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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Onyx Awards
The Onyx Awards for theater are presented by the African American Council of the Arts, founded by actress Vickie Bey. The third annual awards were given Friday at an entertaining dinner at the Renaissance Hotel, with WPXI's Vince Sims as emcee, nominees opening the envelopes, thank-yous kept short and lots of pictures taken. The winners:
PLAYS
Production: "Seven Guitars," Kuntu
Direction: Ernest McCarty, "Purlie Victorious," New Horizon
Set: Kenny Ellis & Diane Melchitzky, "Seven Guitars"
Costumes: Michelle Leway, "Legend of a Black Mariner," Pittsburgh Playwrights
Lights: Jason Peroney, "Little WIllie Armstrong Jones," Kuntu
Sound: Wayne Gaines, "Seven Guitars"
MUSICALS
Production: (none given)
Direction: Vernell Lillie, "Mahalia Jackson," Kuntu
Set: Kennth Ellis & Richard Jackson, "Mahalia Jackson"
Costumes: Oronde Sharif, "Black Nativity," Shona Sharif African Dance Ensemble
Lights: Eric Smith, "Christmas Is Comin' Uptown," Renaissance Publications
Sound: "Black Nativity"
ACTING, PLAY
Actress: Kimberly Ginyard, "Seven Guitars"
Actor: Wali Jamal, "Purlie Victorious"
Supporting Actor: Nathan James, "Little Willie"
Supporting Actress: Mayme Williams, "Black Mariner"
Equity Actor: Ben Cain, "Little Willie"
Ensemble: "American Menu," New Horizon
ACTING, MUSICAL
Actress: Teri Bridgett, "Mahalia Jackson"
Actor: Kevin Brown, "Christmas Is Comin'"
Supporting Actor: (none given)
Supporting Actress: Genna Styles, "Mahalia Jackson"
ACTING, OVERALL
Minority Actor: Jerry Wienand, "Purlie Victorious"
Minority Actress: Barbara Russell, "Hoodwinked," Pittsburgh Playwrights
Youth Actor: Roger Randolph, "Christmas Is Comin' "
Youth Actress: Nia Arrington, "Black Mariner"
Rob Penny Lifetime Achievement Award: Playwright William Mayfield
As the list suggests, you can best explain the scope of the AACTA awards as including productions (in a June through May theatrical year) by Pittsburgh's two African-American theaters, Kuntu Rep and New Horizon, and at least some of those by Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre, plus a couple of holiday musicals.
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Vernell Lillie with a lot of loot: several ACCTA Onyx Awards for Kuntu Rep shows, gathered by her on behalf of her cast and crew. Click photo for larger image. |
In this case, "minority actor" means non-African American. That distinction doesn't extend to design and technical awards, however, where several nominated (and at least one winner) are white. Nothing was said Friday about these inconsistencies in eligibility or scope, so you have to guess at just what they might be.
According to Bey, the awards are determined by a panel of five judges (unnamed) who see all eligible shows. Having seen most of those nominated, I disagree strongly with only three: Pittsburgh Playwrights' "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" and its director, Eileen Morris, should have won best play and director, and Mark Thompson was far and away the best minority actor for "Hoodwinked."
"There's a lot of egos in this community, and it's a small community," said Richard Jackson to open the evening, urging everyone to look past competition to mutual support. Pitt's Larry Glasco read an inspirational passage from August Wilson's essay, "Aunt Ester's Children." And whatever the stress to attendant egos, the evening was genial, fun and sometimes boisterous.
I would call the AACTA awards a work in progress, still figuring out their procedures and trying to achieve financial stability. But their goal is admirable, to focus attention on Pittsburgh's lively, capable and expanding black theater community.
Community Conversation
The above relates to the subject of Saturday's "Bridges or Fences: A Community Conversation about Diversity in Local Theatre and Dance Performance," sponsored by Unseam'd Shakespeare.
The audience was only about as big as the panel of 17, which represented some 15 arts groups, but the conversation (co-moderated well by Neil Barclay of the August Wilson Center and Robert Neu of the Kelly-Strayhorn) was occasionally spirited, if amorphous and in many ways preliminary.
To many, "diversity" meant race, primarily black/white, but that discussion was hampered by the absence of Pittsburgh's two black theaters. (Not to make too much of that: 35 groups were invited in all, so there were plenty of no-shows.) Others took diversity in a larger sense. Expect more about this next week, either here or online in my stalled On Stage Journal.
The main need voiced Saturday was for Pittsburgh's growing theater community (not to mention the related arts) to develop better ways to talk to and support each other. Amen to that! Isn't this the biggest theater community in the country without an operational league of theaters?
A hit for Bricolage?
Can a two-night staged reading be a hit? If it's "Chicks with D!%ks (Bad Girls on Bikes Doing Bad Things)" by Trista Baldwin, directed with verve by Tami Dixon and performed with multidimensional zest by a cast of eight, maybe so. Monday night's performance at Pegasus was no simple reading but a real performance, full of raunch and wit. If there were an appropriate venue, I'd hope that Bricolage, the young theater company "making artful use of what's at hand," could give it an extended run as a late-night show just the way it is. More about this online.
Ready for your close-up?
Don't forget the citywide sing of "Won't You Be My Neighbor," the Mister Rogers theme song, this Saturday at 5 p.m. in Point State Park, being filmed as the climax of Carl Kurlander's wry documentary, "A Tale of Two Cities." (The $1 Regatta admission applies to participants.) For a glimpse of the film, go to www.thepittsburghmovie.com. Come join a lot of your neighbors in showing what Pittsburgh can do, a la Detroit in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." Be there!
CLO Late Night
There's a great schedule for July, full of established favorites from Late Night's short history. It starts this Friday and Saturday with the queen, Lenora Nemetz ($10 in advance, $12 at the door). The anchor attraction for the month is Barbara Russell (if Lenora is queen, Barbara is the dowager empress), back with her show of reminiscence, "Looking in Both Directions" (July 14-15, 21-22; $13 or $15). And ending the month is Chris Laitta (the princess?) doing her "TV Tunes" show (July 29).
In between come Phat Man Dee and the Liquitones (July 8; $8 or $10); "The Jason Coll Variety Show: Circus Sideshow of the Stars" (July 28; $8 or $10), featuring Tom Cruise as the Bearded Lady and The Olsen Twins as a conjoined singing duo (adult themes); and Culture Crawl featuring Yin-Yang (July 7 at the Backstage Bar; free).
All shows are at 10 p.m. at the CLO's Late Night Cabaret, 655 Penn Ave.; 412-456-6666.
The Last Word
"Audiences watch actors, not plays, anyway. Basically. Don't they?" -- actor Richard Easton.
"What can you say when August Wilson gets 67% attendance and 'Late Nite Catechism' is almost sold out?" -- a reader, based on last week's box office figures.
The bottom line
Paid admissions at city's pro theaters for the week ending June 25:
Grease/CLO (74%) ............ 16,760
Gem of Ocean/Public (76%) ........... 3,605
Smoke/Mt. Playhouse (75%) ........... 2,347
Forb. Bway/CLO (59%) ................ 1,017
Late Catechism2/City (96%) .......... 1,009
School Scandal/PICT (46%) ..............805
Othello/Unseam'd (39%) ................ 141
(Last week: Othello 35% ................ 94
-- Post-Gazette theater editor
Christopher Rawson can be reached at crawson@post-gazette.com or
412-263-1666.
