Steppenwolf, Chicago Shakespeare TimeLine, and Porchlight Theatres Take Top Honors at the 45th Jeff Awards

At the gala 45th Annual Equity Jeff Awards, held at Drury Lane Oakbrook on Monday, November 4, Steppenwolf Theatre Company's Good People received the award for Production-Play in a large tier theatre. Principal Actress Mariann Mayberry was also honored for her role in this David Lindsey-Abaire play, which considers the dangerous consequences of holding on to the past or leaving it behind. William Brown received Best Director of a play for Writers Theatre's production of the French farce The Liar, adapted by David Ives.

The Scenic Design Award for a large tier theatre went to David Gallo for his work on Head of Passes at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, while the same award for a mid-size tier theatre went to Angela Weber Miller for her design of Edward Albee's Seascape at Remy Bumppo Theatre Company.

T.J. Gerckens won the Lighting Design Award for a large-tier theatre for Metamorphoses at Lookingglass Theatre Company. Brian Sidney Bembridge took home the mid-size-tier theatre Lighting Design Award for Concerning Strange Devices from the Distant West at TimeLine Theatre Company.

In the category of Sound Design, James Savage won the large-tier theatre award for Othello: The Remix at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. For a midsize-tier theatre, Jim Jensen, Lisselan ProductionsZE, Martin Desjardins, Andre Pluess, and Christian Gero were recognized for their work on columbinus at American Theater Company.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater's Sunday in the Park with George won top awards with three statues: Production-Musical in the large theatre category, director Gary Griffin, and projections designer Mike Tutaj. The Stephen Sondheim/James Lapine musical was inspired by the painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat, which hangs in the Art Institute of Chicago.

In the midsize theatre tier, TimeLine Theatre Company won the award for Production-Play with 33 Variations, a play by Moises Kaufman inspired by Ludwig van Beethoven's eponymous work. The midsize Production-Musical award went to Porchlight Music Theatre's A Class Act, a musical retrospective of composer-lyricist Edward Kleban, best known as lyricist for A Chorus Line. Principal Actor in a Musical was awarded to Bill Larkin for his moving portrayal of Kleban. The Lyric Opera of Chicago ventured onto the comedy scene with The Second City in The Second City Guide to the Opera, which earned awards in the Production-Revue category and for director Billy Bungeroth. David M. Lutken received the Actor in a Revue statue for Northlight Theatre's Woody Sez: The Life & Music of Woody Guthrie.

A Special Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to actor Dale Benson, in recognition of his career spanning over half a century of continuous work in Chicagoland theatre. The award presentation by Jeff Awards chair Diane Hires included a musical montage featuring "Make 'Em Laugh" performed by a chorale of actors for Benson, their colleague.

Chicago continues to be the hub for premiering new works. Top awards for New Work-Play went to both Luis Alfaro's Mojada, a reimagination of Euripides' Medea in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood, produced by Victory Gardens Theater; and to Rajiv Joseph's The Lake Effect, a drama of an Indian American family in crisis, produced by Silk Road Rising. David Rice won New Adaptation-Play honors for his musical version of Cymbeline in Civil War Appalachia, produced by First Folio Theatre. Rice's collaboration with composer Michael Keefe also received the statue for Original Music in a Play.

Television and screen actor Michael Shannon returned to his theatrical home to win Actor in a Principal Role-Play award as the conniving Carter in Sam Shepard's Simpatico at A Red Orchid Theatre. Christine Sherrill received Actress in a Principal Role-Musical as faded silent screen star Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard at Drury Lane Oakbrook. Alexis J. Rogers took the top honor for Solo Performance for her captivating performance as jazz legend Billie Holiday in Porchlight Music Theatre's Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill. Honors for supporting roles in a play were awarded to Raymond Fox in TimeLine Theatre Company's Blood and Gifts and Elizabeth Ledo in Tartuffe at Court Theatre. Awards for supporting roles in a musical went to André De Shields in The Jungle Book produced by Goodman Theatre and Huntington Theatre Company, and Bethany Thomas in South Pacific at Marriott Theatre. Newcomer Callie Johnson received an award for Cameo Performance in Porchlight Music Theatre's Pal Joey.

The prestigious Ensemble Award went to the Q Brothers' hip-hop Othello: The Remix from Chicago Shakespeare Theater and Richard Jordan Productions Ltd. The Q Brothers creative interpretations have inspired new appreciation of the Bard.