News
2013-14 Ovation Awards Nominations Are Announced
Twelve UCLA TFT faculty and alums are in the mix
The Department of Theater at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television was well represented when the 2014 LA Stage Alliance Ovation Awards nominations were announced on Mon., Sept. 22. Three faculty members, one of whom is also a UCLA TFT alumnus, and nine other alumni were recognized for their contributions to regional theater in the Greater Los Angeles area during the 2013-14 theater season.
UCLA TFT Visiting Associate Professor BRIAN KITE (B.A., ’91, M.F.A. ’04), who is also the producing artistic director of the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, was nominated as best director of a musical for the company’s production of Les Miserables. His nomination was one of 17 that La Mirada received as a whole.
The Los Angeles Theater Center production of Premeditation, directed by LATC Artistic Director and Professor JOSE LUIS VALENZUELA, received three nominations: best director of a play (Valenzuela); best production of a play (large theater); and best lighting design for PABLO SANTIAGO (M.F.A., Theater, ’13).
Visiting Assistant Professor JESSICA KUBZANSKY was nominated as best director of a play for her direction of Everything You Touch at The Theater @ Boston Court in Pasadena, one of 19 nominations that the theater group received.
A full list of UCLA TFT nominees follows:
SHEILA CALLAGHAN (M.F.A., Theater, ’97)
Playwriting for an original play — Everything You Touch
JON GOTTLIEB (M.F.A., Theater, ’07)
Sound design (Large Theater) — Country House
SHANNON HOLT (B.A., Theater, ’84)
Featured actress in a play — Passion Play
ANNA KHAJA (B.A., Theater, ’97)
Lead actress in a play — My Name Is Ahser Lev
HANA KIM (M.F.A., Theater, ’12)
Video/projection design — The Ugly One
Video/projection design — Pray to Ball
BRIAN KITE (Theater, B.A., ’91; M.F.A., ’04)
Director of a musical — Les Miserables
JESSICA KUBZANSKY
Director of a play — Everything You Touch
SPENCER LEE (B.A., Film and Television, ’98)
Video/projection design — Pray to Ball
TIM ROBBINS (B.A., Theater, ’82)
Director of a play — A Midsummer Night's Dream
PABLO SANTIAGO (MFA, Theater, ’13)
Lighting design — Premeditation
KELLY TODD (B.A., Theater, ’97)
Choreography — Lysistrata Jones
JOSE LUIS VALENZUELA
Director of a play — Premeditation
Additionally, Professor RICH ROSE designed the set for La Mirada’s production of Floyd Collins, which received a total of nine nominations.
The 2014 LA Stage Alliance Ovation Awards will take place on Sun., Nov. 2 at the San Gabriel Mission Playhouse.
Posted: September 29, 2014
UPDATE: Kelly Todd won an Ovation Award for her choreography of Lysistrata Jones at the Chance Theater in Anaheim Hills.