2011 Rogue's Gallery, Part 3

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Properties Design

Kirstin Bianchi, Salvage, Planet Ant Theatre
•Danna Segrest, Corktown, Purple Rose Theatre Co.
•Charles Sutherland, The Piano Lesson, Performance Network Theatre
•Barbie Weisserman, boom, Breathe Art Theatre Project
•Patricia A. York, The Lady with All the Answers, Stormfield Theatre

Segrest furnished fake blood, weaponry, and bag upon weighted bag of body parts — oh my! Office detritus and stacks of letters among the comforts of home were the fruits of York’s meticulous labors. Weisserman used a panoply of survival gear and noisemakers to keep the viewer guessing. Sutherland’s period-appropriate symbols of everyday life turned the buzz of successive vignettes into the thrum of a household. But Bianchi didn’t just dress a crowded collectibles store; myriad auction items turned the incredibly thorough set into an actual marketplace.

Lighting Design (Proscenium Seating)

Reid G. Johnson, The 39 Steps, Meadow Brook Theatre
•Kevin Barron, Hylomorph, Planet Ant Theatre
•Thomas H. Schraeder, Of Mice and Men, Hilberry Theatre
•Daniel C. Walker, Marie Antoinette: The Color of Flesh, Performance Network Theatre
•Jon Weaver, The Cider House Rules (Parts 1 and 2), Hilberry Theatre

The stark beauty of Schraeder’s rainbow California sunset was sorrowfully contrasted by dusty scenes of yearning and destitution. Walker saturated his backdrop to keep the outside world dissociated and unreal as a painting. Although no viewer could miss such batty departures from reality, Barron’s disco-assisted lights were a welcome beacon of metaphysics gone awry. Weaver’s inexhaustible looks and moods were crucial to the flow of a sweeping epic. However, Johnson achieved the impossible: replicating the cinematic look here! close-up on the expansive Meadow Brook canvas.

Lighting Design (Surround Seating)

Ryan Davies, Eleemosynary, Williamston Theatre
•Hillary Bard, Dance Xanax Dance, Planet Ant Theatre
•Tim Fox, Among Friends, Stormfield Theatre
•Eric W. Maher, Waiting for Godot, The Abreact
•Dana L. White, Oedipus, Williamston Theatre

Maher’s relentless lighting, and its few abrupt cues, provided a terrific sense of (in)action already in progress. The subtlety of Fox’s distinctions made the multipurpose setting not look different, but feel different, from house to house. White turned the exposure of staging in the round to his advantage, delivering a startling climactic effect. Bard’s design sustained the pop music pervasiveness of a David Bowie fairy tale. Ultimately, Davies’s deep pools of light triumph for magnifying the characters’ solitude and being breathtaking in their own right.

Original Production

Fish Dinner, Planet Ant Theatre
•Best Damn Holiday Show, Go Comedy!
•The Everyman Project, The New Theatre Project
•F$$$ the Holidays, Sweetlove Productions and the Ringwald
•Ferndale 2-4-8, Go Comedy!

At times personal, at others universal, The Everyman Project kept its moments intimate without becoming self-indulgent. Both Best Damn Holiday Show and Ferndale 2-4-8 demonstrated the Go company’s proclivity for sketch comedy and its competent execution of same. F$$$ the Holidays had just enough story to support the abundantly funny character quirks and unlikely partnerships that were the production’s greatest strength. To the uninitiated, honoring Fish Dinner may seem like the Quintin Hicks Is Hilarious Award, but making this masterfully crafted one-man show look effortlessly off-the-cuff is merely another facet of its achievement.

Duo or Trio

Stephen Blackwell and David Schoen, Waiting for Godot, The Abreact
•Hallie B. Bard, Maggie Meyer, and Inga R. Wilson, Crimes of the Heart, Tipping Point Theatre
•Erman Jones and Peter Prouty, Of Mice and Men, Hilberry Theatre
•Aphrodite Nikolovski and Jim Porterfield, Some Couples May…, Purple Rose Theatre Co.
•Rob Pantano and Kevin Young, The 39 Steps, Meadow Brook Theatre

Simultaneously inhabiting the realms of closeness and judgment, Bard, Meyer, and Wilson were real, heartfelt, exceptional sisters. Pantano and Young clowned together with staggering precision and abundantly evident trust. Lenny and George’s fragile partnership took devastating hold in the tender pairing of Jones and Prouty. Nikolovski’s domination of Porterfield was a story departure that shocked with its intimacy and resonated in its exceptional teamwork. Then there’s Blackwell and Schoen, partners in despondence and malaise, who wrung hilarity and meaning both out of a heady and static text.