War Horse, Gatz, Among L.A. Drama Critics Award Winners for Lighting and Sound

	Davis Gaines and Christine Lakin in Silence Photo by Michael Lamont Davis.

The 44th annual Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle (LADCC) Awards ceremony, hosted by French Stewart (3rd Rock From the Sun), was held March 18 at 7:30PM at the Los Angeles Theatre Center. This year's theme was "Theatre Everywhere."

Center Theatre Group took home ten plaques for its various venues while artistic director Michael Ritchie accepted a special award for a season that included the Ahmanson's War Horse, honored for production, lighting design, and puppetry.

The 2012 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards for lighting design went to Paule Constable (original) and Karen Spahn (additional and adaptation) for War Horse by Center Theatre Group, Bob Boyett, National Theatre of Great Britain, Ostar Productions, and Ken Gentry at Ahmanson Theatre.

Lighting design nominations went to: Lap Chi Chu, The Convert, Center Theatre Group at Kirk Douglas Theatre; Jeremy Pivnick, Bad Apples, Circle X Theatre at Atwater Village Theatre; and Dan Weingarten, No Good Deed, Furious Theatre Company at [Inside] the Ford.

The award for best sound design went to Ben Williams for Gatz, Elevator Repair Service, at REDCAT. Nominations included John Zalewski, Macbeth, The Antaeus Company at Deaf West Theatre and John Zalewski, The Treatment, The Theatre @ Boston Court in Collaboration with Theatre Movement Bazaar at The Theatre @ Boston Court.

Anthony Beckman and Ben Rock won for their CGI/Video work on Stoneface, The Rise and Fall and Rise of Buster Keaton, Sacred Fools Theater Company at Sacred Fools Theater. The nominations were Tei Blow, In Paris, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Dmitry Krymov Laboratory, The AG Foundation in association with the Korjaamo Culture Factory at The Broad Stage; Greg Sowizdrzal, The Pianist of Willesden Lane, The Geffen Playhouse and Hershey Felder at The Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater at Geffen Playhouse; and Jason H. Thompson, No Good Deed, Furious Theatre Company at [Inside] the Ford.

The set design award went to John Iacovelli, Waiting for Godot, Center Theatre Group at Mark Taper Forum, while nominations went to Edward E. Haynes Jr., Fraternity, Ebony Repertory Theatre at Nate Holden Performing Arts Center; David Mauer and Hazel Kuang, Dirty Filthy Love Story, Rogue Machine at Theatre/Theater; and Desma Murphy, The Water's Edge, The Road Theatre Company at Historic Lankershim Arts Center.

There were two winners for best costume design: Ellen McCartney for her work on The Treatment, The Theatre @ Boston Court in Collaboration with Theatre Movement Bazaar at The Theatre @ Boston Court and Leah Piehl for Intimate Apparel at The Pasadena Playhouse. Angela Balogh Calin, costume designer for Cymbeline at A Noise Within and Val Miller, Heartbreak House, Theatricum Botanicum settled for nominations.

Best production went to Cyrano, The Fountain Theatre and Deaf West Theatre at The Fountain Theatre; David Elzer, Peter Schneider, and Justin Rush Productions in association with Celebration Theatre at Celebration Theatre for their work on Justin Love; The Book of Mormon, Anne Garefino and Scott Rudin, Pantages Theatre; and War Horse, Center Theatre Group, Bob Boyett, National Theatre of Great Britain, Ostar Productions and Ken Gentry at Ahmanson Theatre. Nominations were Bad Apples, Tim Wright and Jennifer A. Skinner, Circle X Theatre at Atwater Village Theatre; Jitney, South Coast Repertory's production at The Pasadena Playhouse; Silence! The Musical, Theater Mogul/Oskar Eiriksson and MagicSpace Entertainment at The Hayworth Theatre; and The Grönholm Method, Baby Tiger Productions, Daniel Wallace and Trish Whitehurst in association with Falcon Theatre at Falcon Theatre.

Already-voted-upon awards were presented to Adrian Kohler with Basil Jones for Handspring Puppet Theatre, in recognition of the design, fabrication, and direction of the puppets of War Horse at the Ahmanson Theatre; and to David McCormick and Kelly Todd for their fight direction of West Side Story at the Chance Theatre in Anaheim. In addition, a special plaque was awarded to Center Theatre Group for an excellent season.