The Seattle Times Announces Its Footlight Awards

They call them "awards," but The Seattle Times' Footlight Awards are more or less a best-of, year-end wrap-up of what notably happened in Seattle theatre. And since they've hit pretty much everything large and small, I'm not going to bother doing my wrap-up. Instead, I'll just add my two cents to theirs.

Mike Pham and Rachel Hynes of Helsinki Syndrome in "The Importance of Being Earnest." Photo by Amber Wolfe.

Most of the plaudits go to the big companies--the Rep for Opus and Equivocation (though the latter was imported from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival), the Intiman for Abe Lincoln in Illinois (fair enough), and ACT for Rock 'n' Roll (really?). The big, notable exclusion from the list of mainstage shows is The Seafarer, which was a powerhouse of show. Russell Hodgkinson and Sean Griffin get mention for their performances in the show, but what about Hans Altwies? Also, the Rep's Betrayal blew a fair number of people's minds.

In terms of the big performances, there's a dearth of women represented. Yes, Anne Allgood is amazing, we all know. But surely Jennifer Lee Taylor and Betsy Schwartz deserve to be called out by name for their work in Orange Flower Water. The entire ensemble gets credit for that show, but the female roles are far more challenging than the male, and without their brilliant performances that play would have collapsed under the tedious weight of its overwrought plot. Oh, and no mention at all of Hana Lass, who impressed nearly everyone with back-to-back performances in Crime and Punishment at the Intiman and The Tempest at Seattle Shakespeare? First, Misha Berson tries to make her a poster child for local actors who can't find work, and now this?

On the "fringe" side (which has apparently become synonymous with "small" and "independent"), it feels a bit crowded. Everyone agrees that Strawberry Workshop's The Elephant Man was incredible, but with a cast consisting of David Pichette, MJ Sieber, and Alexandra Tavares, you might as well be at one of the regional theatres (if only they hired more local actors). The Community Theatre's Wrecks, a collection of Neil LaBute shorts staged at the Balagan, is a nice choice but feels out of place.

What the Times absolutely gets right is calling out three great local companies who produced amazing work. First, there's the Satori Group's Tragedy: a tragedy. Since their second major show, Artifacts of Consequence last month at the Little Theatre, everyone's all over this brilliant young crew. You can read all about the company in my interview with two members. Second, there's Helsinki Syndrome's adaptation of The Importance of Being Earnest, which played for twice as long at Richard Foreman's Ontological-Hysteric Incubator in New York as it did in Seattle (what the hell, Seattle theatre producers?). If you missed it, again, I interviewed both Mike Pham and Rachel Hynes, so you can read about it. And third--and this I give the Times credit for noting--is Backwards Ensemble Theatre's The Rez as I Saw It, a powerhouse play written by and starring Caleb Penn.

The Rez as I Saw It is a great reminder of why it's worth it to slog to horrible performance spaces, like the TPS studio on the fourth floor of the Center House. As much as I hate the space, I've seen more than one great show put on there by a company without money for much else. Another example that's overlooked in the Times was Marked Women Productions' Pretty Girls, a completely different but equally ambitious and surprising show that featured some incredible performances.

Another tiny show that deserves notice was Absurd Reality Theatre's production of Guardians on off-nights down at Theatre off Jackson. Amanda Stoddard's direction, and incredible performances by Adam Standley and Gabrielle Schutz, made this one of the most unforgettable plays of the year.