Best Actor / Actress
TIE: Martin Burke; Meredith McCall
The thespians who share this year's acting honor are used to sharing the stage with each other, having trod the boards together in Angels in America, House of Several Stories, The Laramie Project, and, over numerous yuletides, The Santaland Diaries. Most recently, they served up a one-two punch in Zach Theatre's production of The Drowsy Chaperone, which showcased both actors' mastery of characterization, bravura comedic chops, and killer sense of timing in intoxicating fashion. As the sozzled chaperone, the effortlessly versatile McCall dialed her already potent stage presence to 11 and brassily mined laughs from every line, using her enchanting voice to blast out a riotously funny anthem to the joys of booze. Burke's Man in Chair anchored the show, the actor's uncanny fusion of razor-edged snark and pure, unfettered joy giving us the merriest misanthrope this side of his own Macy's elf in Santaland – and an unexpectedly tender one, too. After seeing these two actors in the limelight, you can't wait for them to play, play again.
