“How To Succeed…” and “The Pride” Lead Nominations For 6th Annual Gypsy Awards Honoring Seattle Theater

Eric Ankrim, center in blue suit with the ensemble, earned a Best Actor in a Musical nomination for his work in The 5th Avenue Theatre’s production of “How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” in the 6th annual Gypsy Rose Lee Awards honoring excellence in Seattle area theater for 2016. The production earned a total of 9 nominations this year.

A group I’m part of, the Seattle Theater Writers, announced our nominations for the 6th annual GYPSY ROSE LEE AWARDS which honor excellence in Seattle area theater for the 2016 calendar year. Named after the iconic performer Gypsy Rose Lee who was born in Seattle, the awards are unique in that they honor the work of both larger and smaller theater companies. Other awards tend to mostly focus on bigger budgeted theater often ignoring the superb work done by small and fringe theaters in Seattle. For the last six years, the groups has honored theaters and artists in approximately 28 to a high of 33 categories this year, adding “Video Design” to the honorees for the first time.

This year, The 5th Avenue Theatre’s glorious production of the classic 1960s set musical HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING and the intimate gay themed drama THE PRIDE produced by the small but astonishingly productive queer theater company Theatre 22 led the nomination tally with 9 nominations each including a “Best Musical Production” nomination for “How To Succeed…” and a “Best Play Production” nod for “The Pride”.

Other shows racking up big numbers: ACTs compelling boxing drama THE ROYALE and Sound Theatre Company’s production of the musical PARADE each earned 7 nominations. Intiman’s WEDDING BAND and Village Theatre’s BILLY ELLIOT both snagged 6 nominations as did Pork Filled Productions’s charming steampunk adventure play HAND OF TALONS.

Andre Nelson and Trevor Young Marston in Theatre 22’s production of “The Pride” which earned 9 Gypsy Award nominations. Photo Credit: MR Toomey Photography

One of the most astonishing local comebacks is for ArtsWest, the intimate theater space and gallery in West Seattle. Under the new leadership of Artistic Director Mathew Wright and Managing Director Laura Lee, the company has artistically blossomed over the last two seasons with inspired and compelling productions. This year the theater earned six nominations for their production of the musical VIOLET, plus 5 noms for their beautiful version of Arthur Miller’s DEATH OF A SALESMAN as well as 2 nods for their riveting production of Ibsen’s GHOSTS.

Also earning 5 Gypsy nominations: Strawberry Theatre Workshop’s riveting 9 CIRCLES and Book-It’s  time trippy adaptation of the Ruth Ozeki novel, A TALE OF THE TIME BEING.

More about this year’s Gypsy Awards and a complete list of nominees:

Seattle Theater Writers, Seattle’s only critics’ circle, presents the 6th annual Gypsy Rose Lee Awards, theater awards devoted to recognizing excellence across the economic spectrum of professional Seattle theaters. Our aim in developing the awards is to entice the general public to consider seeing excellent theatrical events at myriad venues they may never have entered before!

Miryam Gordon, head writer-wrangler, says, “We know that human nature seems to love awards and we hope to draw more people to pay attention to (and perhaps even attend) an art form that we love. We also feel that a blended opinion, especially from people who often do not agree, is perhaps a more powerful opinion. If we agree on excellence, we think it means more than any one opinion alone.

“The winners represent coming to a consensus, which can be quite a challenge. It’s not easy to bring people with very different opinions to agreement. We all take these selections quite seriously. Invariably, we each champion different people or productions and sometimes there is vigorous debate before we settle on our slate.”

The winners will be announced Friday, January ​27, 2017.

“2016 ​ was a challenging year, from powerhouse co-productions to the proliferation of tiny companies with mighty visions that continue to populate our cultural landscape,” says Gordon. “Our nominations are an enormous acknowledgement of the vibrancy of our theatrical community.”

Arranged in 33 (one more than last year) categories in two divisions (Large Theaters and Small Theaters), the 2016 Gypsy Rose Lee Award Nominees are (by category, in alpha order by name):