Consummate Artistry
The 2013-14 Austin Critics Table Awards
By Robert Faires, Fri., June 6, 2014
Zach Theatre's production of In the Next Room, or The Vibrator Play and Kathy Dunn Hamrick Dance Company's The Undoing of Nonet were the big winners at the Austin Critics Table Awards on Monday, each receiving four prizes from the informal affiliation of arts writers.
For its 22nd presentation of awards for notable artistic achievements, the Critics Table welcomed three groups into the Austin Arts Hall of Fame (Big Medium, Blue Genie Art Industries, and the Rude Mechanicals) and distributed honors in 42 categories. Trouble Puppet Theatre's The Crapstall Street Boys earned three awards, and 10 projects won two each: Rude Mechs' Fixing King John; Theatre En Bloc's Fat Pig; Texas State University Department of Theatre and Dance's Anything Goes; Zach Theatre's Les Misérables; Breaking String Theater's Three, or The Sound of the Great Existential Nothingness; KDH Dance's The Big Small; Julie Nathanielsz and Heloise Gold's Gold Show|Rose Show; Ariel Dance Theatre's Heart; the Golden Hornet Project/Texas Choral Consort/Texas Performing Arts collaboration Mozart Requiem Undead; and the Women & Their Work project Thirst.
Critics participating in this year's awards – covering the period from May 1, 2013, to April 30, 2014 – were the Austin American-Statesman's Cate Blouke (theatre), Claire Canavan (theatre), Luke Quinton (classical music/visual art), Claire Spera (dance), and Jeanne Claire van Ryzin (arts); and the Chronicle's Elizabeth Cobbe (theatre), Caitlin Greenwood (visual art), Adam Roberts (theatre/classical music), Seth Orion Schwaiger (visual art), Jonelle Seitz (dance), Stacy Alexander Smith (theatre), Natalie Zeldin (classical music), and Robert Faires (arts).
THEATRE
Production, Drama
Fat Pig, Theatre En Bloc
Production, Comedy
Der Bestrafte Brudermord, The Hidden Room Theatre
Production, Musical
Little Shop of Horrors, Zilker Theatre Productions
Direction
Sarah Rasmussen, In the Next Room, or The Vibrator Play
Ensemble Performance
Fixing King John, Rude Mechanicals
Music Direction
Greg Bolin, Anything Goes
Acting in a Leading Role
Jill Blackwood, In the Next Room, or The Vibrator Play
Emily Erington, Gidion's Knot
Ryan Hamilton, Fat Pig
Jason Liebrecht, The Lieutenant of Inishmore/Fixing King John
Jeff Mills, Three, or The Sound of the Great Existential Nothingness
Acting in a Supporting Role
Andrew Cannata, Les Misérables/Assassins
Ryan Crowder, Red
Amy Downing, In the Next Room, or The Vibrator Play
Traci Lee, Les Misérables
Tiffany Mann, One Night With Janis Joplin
Movement
Cassie Abate, Anything Goes
David Mark Cohen New Play Award
Three, or The Sound of the Great Existential Nothingness, Timothy Braun
Touring Show, Theatre (tie)
Jomama Jones: Radiate, Salvage Vanguard Theater
El Rumor del Incendio, Lagartijas Tiradas al Sol/Fusebox Festival
DANCE
Dance Concert
The Undoing of Nonet, Kathy Dunn Hamrick Dance Company
Short Work
"Resonance," Ariel Dance Theatre/Heloise Gold
Choreographer
Kathy Dunn Hamrick, The Big Small/The Undoing of Nonet
Dancer
Alyson Dolan, The Big Small/The Undoing of Nonet/The Bowie Project: A Rock & Roll Soundpainting/ "Grit"
Rebecca Johnson, A Midsummer Night's Dream/Giselle
Ensemble
A'lante Flamenco, Prophecies
DESIGN
Scenic Design
Moria Sine Clinton, In the Next Room, or The Vibrator Play
Costume Design
Judanna Lynn, The Nutcracker
Lighting Design
Stephen Pruitt, Gold Show|Rose Show/Heart/The Undoing of Nonet/The Crapstall Street Boys/PowerUP
Sound Design
K. Eliot Haynes, The Crapstall Street Boys
Media Design & Integration
K. Eliot Haynes & Chris Owen, The Crapstall Street Boys
CLASSICAL MUSIC
Symphonic Performance
Puts: How Wild the Sea, UT Symphony Orchestra with Miró Quartet
Chamber Performance
Reich: Music for Pieces of Wood/Soper: In the Reign of Harad IV/Xenakis: Okho, line upon line percussion
Choral Performance
Mozart Requiem Undead, Texas Choral Consort/Convergence/Golden Hornet Project
Opera
Tosca, Austin Lyric Opera
Singer
Cameron Beauchamp, Mozart Requiem Undead
Kathryn Findlen, That the Night Come
Original Composition/Score
"Black-Eyed Suzy," Donald Grantham
Instrumentalist
Brian Lewis, McLean: Elements
Ensemble
line upon line percussion
VISUAL ART
Museum Exhibition
"Converging Lines: Eva Hesse and Sol LeWitt," Veronica Roberts, curator; Blanton Museum of Art
Solo Gallery Exhibition (tie)
"Jessica Mathews: Stepping Into Water," Red Space
"Wura-Natasha Ogunji: Your heart is clean," MASS Gallery
Group Gallery Exhibition
"Something Lost," Phil LaDeau, curator; Co-Lab Projects N Space
Work of Art: Independent or Public Project
Thirst, Women & Their Work, Beili Liu, Emily Little, Norma Yancey, Cassie Bergstrom, Lady Bird Lake
Work of Art: Installation
Common Crossings, Marianne Vitale, The Contemporary Austin, Laguna Gloria
Artist (tie)
Michael Sieben
Claude van Lingen
Gallery, Body of Work
Tiny Park Gallery
SPECIAL CITATIONS
John Bustin Award for Conspicuous Versatility
Michael Stuart
W.H. "Deacon" Crain for Outstanding Student Work
Brittany Allyson, St. Edward's
Annie Wallace, Texas State University
Dancing Through the Pain Award
Ellen Bartel, I Begin Where I Grieve
Unlimited Edition Award
Elvia Perrin and Cathy Savage, PrintAustin 2014
Bow Monde Award
Butler School of Music, hosting of the 2014 Menuhin Competition
Red Tape Purple Heart Award
The Thirst team
