It’s awards time once again at Kelsey Theatre at Mercer County Community College. The 2016 Kelsey Awards, a Tony Awards-inspired evening that celebrates the best theatrical productions and performers from the 2015-16 season, takes place Saturday, Aug. 20, starting at 7 p.m.
Based on voting by Kelsey Theatre fans, the Kelsey Awards will highlight the best performances, technical achievements, direction and choreography from the past year. The ceremony will also honor Pete Labriola with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Labriola has been an innovator in the theater community for decades and has served as artistic director for Pierrot Productions, one of the companies that performs at Kelsey Theatre, since 1989.
The event will reprise performances by the casts of The Addams Family, Mary Poppins, Violet and City of Angels.
New this year will be preview performances from two upcoming shows: Miss Saigon (Sept. 9 to 25) and In The Heights (Oct. 14 to 23), along with a reunion performance by the cast of Avenue Q from 2013. Hosts for this year’s show are comediennes Jaimie McMillin, Maria Aromando and Kim Cupo.
“To gather some of the best talent in New Jersey and have them on one stage in one big show is a unique night of enjoyment for theater fans,” said Kyrus Westcott, the show’s producer, director and head writer. The Kelsey Awards have been presented by K2KEntertainment and the Kelsey Theatre Advisory Board as a live show since 2011. The awards were first presented in 2009.
Nominees for Outstanding Production of a Play are PinnWorth Productionsfor August: Osage County, M&M Stage Productions for It’s a Wonderul Life, the Yardley Players for Rumors and the Pennington Players for The Diary of Anne Frank.
Nomines for Outstanding Production of a Musical are Maurer Productions OnStage for City of Angels, the Yardley Players for Mary Poppins, Playful Theatre Productions for The Addams Family and the Pennington Players for Violet.
Nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play is Brian Tudor Leeds as Nick Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Tim Moran as George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life, Ron SanGiovanni as Lenny in Rumors and Jack Bathke as Otto Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank.
Nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play are Liz Wurtz as Martha Brewster in Arsenic & Old Lace, Laurie Hardy as Barbara Westin in August: Osage County, Angela Fasanella as Mary Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life and Isabel Kinney as Anne Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank.
Nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Musical are John Zimmerman as Stine in City of Angels, Matthew Muccigrossi as Bert in Mary Poppins, Elio Lleo as Gomez Addams in The Addams Family and Kyrus Keenan Westcott as Flick in Violet.
Nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical are Jordan Virgil as Bonnie Parker in Bonnie & Clyde, Samantha Sharpe as Jo March in Little Women, Cat Tierney as Morticia Addams in The Addams Family and Shannen Doyle as Violet in Violet.
The nomination round took place in early July. The second round of voting, which will decide the winners, will be held between Aug. 13 and 18. For the full list of nominations or for more information, go to kelseyawards.com.
Kelsey Theatre is located on MCCC’s West Windsor campus, 1200 Old Trenton Road. Tickets are $16 and are available at kelseytheatre.net or by calling the Kelsey Theatre Box Office at (609) 570-3333.
