Journey into Night, Undermain Theatre
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, Dallas Children’s Theater
The Nether, Stage West
Play, WingSpan Theatre Company
The Toxic Avenger, Uptown Players
Under the Skin, Circle Theatre

Outstanding Design or Creative Contribution

Jeffrey Colangelo, fight choreography, Christina Valentine, fight assistant, and Bobby Garcia, martial arts consultant, Animal vs. Machine, PrismCo
Design team, Faust, The Drama Club
Design team, Jonah, Undermain Theatre
Jay Dias, musical direction and orchestration restoration, Anything Goes, Lyric Stage
John M. Flores, sound design, The Thrush and the Woodpecker, Kitchen Dog Theater
Richard Gwozdz, orchestra conducting, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Artes de la Rosa
Kyle Igneczi, puppet design and direction, Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins, Amphibian Stage Productions
Benjamin Lutz and Dillon White, video design, Trainspotting, L.I.P. Service
Lynn Mauldin and Rebekka Koepke, properties design, The Adventures of Flo and Greg, Echo Theatre
Scott Osborne, set design, The Fantasticks, Theatre Three
Karen Perry, costume design, Dreamgirls, Dallas Theater Center
Gil Pritchett, musical direction, Harriet Jacobs, African American Repertory Theater
Ryan Rumery, original music and sound design, Constellations, Dallas Theater Center
Garret Storms and Nate Davis, set design, The Nether, Stage West

Special Citations

Rose Pearson, co-founder of Circle Theatre, for a lifetime of visionary leadership of professional theater in Fort Worth and support of female theater artists.
Kurt Kleinmann, for his creation of Pegasus Theatre’s Living Black & White productions and 30 years as bumbling noir detective Harry Hunsacker.
Dallas Children’s Theater for providing sensory friendly performances for kids with special needs.

Critics

Lindsey Wilson, CultureMap
Nancy Churnin, Dallas Morning News
Martha Heimberg, TheaterJones.com and Dallas Weekly
Arnold Wayne Jones, Dallas Voice
Mark Lowry, TheaterJones.com and Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Punch Shaw, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Dallas-Fort Worth Theater Critics Forum is an organization of professional, paid critics that recognizes outstanding theatrical contributions in North Texas. Members see 50 or more productions per season (September 1-August 31) and are not practicing theater artists.

The joint production between Dallas Theater Center and Cara Mía Theatre Company, Deferred Action, was one of the year's best new works.

Deferred Action at Dallas Theater Center

Photo by Karen Almond

The joint production between Dallas Theater Center and Cara Mía Theatre Company, Deferred Action, was one of the year's best new works.

theater awards

Season of Love

Dallas-Fort Forth theater stars 'sleigh' with original holiday album

Cherish Love Robinson Love's Holiday album

Photo by Jordan Fraker

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Move aside, "Jingle Bells." Members of Dallas-Fort Worth's theater community have debuted a new holiday album full of original songs, all spearheaded by singer/musician Cherish Love Robinson.

"A few friends invite me to their annual Christmas parties, and I’m usually the last one to leave, hanging out at the piano with a group of others, singing holiday classics," she says. "Every year, I promise myself I’ll record a Christmas song, but either I remember too late or forget altogether. Then in January, after watching a documentary about Quincy Jones producing ‘We are the World,' I realized I’d been wanting to do this for years."

Titled Love's Holiday, the nine-song album was recorded, mixed, and mastered entirely in Dallas (in the digital liner notes, Robinson dedicates a special shout-out to Oak Cliff). Robinson fully composed and produced all the tunes, with rapper Cya Fix collaborating on the song "Better."

"I didn’t want to hassle with licensing or digging for public domain songs, so I made the decision to create original material instead," she says. "I just started writing like a madman and didn’t stop until June."

The song list spans comedic — "A Birthday Christmas," "Broseph & Mary" — to soulful with "I Pray" and sassy with "Slayeigh." Songs like "RSVP" and "Home" evoke classic Christmas vibes.

Frequent theatergoers will likely recognize many of the singers, including Justin Locklear, Lee Walter (as Jada Pinkett Fox), Brett Warner, Quintin Jones, David Lugo, and Dallas Theater Center Brierley Acting Company members Blake Hackler and Sally Vahle.

Area musicians like pianists Rebecca Lowrey and Cody Dry, guitarist Ian Ferguson, bassist Benjamin Brown, and fiddler Kat Glaze lend their talents as well, with Robinson herself accompanying several songs on keyboard and percussion.

"When I sat down to think about who I wanted to collaborate with, I was lucky that everyone I asked said yes," Robinson shares. "I didn’t just want to work with talented singers; I wanted to bring in musicians who really inspire me as well."

Cherish Love Robinson.Photo by Jordan Fraker

Some of Robinson's notable onstage work includes The Witch in DTC's production of Into the Woods, Doloris Van Cartier in WaterTower Theatre's Sister Act, the rock musical Hundred Days at Circle Theatre, and Theatre Three's original musical Solstice, which she also co-composed.

Robinson's voice and vocal production have been featured on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy and HBO’s Big Little Lies, with superstars Erykah Badu and The Roots of The Tonight Show, and on The Colbert Show as a background singer. As a producer, she has crafted and arranged vocals for artists such as Elle King, The Texas Gentlemen, and Paul Cauthen.

"My favorite time of year starts with my birthday in October, and it spans all the way through the holidays until New Year's Day," Robinson says. "Those months are absolutely my favorite. I have to remind myself not to start listening to holiday music too early!"

Love's Holiday is available for streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music, and can be purchased for digital download here.

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