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Live theater. Unsolicited commentary.
From Detroit to Lansing.

Carolyn Hayes is the Rogue Critic, est. late 2009.

In 2011, the Rogue attended 155 plays, readings, and festivals (about 3 per week) and penned 115 reviews (about 2.2 per week).

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The Abreact (Detroit)
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The AKT Theatre Project (Wyandotte)
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Blackbird Theatre (Ann Arbor)
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Detroit Repertory Theatre (Detroit)
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The Encore Musical Theatre Co. (Dexter)
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Go Comedy! (Ferndale)
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Hilberry Theatre (Detroit)
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Magenta Giraffe Theatre Co. (Detroit)
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Matrix Theatre (Detroit)
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Meadow Brook Theatre (Rochester)
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Performance Network Theatre (Ann Arbor)
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Planet Ant Theatre (Hamtramck)
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Plowshares Theatre (Detroit)
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Purple Rose Theatre Co. (Chelsea)
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The Ringwald Theatre (Ferndale)
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Tipping Point Theatre (Northville)
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Threefold Productions (Ypsilanti)
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Two Muses Theatre (West Bloomfield Township)
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Williamston Theatre (Williamston)
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« Season In Review — The Abreact | Main | Boxfest Detroit 2011 »
Monday
Aug152011

2011 Rogue's Gallery nominations

Click here to skip to the full list.

Thirty categories; one hundred fifty nominations. I thought I was crazy to take on so much. An hour into the teeth-gnashing process, I knew I was indeed crazy, but not for the reason I thought. As it turns out, one hundred fifty is hardly enough.

The 2011 Rogue's Gallery reflects on a season of excellence and wonder, but it is by no means representative. These are not — by a long shot — the only outstanding productions and performances of the 2010–2011 season. What you see is a paltry fraction of a crowded top tier. Moreover, behind these one hundred fifty names and teams and productions stands a bevy of colleagues and costars whose own acknowledged toil and artistry were major contributors to the exemplary work listed herein.

Lauding some and not others is no more fair than it is entirely accurate, but the system is imperfect: Distribution and repetition concerns kept me from naming individual performances already covered in a Best Ensemble nomination. The success of a scenic design is tied in with the lighting scheme, and vice versa; where the set ends and the properties begin is not always evident to the critic. The slippery slope from drama to comedy can be maddening. 

Of course, this proud rapscallion would be amiss in failing to recognize her fellow knaves in derring-do. For this purpose, I've instituted the Best Rogue category: five gleefully villainous devils, cads, and scallawags unafraid to demonstrate how very good it is to be bad. 

Listed within are nominees from a total of seventy-seven productions by twenty-one theaters and companies. I maintain it wasn't enough — two hundred fifty nominations wouldn't have seemed sufficient. Congratulations to all the 2011 Rogue's Gallery nominees, and sincerest thanks to every single individual who contributed to this outstanding season.

View the 2011 Rogue's Gallery here.