We've Received 39 IRNE Award Nominations!

We've received 39 IRNE Award nominations from the Independent Reviewers of New England, which recognized each our 2011 productions. The 39 nominations are five more than we received for our 2010 productions and more than twice as many as any other company in New England.



The cast of Candide, photo: T. Charles Erickson

Our September-October 2011 production of Leonard Bernstein’s glorious musical Candide received 13 nominations, more than any other production of 2011, and was nominated in every category in which it is eligible: 

• Best Set Design: Daniel Ostling
• Best Lighting Design: T. J. Gerckens
• Best Costume Design: Mara Blumenfeld
• Best Sound Design: Richard Woodbury
• Best Choreography: Daniel Pelzig
• Best Supporting Actress – Musical: Cheryl Stern (The Old Lady)
• Best Supporting Actor – Musical: Timothy John Smith (The Governor)
• Best Actress – Musical: Lauren Molina (Cunegonde)
• Best Actor – Musical: Geoff Packard (Candide)
• Best Music Director: Doug Peck
• Best Director of a Musical: Mary Zimmerman
• Best Ensemble
• Best Musical 

Zainab Jah, Carla Duren, and Pascale Armand in Ruined, photo: Kevin Berne.

Our production of Ruined (January 2011), Lynn Nottage’s drama about the conflict in the Congo, which was included on a number of “Best of 2011” lists and produced in association with Berkeley Repertory Theatre and La Jolla Playhouse, tied with the American Repertory Theater’s The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess for the second most nominations with eleven:

• Best Set Design: Clint Ramos
• Best Lighting Design: Lap Chi Chu
• Best Costume Design: Kathleen Geldard
• Best Supporting Actress - Drama: Pascale Armand (Salima)
• Best Supporting Actress - Drama: Zainab Jah (Josephine)
• Best Supporting Actor - Drama: Oberon K.A. Adjepong (Christian)
• Best Actress - Drama: Tonye Patano (Mama Nadi)
• Best Director of a Drama: Liesl Tommy
• Best Sound Design: Broken Chord (Daniel Baker/Aaron Meicht)
• Best Ensemble
• Best Play

Tommy, Ramos, and Broken Chord reunite on the Huntington’s upcoming production of August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, which begins performances on March 9.

Each of the world premieres we produced in 2011 was nominated for Best New Play, in addition to other categories.

Jonathan Louis Dent, Dan McCabe, Kelsey Kurz, and Yusef Bulos in Sons of the Prophet, photo: Paul Marotta.

Stephen Karam’s Sons of the Prophet (April-May 2011), a comedy about suffering that transferred to Off Broadway in a hit Roundabout Theatre Company production where it was hailed by The New York Times as “the first important play of the fall season” received seven nominations:  

• Best Set Design: Anna Louizos
• Best Supporting Actress - Drama: Joanna Gleason (Gloria)
• Best Director of a Drama: Peter DuBois
• Best Sound Design: M. L. Dogg
• Best Ensemble
• Best New Play
• Best Play

Ross Bickell and Kippy Goldfarb in Before I Leave You, photo: T. Charles Erickson.

Huntington Playwriting Fellow Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro’s Before I Leave You (October-November 2011) about four longtime friends facing the third chapter of their lives received three nominations: Best Supporting Actor - Drama: Ross Bickell (Jeremy), Best Supporting Actress - Drama: Kippy Goldfarb (Emily), and Best New Play.

Michael Cristofer in Captors, photo: T. Charles Erickson

Evan M. Weiner’s Captors (November-December 2011) about the surprising connection formed between architect of the holocaust Adolf Eichmann and his Israeli captor received two nominations: Best Actor - Drama: Michael Cristofer (Eichmann) and Best New Play.

Jane Pfitsch and Andrew Long in Educating Rita, photo: T. Charles Erickson.

Educating Rita (March-April 2011), the story of a brash, young hairdresser eager to improve her lot in life, received three nominations: Best Set Design: Allen Moyer, Best Actress - Drama: Jane Pfitsch (Rita), and Best Director of a Drama: Maria Aitken. Aitken and Moyer reunite for the Huntington’s production of Private Lives, which begins May 25, 2012.

Richard Clothier in Richard III, photo: Manual Harlan

The Propeller Theatre Company’s production of Richard III, presented in repertory with The Comedy of Errors by Boston University’s School of Theatre in association with the Huntington in May and June, was nominated for Best Visiting Production.

John Kuntz in The Hotel Nepenthe, photo: J. Stratton McCrady

Huntington Playwriting Fellow John Kuntz was nominated for Best New Play for The Hotel Nepenthe, originally produced by Actors’ Shakespeare Project and to be remounted by the Huntington this coming June as part of the Emerging America festival. More information at emergingamericafestival.org.

The full list of IRNE nominations is available online.

The IRNE Awards will be presented on Monday, April 23 at 7:30pm at the Boston Center for the Arts’ Cyclorama. The Independent Reviewers of New England Committee includes Jules Becker, Sheila Barth, Kay Bourne, Shanni Brown, Beverly Creasey, Kathi Scrizzi Driscoll, Shirley Esthimer, Rich Fahey, Tom Garvey, Guy Giampapa, Norm Gross, Nancy Grossman, Robert Israel, Becca Kidwell, Bryce Lambert, Kilian Malloy, and Larry Stark. More information at irneawards.com.

What were your favorites of 2011 -- at the Huntington or elsewhere?