Mighty IT

The third annual New York Innovative Theatre (IT) Awards were held Monday, September 24 in the Haft Auditorium at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Chelsea. Created by enterprising theater artists Jason Bowcutt, Shay Gines, and Nick Micozzi, the awards are designed to honor the best of Off-Off-Broadway theater--the people, as one presenter quoted the legendary OOB patriarch Joe Cino as saying, "who make magic out of nothing."

I attended and covered last year's ceremony, and I'm happy to report that this year's festivities were just as exuberant and celebratory. If anything, the awards seemed to be distributed more evenly between the competing companies, and first-time host Julie Halston was predictably nutty, sarcastic, and hilarious.

There was some high-brow talent on hand to present the awards, including Speaker Christine Quinn, Tony Award winner (and Dream Girls star) Anika Noni Rose, lighting designer Natasha Katz (who described lighting as "a whisper you see"), costume queen Susan Hilferty, legendary actress Kathleen Chalfant, director Leigh Silverman, and composer Robert Lopez (Avenue Q).

If New York has "community theater" (which is to mean "theater of a community," not "amateurish") it's on the Off-Off-Broadway stages, where artists work for peanuts (or less: maybe peanut shells?) to put their vision on stage. Looking around the auditorium, I could see little "communities"--tight-knit groups of actors/directors/technicians who muscle through this city and support each other to get their shows up and running.

It was especially moving to see how seriously people have come to take these awards--there were the usual jokes and shout-outs to friends and God from behind the podium, but there were also genuinely honest tears, thanks to relatives who had traveled long distances to attend the ceremony, and tributes to departed parents and mentors.

Once again, I looked through the program and was mystified by the number of theater companies that I have a) never witnessed in action, and/or b) never even heard of. I made a list of companies to watch, and I'm looking forward to discovering what new creations they'll bring forth over the next year. I'm particularly curious to track Rising Phoenix Repertory, recipient of this year's Caffe Cino Fellowship Award. They took home the award for Outstanding Production of a Play for Daniel Reitz's Rules of the Universe, and Elizabeth West performed a dazzling and disarming monologue from the show, which took place on a series of toilet seats in a venue in the East Village.

I was particularly thrilled to see the Gallery Players' production of Urinetown take home the award for Outstanding Production of a Musical. I've reviewed many shows put on by this fantastic Park Slope-based company, and this one is easily the best I've seen.

Playwright Doric Wilson, a pioneer in gay theater and the first resident playwright of the infamous Caffe Cino, won the 2007 Artistic Achievement Award. As he reminisced about his eventful career, he scanned the crowd and pronounced: "You are the people who make the theater I believe in happen."

The IT Awards put a stamp of importance and pride on the Off-Off-Broadway world; I only hope that next year's ceremony will celebrate even more innovative companies and distinctive artists.

Pictured above: Tauren (member of the Urinetown cast) and I strike a pose before the show. Below: Host Julie Halston in action