Top of the Line

For the 19th year, an informal affiliation of local arts critics has recognized the year's most exceptional achievements in dance, classical music, the visual arts, and theatre. The nominations for these awards, covering the period from May 3, 2010, to April 30, 2011, were assembled by the Austin American-Statesman's Michael Barnes (arts), Cate Blouke (theatre), Claire Canavan (theatre), Luke Quinton (classical music/visual arts), Claire Spera (dance), and Jeanne Claire van Ryzin (arts) and the Chronicle's Elizabeth Cobbe (theatre), Jonelle Seitz (dance), Avimaan Syam (theatre), and Robert Faires (arts).

They will present the awards and induct the latest class of local legends into the Austin Arts Hall of Fame during an informal ceremony at 7pm on Monday, June 6, at Cap City Com­edy Club, 8120 Research. The public is welcome. Admission is free.

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THEATRE

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Production, Drama

At Home at the Zoo, Palindrome Theatre

August: Osage County, Zach Theatre

Bug, Capital T Theatre

Machinal, Paper Chairs

Spirits To Enforce, Capital T Theatre

Production, Comedy

Becky's New Car, Zach Theatre

Dead White Males, Sustainable Theatre Project

Hunter Gatherers, Capital T Theatre

The Imaginary Invalid, Mary Moody Northen Theatre

Man and Superman, Austin Shakespeare

Melancholy Play, Palindrome Theatre

MilkMilkLemonade, Shrewd Productions

Production, Musical

Carousel, Mary Moody Northen Theatre

Drone, Crank Collective

The Drowsy Chaperone, Zach Theatre

I've Never Been So Happy, Rude Mechanicals

Rent, Zach Theatre

The Wild Party, Texas State University Department of Theatre and Dance

David Mark Cohen New Play Award

Emergency Prom, Steve Moulds

Fight, Kimber Lee

I've Never Been So Happy, Kirk Lynn and Peter Stopschinski

The Other Side of Sleep, Owen Egerton

"Past: River Run," Sarah Saltwick

re:Psyche, Jenny Connell

The Virgin w/ 10,000 Arrows, Jason Tremblay

"They're Coming To Get You!," Lowell Bartholomee

Theatrical Event

Biography of Physical Sensation, Rubber Repertory

Incidents at the 22 Hotel, Wura-Natasha Ogunji

A Most Unsettling and Possibly Haunted Evening in the Parlour of the Brothers Grimm, The Hidden Room Theatre and Trouble Puppet Theater Company

You Wouldn't Know Her, She Lives in London, The Hidden Room Theatre/Look Left Look Right

Direction

Nick Demos, The Drowsy Chaperone

Kaitlin Hopkins, All Shook Up/The Wild Party

Halena Kays, The Threepenny Opera

Derek Kolluri, Dead White Males

David Long, The Imaginary Invalid

Mark Pickell, Bug/Hunter Gatherers

Dave Steakley, Rent

Dustin Wills, Machinal/Heddatron

Acting in a Leading Role

Jill Blackwood, The Drowsy Chaperone

Verity Branco, re:Psyche/Rent

Martin Burke, The Drowsy Chaperone

Kate de Buys, Bug

Barbara Chisholm, Red Hot Patriot

Mary Agen Cox, The Trip to Bountiful

Shelby Davenport, Man and Superman

Lana Dieterich, August: Osage County

Babs George, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Joey Hood, Bug

Lauren Lane, Becky's New Car/August: Osage County

Ev Lunning Jr., Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Rachel McGinnis, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Nadine Mozon, Delta Rhapsody

Brad Price, Hunter Gatherers

Nigel O'Hearn, At Home at the Zoo

Richard Robichaux, The Imaginary Invalid

David Stokey, Laughter on the 23rd Floor

Acting in a Supporting Role

Aaron Alexander, Metamorphoses/Fight

Brian Coughlin, The Trip to Bountiful

Joshua Denning, Rent

Jamie Goodwin, The Drowsy Chaperone/Eurydice

Shannon Grounds, MilkMilkLemonade

Jude Hickey, Melancholy Play/Heddatron

Matrex Kilgore, Fight

Jenny Larson, Laughter on the 23rd Floor

Julia Lorenz-Olson, Hamlet

Jon Wayne Martin, On the Verge

Meredith McCall, The Drowsy Chaperone

Nathan Osburn, Hedda Gabler

Robert Pierson, Heddatron

Xochitl Romero, Circle Mirror Transformation

David Stahl, Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps/Eurydice/Laughter on the 23rd Floor

Michael Stuart, Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps/August: Osage County

Irene White, August: Osage County

Ensemble Performance

All Shook Up, Texas State University Department of Theatre and Dance

Baal, Paper Chairs

Flying, Breaking String Theater

I've Never Been So Happy, Rude Mechanicals

Melancholy Play, Palindrome Theatre

Spirits To Enforce, Capital T Theatre

Movement

Dayna Hanson, I've Never Been So Happy

Robin Lewis, The Drowsy Chaperone/All Shook Up/Rent/The Wild Party

Adriene Mishler, Flying

Nicole Whiteside, Metamorphoses

Music Direction

Greg Bolin, All Shook Up/The Wild Party

Michael McKelvey, Company

Allen Robertson, The Drowsy Chaperone/Rent

Michelle Schumann, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

Peter Stopschinski, I've Never Been So Happy

Touring Show

Black Watch, National Theatre of Scotland, presented by Texas Perform­ing Arts

The Last of the Cargo Cults, Mike Daisey, presented by Texas Performing Arts

A Midsummer Night's Dream, Actors From the London Stage

The Shipment, Young Jean Lee's Theater Company, presented by Fusebox Festival, Women & Their Work, and Pro Arts

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DESIGN

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Scenic Design

Tommy Grubbs and Mark Pickell, Bug

Richard Isackes, La Hija de Rappaccini

Lisa Laratta, Machinal/Baal/Heddatron

Anne McMeeking, Fight

Michael Raiford, The Drowsy Chaperone/Metamorphoses/Rent/August: Osage County

Nicholas Renaud, MilkMilkLemonade

Costume Design

Pam Friday, MilkMilkLemonade

Jillan Hanel, A Writer's Vision(s)

Jen J. Madison, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Benjamin Taylor Ridgway, Baal

Susan Branch Towne, The Drowsy Chaperone/All Shook Up

Proletina Veltchev, The Threepenny Opera

Lighting Design

Jason Amato, Metamorphoses/One/Rent/ August: Osage County

Kathryn Eader, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?/ La Hija de Rappaccini

Natalie George, Baal/Heddatron

Ray Oppenheimer, The Virgin w/ 10,000 Arrows

Mark Pickell, Bug

Megan Reilly, Machinal

Sound Design

Adam Hilton, Bug

Craig Brock, The Drowsy Chaperone/Metamorphoses/Rent

Brett Hamann, Spirits To Enforce

William Meadows, One

Buzz Moran, Heddatron

Allen Robertson, August: Osage County

Video Design

Owen Egerton and Les McGehee, The Other Side of Sleep

K. Eliot Haynes and Colin Lowry, Rent

Robert Matney, You Wouldn't Know Her, She Lives in London

Miwa Matreyek, I've Never Been So Happy

Todd V. Wolfson, "Journey #5"

Lee Webster, Heddatron

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VISUAL ART

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Museum Exhibition

"Advancing Traditions: Twenty Years of Printmaking at Flatbed Press," Austin Museum of Art, Dana Friis-Hansen and Mark L. Smith, curators

"Becoming Tennessee Williams," Harry Ransom Center, Charlotte Canning, curator

"Discovering the Language of Photography: The Gernsheim Collection," Harry Ransom Center, David Coleman, curator

"New Works for the Collection," Blanton Museum of Art, Annette DiMeo Carlozzi, curator

"Recovering Beauty: The 1990s in Buenos Aires," Blanton Museum of Art, Ursula Davila-Villa, curator

"Young Latino Artists 15: Consensus of Taste," Mexic-Arte Museum, Claudia Zapata, curator

Solo Gallery Exhibition

"Deep End: New Work by Sonya Berg," Champion Gallery

"Diego Huerta: Town of Clouds," Mexican American Culture Center

"For If They Fall: Works by Candace M. Briceño," Mexican American Cultural Center

"Jules Buck Jones: Animal Again," Champion Gallery

"New Works: Eric Zimmerman," Austin Museum of Art

"New Works: Sunyong Chung," Austin Museum of Art

"Raymond Uhlir," D Berman Gallery

"Virginia Yount: Unsustainable Attainment," Women & Their Work

Group Gallery Exhibition

"Anthropogenesis," UT Visual Arts Center, Ariel Evans and Lauren Hamer, curators

"Joseph Phillips & Shawn Smith," D Berman Gallery

"Objectivity," Grayduck Gallery

"Out of Place," Lora Reynolds Gallery, Noah Simblist, curator

"Paper 2," Gallery Shoal Creek

"The Portrait," L. Nowlin Gallery

"SUBstainability," Gallery I & II, Texas State University, Mary Mikel Stump and Andy Campbell, curators

"Womanscape: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in African Art," UT Visual Arts Center, Moyo Okediji, curator

Work of Art: Video Art

1:1, Jessica Mallios, 2011 Texas Biennial

Accumulation, Hillerbrand + Magsamen, 2011 Texas Biennial

Close Caption, James Sham, Arthouse

Dorian, a cinematic perfume, Michelle Handelman, Arthouse

Méliès, Teresa Hubbard and Alexander Birchler, Lora Reynolds Gallery

Work of Art: Independent or Public Project

Animal, David Ellis, Landmarks

A Knitted Wonderland, Magda Sayeg and the knitters of Austin, Blanton Museum of Art

More Art About Buildings and Food, Jason Middlebrook, Arthouse

Play Me, I'm Yours, Art Alliance Austin

Rehearsal at the Astoria, Graham Hudson, Arthouse

Untitled Nothing Factory, Amanda Ross-Ho, UT Visual Arts Center

Work of Art: One of a Kind

Kitty Pilgrim, Sam Sanford, 2011 Texas Biennial

The Specious Present at 700 Congress, Ryan Hennessee, Arthouse

Swarm, Shawn Smith, D Berman Gallery

Water, Water Everywhere So Let's All Have a Drink, Okay Mountain, Austin Museum of Art

Work of Art: Installation

The Daisy Argument, Natasha Bowdoin, UT Visual Arts Center

The Mending Project, Beili Liu, Women & Their Work

Palatial Hemorrhages, Sarah Stevens, Co-Lab

Plexus 5, Gabriel Dawe, 2011 Texas Biennial

Quadri-Poise, Jade Walker, 2011 Texas Biennial

Today's Headlines Wrap Tomorrow's Fish, William Hundley, Co-Lab

Artist

Santiago Forero

Nathan Green

Teresa Hubbard and Alexander Birchler

Beili Liu

Barry Stone

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CLASSICAL MUSIC

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Symphonic Performance

Mahler: Symphony No. 1, Austin Symphony

Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 1, Austin Symphony with Anne Akiko Meyers

Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez, Austin Symphony with Pepe Romero, Austin Goes Classical

Bruch: Concerto for Violin No. 1 and Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5, UT Symphony Orchestra with guest conductor Carl St. Clair

Takemitsu: From me flows what you call Time, Austin Symphony with Nexus

Chamber Performance

Beethoven: String Quartet in F Major and Bolcom: Three Rags for String Quartet, Aeolus Quartet

Adam Holzman with the Miró Quartet, Austin Goes Classical

Bach's Herd of Harpsichords, La Follia Austin Baroque

Convivencia: The Three Worlds of Renaissance Spain, Texas Early Music Project

Glass: String Quartet No. 5, Lynn Harrell with the Miró Quartet

Out of the Bach's, Austin Chamber Music Center

Choral Performance

Bach: Mass in B Minor, Conspirare

The Mystic and the Storyteller, Conspirare

Renaissance & Response: Polyphony Then and Now, Conspirare

Opera

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Austin Lyric Opera and Austin Chamber Music Center

Flight, Austin Lyric Opera

La Hija de Rappaccini, UT Butler Opera Center

La Traviata, Austin Lyric Opera

Singer

Pamela Armstrong, La Traviata

David Farwig, Renaissance & Response: Polyphony Then and Now

Cara Johnston, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

Brian Joyce, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

Abigail H. Lennox, Renaissance & Response: Polyphony Then and Now

Karin Mushegain, Flight

Nili Riemer, Flight

Chad Shelton, La Traviata

David Small, Winterreise

Matthew Treviño, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

Nicholas Zammit, Flight

Original Composition/Score

"Assembly Lines," Ian Dicke

Flying, Justin Sherburn

Joy. Even Against Night., Justin T. Capps

A Man With a Gun Lives Here, Steve Snowden

I've Never Been So Happy, Peter Stopschinski

"Powerman," Graham Reynolds

re:Psyche, Mother Falcon

Songs of the Soul, Robert Kyr

The Virgin w/ 10,000 Arrows, Joey Reyes

Instrumentalist

Graeme Francis, percussion, Out of the Bach's

Adam Holzman, guitar, Adam Holzman and the Miró Quartet

Anne Akiko Meyers, violin, Anne Akiko Meyers with the Austin Symphony

Anton Nel, piano, Jessen Series of Distinguished Faculty Artists

Steve Parker, trombone, Fast Forward Austin

Michelle Schumann, piano, Out of the Bach's

Keith Womer, piano, Bach's Herd of Harpsichords

Ensemble

Aeolus Quartet

Bel Cuore Quartet

Line Upon Line

Miró Quartet

Mother Falcon

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DANCE

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Dance Concert

Are You Listening to Me?, Tapestry Dance Company

Here.Me.Now., Kathy Dunn Hamrick Dance Company

One, Blue Lapis Light

Parampara II, Austin Dance India

The Studio Theater Project, Ballet Austin

Short Work

"Exceptional Utopias," Tender Voices in Flight, Chaddick Dance Theater

"Home With Yellow Fever," Califa Arts Collaborative

"Journey #5," Voices, Ballet East

"Luminaria," Studio Theater Project, Ballet Austin

"silence within silence," Studio Theater Project, Ballet Austin

"Working the Line," Julie Nathanielsz/The Meeting Point, Fusebox Festival

Dancer

Paul Michael Bloodgood, "Lasting Imprint"

Theresa Hardy, One

Stephanie Keeton, Influences: A Cinematic Showdown

Travis Knights, Voices of Rhythm/Are You Listening to Me?

Aara Krumpe, "silence within silence"/La Sylphide

Michelle Martin, La Sylphide

Anuradha Naimpally, Parampara II

Erica Santiago, Here.Me.Now.

Christopher Swaim, La Sylphide

Jaime Lynn Witts, Kai

Ensemble Performance

Kai, Ballet Austin

La Sylphide, Ballet Austin

One, Blue Lapis Light

"Working the Line," The Meeting Point

Touring Show

Cédric Andrieux, Jérôme Bel, presented by Fusebox Festival

Cuando los Disfraces se Cuelgan, Delfos Danza Contemporánea, presented by Texas Performing Arts

Tango Buenos Aires, presented by Long Center

There is so much mad in me, Faye Driscoll, presented by testperformancetest and Fusebox Festival

dance, classical, performance