Thespie "Nominees"

In just a few hours, the winners of this year's Thespie Awards will be on the newsstands. This is the 31st year of the Thespies--sponsored by the Lansing State Journal. They recognize great work done in the Lansing community during the 2009-2010 season.

Typically, only the winners are published, despite the large number of names that get considered. Part of this is because there is a limited amount of news hole. Also, with the process that the Thespie committee uses, we don't have formal nominees--thus the quote marks in the title. We float a lot of names before starting our votes. In some categories, a single judge might have a dozen nominees.

This year there had to be some last-minute changes in judges due to some illnesses and other complications. After the committee had discussed it for awhile after the meeting determining the winners was over, we thought it might be best to add an extra layer of transparency this year--to show the variety of shows and performers which were discussed.

Disclaimer: These were not formal nominees. They were the names we floated that made it through the first two or three rounds of elimination. They do include the winners.

In a couple cases, the professional and non-professional categories were divided out. These were cases where there were a great deal of nominees in both categories. I will post a link to the winners as soon as it is up (er, and I'm on the computer).

One more disclaimer: There are also several special awards--for those things which didn't fit within a category neatly. In a few categories, there is a winner but not enough other nominees for me to be able to list them here.

2009-2010 Thespie Nominees

Best Play:

• A Few Good Men, Riverwalk Theatre
• An Infinite Ache, Williamston Theatre
• Bluff, BoarsHead Theatre
• The Late Henry Moss, Icarus Falling
• The Seafarer, Peppermint Creek Theatre Company

Best Musical:

• Altar Boyz, Peppermint Creek
• Hank Williams: Lonesome Highway, Lansing Community College
• The Light in the Piazza, Riverwalk Theatre
• Rent, Michigan State University

Best Director, Play

• Chad Badgero, Seafarers, Peppermint Creek
• Tony Caselli, It Came From Mars, Williamston
• Tony Caselli, This Wonderful Life, Williamston
• James Glossman, Bluff, BoarsHead
• Suzi Regan, Home: Voices of Families from the Midwest, Williamston

Best Director, Musical

• Chad Badgero, Altar Boyz, Peppermint Creek
• Scott Burkell, Rent, MSU
• Jane Falion, The Light in the Piazza, Riverwalk
• John Lepard, Hank Williams, LCC

Best Lead Actor, Play, professional

• Jacob Albright, It Came From Mars, Williamston
• John Astin, Bluff, BoarsHead
• Aral Gribble, An Infinite Ache, Williamston
• John Lepard, This Wonderful Life, Williamston
• Wayne David Parker, It Came From Mars, Williamston

Best Lead Actor, Play, non-professional

• Doak Bloss, The Seafarers, Peppermint Creek
• Rick Dethlefsen, The Seafarers, Peppermint Creek
• Jack Dowd, The Late Henry Moss, Icarus Falling
• Michael Hayes, The Late Henry Moss, Icarus Falling
• Brad Rutledge, The Late Henry Moss, Icarus Falling
• Brad Rutledge, The Seafarers, Peppermint Creek

Best Supporting Actor, Play

• Dave Dunckel, A Few Good Men, Riverwalk
• Mark Gmazel, Things You Shouldn’t Say Past Midnight, Peppermint Creek
• Bill Henson, Things You Shouldn’t Say Past Midnight, Peppermint Creek
• Jacob Hodgsons, It Came From Mars, Williamston
• Brad Rutledge, A Few Good Men, Riverwalk

Best Featured Actor, Play

• Joe Dickson, Book of Days, Riverwalk
• Jason Garvey, You Can’t Take It With You, MSU
• Bill Henson, The Importance of Being Earnest, Capitol TheatreWorks
• Markitwia Jackson, The Late Henry Moss, IF
• Kevin Knights, The Late Henry Moss, IF

Lead Actress, play

• Sandra Birch, It Came From Mars, Williamston
• Jasmine Rivera, Infinite Ache, Williamston
• Emily Sutton-Smith, The Smell of the Kill, Williamston
• Piaget Ventus, In The Blood, MSU
• Veronica Gracia Wing, Enchanted April, Riverwalk
• Amy Winchell, Power Plays, IF

Supporting Actress, play, professional

• Laura Croff, The Smell of the Kill, Williamston
• Alysia Kolascz, It Came From Mars, Williamston
• Teri Clark Linden, The Smell of the Kill, Williamston

Supporting Actress, play, non-professional

• Sarah Blossom, Third, Peppermint Creek
• Abby Murphy, Enchanted April, Riverwalk
• Char'Tavia Mushatt, In the Blood, MSU
• Rachel Kabodian, Third, Peppermint Creek
• Sandra Thomason, Enchanted April, Riverwalk

Featured Actress, play

• Erin Cline, Ah Wilderness, LCC
• Carol Ferris, Size 8 Shorts, Riverwalk
• Julie Schilling, Bluff, BoarsHead
• Becky Tremble, Talking With, IF
• Gloria Vivalda, Enchanted April, Riverwalk
• Amy Winchell, Talking With, IF

Lead Actor, Musical

• Rusty Broughton, Rent, MSU
• Chad deKatch, The Light in the Piazza, Riverwalk
• Derek Smith, Hank Williams: Lost Highway, LCC
• Evan Pinsonnault, Into the Woods, Riverwalk

Supporting Actor, Musical

• Joseph Baumann, Into the Woods, Riverwalk
• Doak Bloss, Light in the Piazza, Riverwalk
• Jeff Kennedy, Into the Woods, Riverwalk
• Brandon Piper, Rent, MSU
• Sineh Wurie, Hank Williams, LCC

Lead Actress, Musical

• Emily English Clark, The Light in the Piazza, Riverwalk
• Claudia Dibbs, Rent, MSU
• Paige Lucas, The Light in the Piazza, Riverwalk
• Jennifer Schafer, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Riverwalk
• Veronica Gracia Wing, Into the Woods, Riverwalk

Supporting Actress, Musical

• Betsy Bledsoe, The Light in the Piazza, Riverwalk
• Laura Croff, Hank Williams, LCC
• Abigail English, Into the Woods, Riverwalk
• Laura Stebbins, The Light in the Piazza, Riverwalk
• Kellyn Uhl, Rent, MSU

Ensemble, Professional

• Bluff, BoarsHead
• Home: Voices of Families from the Midwest, Williamston
• It Came From Mars, Williamston

Ensemble, Non-Professional

• The Late Henry Moss, IF
• Opposites Attract, Lansing Civic Players
• Seafarer, Peppermint Creek
• Things You Shouldn’t Say Past Midnight, Peppermint Creek
• Trojan Women, MSU

Original Script, Professional

• Home: Voices of Families From the Midwest, By Annie Martin and Suzi Regan
• It Came From Mars, by Joseph Zettelmaier
• Three By Poe, by Paul Riopelle

Original Script, Non-Professional

• The Watch List by Eric Dawe
• Thunder Hoof and the Prince by Fran Johnson and Yvonne Whitmore
• I’ll Make Merry When I’m Good and Ready by Oralya Garza, Tony Sump, and Chuck Dimick

Children’s Show

• Thunderhoof and the Prince
• Bremen Town Musicians
• The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
• Dragonsong

Set Design

• Enchanted April, Riverwalk
• A Few Good Men, Riverwalk
• Home: Voices from Families of the Midwest, Williamston
• In the Blood, MSU
• The Light in the Piazza, Riverwalk
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, MSU
• The Smell of the Kill, Williamston

Set Dressing

• Ah, Wilderness, LCC
• The Light in the Piazza, Riverwalk
• Rent, MSU
• Seafarer, Peppermint Creek
• Three by Poe, Boarshead

Costumes

• Enchanted April, Riverwalk
• Frog and Toad are Friends, Holt-Dimondale Community Players
• In the Blood, MSU
• The Light in the Piazza, Riverwalk
• Rocky Horror Picture Show, MSU
• Trojan Women, MSU

**NOTE: There are additional nominees for lighting and sound, but there is a problem with my notes and I need to get the nominees confirmed by the other committee members before I publish them. My apologies.