The Post-Gazette's choice of theatrical Performer of the Year came down to an irascible proprietor of a Hill District diner, a plaintive American salesman or a legendry British king.

All three merited the title, the 25th in a continuous chronicle of theatrical excellence going back to 1984. So would it be Anthony Chisholm's Memphis in August Wilson's "Two Trains Running" for Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre? John Shepard's Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" for Playhouse Rep? Or Dakin Matthews' tragic heavyweight in Shakespeare's "King Lear" for Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre?

It wasn't an easy choice. But the deserving winner is Shepard, playing the quintessential diminished tragic hero, a little man who can't measure up to the American dream of universal success.

"Death of a Salesman" is an American classic, a mountain everyone thinks they know but few actually risk. Directing at Playhouse Rep was the playwright's son Robert Miller, who surrounded Shepard with a rock-solid cast of Pittsburgh actors.

Shepard proved a touching Willy, unself-consciously plaintive, a smiling bantam cock lit with a wistful inner glow. Gradually he grew into his harrowing final showdown with his beloved son, when his small transgressions rose up to rebuke him. Then he discovered a mythic weight, earning it through restraint and a willingness to go beyond glamour to find truth.

With acting experience on both coasts, Shepard moved to Pittsburgh in 2000 to teach at Point Park University, where he is now chair of the theater department. He has acted frequently for the Rep, where he also directs, but he has also acted for most of the professional theaters in town.

He now joins an honor roll of 24 previous Performers of the Year. Given Pittsburgh's slowly evolving theatrical universe, half of them also appeared here on stage during 2008. In reverse chronological order of their awards, they are David Whalen (2007), Douglas Rees, Sheila McKenna, Martin Giles, Etta Cox, Robin Walsh, Tom Atkins, Doug Mertz, Don Marshall, Larry John Meyers, Bingo O'Malley and Helena Ruoti (1985) -- and there's also Billy Porter, who directed at City.

The outstanding individual acting achievements celebrated today are limited to shows produced in Pittsburgh. Touring shows are not included. Neither, this year, are individual performances in the college programs that are such a strength of local theater. But tours and college shows are definitely included in our second annual retrospective, naming the year's Top 10 shows (in Wednesday's Weekend Mag).

Beyond Shepard, there were many performances to celebrate this year in the more than 100 local shows reviewed by the PG.

Among those where good acting was so balanced as to make it difficult to single anyone out, two at City Theatre deserve special notice. In Tarell Alvin McCraney's intense parable of love and rivalry, "The Brothers Size," Albert Jones, Jared McNeill and Joshua Elijah Reese played the stalwart Ogun, mercurial Oshoosi and seductive Elegba in perfect synchronicity, like finely performed music. And in David Wiltse's witty, wise comedy of infidelity, "A Marriage Minuet," City artistic director Tracy Brigden presented a perfectly matched cast of five: Helena Ruoti, Ross Bickell, Deirdre Madigan, Douglas Rees and Tami Dixon.

In addition to Shepard's Willy, Matthews' Lear and Chisholm's Memphis, there were these to treasure: Anthony Rapp in his solo "Without You" (City); Don Marshall as the dictator in "Breakfast With Mugabe" (Quantum); Mark Staley as the queen in "Cymbeline" (Quantum); Tom Aulino as the accountant in "Take Me Out" (barebones); Randy Kovitz as Lennie in "Of Mice and Men" (Prime Stage); Sam Tsoutsouvas as the blustery father in "A Number" and Harris Doran as Mozart in "Amadeus" (both Public); and Larry John Meyers in "Dublin Carol," Martin Giles in "St. Nicholas," Jim Mezon as Herod in "Salome" and Paul Todaro as Lord Goring in "A Woman of No Importance" (all PICT).

Three former Performers of the Year stood out again. Helena Ruoti was a hoot as Ann Landers in "The Lady With All the Answers" (Public), Robin Walsh was terrifying as the betrayed wife in "The Goat," and Sheila McKenna was insightful as the perplexed, melancholy Nadia in "The Vertical Hour" (both Playhouse Rep). Others of note included Jenn Colella in the title role of "Annie Get Your Gun" (Pittsburgh CLO), Avery Sommers as the matriarch in "Flight" (City) and Nike Doukos as the delicious villain in "Ideal Husband."

Jarrod DiGiorgi's Biff was one of the many who supported Shepard so well in "Salesman"; Meyers' Gloucester was practically a second Lear in support of Matthews; and Sala Udin's diner philosopher, Holloway, was one of several fine supporting performances in "Two Trains Running." Completing a roster of 10 supporting actors are Montae Russell as Sterling in "Radio Golf" and Daniel Krell as the Emperor in "Amadeus" (both Public); Simon Bradbury's Fool in "Lear"; Jon Farris' old tramp in "The Well of the Saints" (PICT); Nathan Hollabaugh's mentally disabled Oates in "Dorothy 6" (Pittsburgh Playwrights); and Justin Mark DeWolf as the son in "The Goat."

The supporting actress of the year was Derdriu Ring in several roles in the Synge Cycle (PICT), but especially as the scheming, glint-eyed Widow Quin in "The Playboy of the Western World." Memorable others include DeWanda Wise in "Fight"; Daina Michelle Griffith as Constanze in "Amadeus"; Christine Laitta as Yente in "Fiddler on the Roof" (Pittsburgh Musical Theater); Chrystal Bates as Eva Dee in "Get Ready" (New Horizon); and Deanna Tangeman in "Dorothy 6."

In closing, it is fitting to honor once again Pittsburgh's resident design workhorse, Tony Ferrieri. Among his many sets of note in 2008, I was particularly taken with that for Marcus Stevens' "Eastburn Avenue" (Playhouse Rep). Uniting audience and acting area, it was an artful construct of small wooden platforms, balustrades, doors, curtained windows, stained glass, inlaid panels, light boxes, stairs, railings and porches, some horizontal, some vertical, some hung from above -- a veritable Cornell box of memory.

That's how 2008 theater looks in retrospect: like a shimmering collage of artistry and entertainment. It's been a privilege to write about it.