Six companies from South Florida's far-flung theater community rose to the top Monday when the 32nd annual Carbonell Awards for theatrical excellence were handed out in a glitzy ceremony hosted by Broadway star Christine Andreas at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts.
Honored for work in 10 different productions, the half-dozen troupes were more fortunate than other nominated companies -- including such heavyweight past winners as Manalapan's Florida Stage, Boca Raton's Caldwell Theatre Company and Palm Beach Dramaworks, as well as Fort Lauderdale's Inside Out Theatre and Women's Theatre Project, Davie's Promethean Theatre and Miami's City Theatre -- whose leaders and artists went home without a single Carbonell.
For the third year in a row, the 150-seat GableStage dominated the the dramatic category, winning best play for its production of Martin McDonagh's The Lieutenant of Inishmore and best director for the man who staged the show, Joseph Adler. Adler and the company won those awards last year for GableStage's production of another McDonagh play, The Pillowman. Kim Morgan won the award as best supporting actress for her work in Inishmore, and Lela Elam was named best actress for her performance in another GableStage production, In the Continuum.
The other two acting awards in the play category went to the same artist: Mad Cat founder and artistic director Paul Tei, who won best actor for his starring role in Eric Bogosian's Talk Radio and best supporting actor for his performance in David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross. Both plays were produced by Plantation's Mosaic Theatre, which also won the best ensemble Carbonell for its Glengarry cast.
Michael McKeever of Davie took home the Carbonell for best new work for his play Melt, a piece about life in multicultural South Florida that premiered at Coral Gables' New Theatre.
On the musical side, the Maltz Jupiter Theatre in northern Palm Beach County repeated last year's best musical and best director wins, taking the honors this year for its Man of La Mancha and the work of director Peter Flynn. The Maltz also won three of four design awards for La Mancha and The Boy Friend and the best choreography Carbonell for Denis Jones' work on The Boy Friend, giving the company six wins -- the most for any theater.
Actors' Playhouse in Coral Gables chalked up four Carbonells, three for its celebrated production of the edgy musical Urinetown (best supporting actor and actress honors for Jim Ballard and Rachel Jones, best musical director for David Nagy) and one to best actor Gary Marachek for his performance in La Cage aux Folles. Best actress honors went to Irene Adjan for her role in New Vista Theatre's Funny Girl.
Actors' Playhouse, which has won more than 50 Carbonells in two decades, also became the second recipient of the Bill Von Maurer Award for Theatrical Excellence.
For the second time, South Florida Sun-Sentinel theater and classical music critic Jack Zink was named winner of the George Abbott Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts.
Also honored: New Theatre founder Rafael de Acha, who won the Bill Hindman Award for significant long-term contributions to the region's cultural life; Caldwell Theatre Company artistic director Michael Hall, who won the Ruth Foreman Award for significant contributions to the development of theater in South Florida; and the Theatre League of South Florida, which got the Howard Kleinberg Award for contributing to the strength and development of the arts.
