The Bay Area Critics Circle Awards
25 YEARS OF AWARDS
Entire Production, Drama Awards
1977 The Circle, American Conservatory Theater; Daddies, Julian Theatre; A Flea in Her Ear, Berkeley Repertory Theatre; Are You Lookin’?, Magic Theatre
1978 Earthworms, Berkeley Stage Company; Save Me a Place at Forest Lawn, One Act Theater Company; Edward II, TheatreWorkers; Ah, Wilderness!, American Conservatory Theater
1979 Pericles, Berkeley Shakespeare Festival; The Little Foxes, American Conservatory Theater; Comedians, Eureka Theatre; Landscapes of the Body, Eureka Theatre
1980 Getting Out, Julian Theater; The Merry Wives of Windsor, Berkeley Repertory Theatre
1981 Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?, Illustrated Stage Company; The Norman Conquests, Berkeley Repertory Theatre
1982 The Blood Knot, San Francisco Repertory Theatre; Savages, Berkeley Repertory Theatre
1983 American Buffalo, Berkeley Repertory Theatre; Cloud 9, Eureka Theatre; Macbeth, Berkeley Shakespeare Festival
1984 Kabuki Medea, Berkeley Repertory Theatre; Nicholas Nickleby, College of Marin; Otherwise Engaged, Berkeley Repertory Theatre
1985 About Face, Eureka Theater; Buried Child, Magic Theatre; The Couch, Magic Theatre; Execution of Justice, Berkeley Repertory Theatre; Opera Comique, American Conservatory Theater; Tokens, Theatre Artaud
1986 Deer Rose, Theatre Artaud
1987 A Lie of the Mind, American Conservatory Theater
1988 Breaking the Code, Magic Theatre
1989 Right Mind, George Coates Performance Works; A View from the Bridge, Berkeley Repertory Theatre; Fool for Love, North Beach Repertory
1990 East, Industrial Strength Productions; Man and Superman, Berkeley Repertory Theatre
1991 Angels in America, Eureka Theatre
1992 Mad Forest, Berkeley Repertory Theatre; Pre-Game, Climate Theatre & Crunch and Punch Productions
1993 Dancing at Lughnasa, Berkeley Repertory Theatre; Four Plays of the Sea, Just So Productions
1994 Angels in America, American Conservatory Theater; Machinal, Actors Theatre of San Francisco; A Midsummer’s Night Dream, Marin Shakespeare Festival; Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Berkeley Repertory Theatre; The Triumph of Love, Berkeley Repertory Theatre
1995 An Ideal Husband, Berkeley Repertory Theatre; Orestes, Fifth Floor in association with Eureka Theatre
1996 Heartbreak House, Berkeley Repertory Theatre; Intimate Exchanges, Aurora Theatre; subUrbia, Actors Theatre of San Francisco
1997 Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, Leonard Soloway, Chase Mishkin, Jonathan Reinis; Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme, Viaduct Theatre
1998 Golden Child, American Conservatory Theater; Beautiful Thing, New Conservatory Theatre Center
1999 Metamorphoses, Berkeley Repertory Theatre; Swimming in the Shallows, The Shotgun Players
2000 Dealer’s Choice, Actors Theatre of San Francisco; The Homecoming, Aurora Theatre
Entire Production, Musical Awards
1977 Purlie, Phoenix Theater
1978 Beach Blanket Babylon Goes to the Stars, Steve Silver Productions
1979 Coward! In a Cardboard Cup, The Coward Company
1980 The Club, Reinis-Krempetz Productions; Holy Cow, Angels of Light; Iolanthe, Lamplighters Music Theatre
1981 Factwino Meets the “Moral Majority,” San Francisco Mime Troupe
1982 Earnest in Love, Lamplighters Music Theatre; Tomfoolery, Lou Shaw Productions
1983 Corridos, El Teatro Campesino; Jump Street Rag, Gillespie, Mills, and Frederick; NASHional Anthem, Nedgo Productions
1984 Something’s Afoot, Lamplighters Music Theatre; Billie’s Song, P’thos
1985 HMS Pinafore, Lamplighters Music Theatre; RareArea, George Coates Performance Works; The Tooth of Crime, Berkeley Repertory Theatre; Tune the Grand Up, 1117 Club
1986 Sunday in the Park with George, American Conservatory Theater
1987 Sammy Cahn: Words and Music, Marines Memorial Theatre
1988 Diamond Lil, American Conservatory Theater
1989 Rags, TheatreWorks; Candide, TheatreWorks; No, No, Nanette, Chabot College
1990 Curse of the Werewolf, Reinis, Spivak and Maged; Into the Woods, TheatreWorks
1991 Good News, Chabot College; Ruddigore, Lamplighters Music Theatre; And What, Give up Show Biz?, Joe Lillis
1992 Cole!, San Jose Repertory Theatre; Smoke on the Mountain, CitiArts; Woody Guthrie’s American Song, Berkeley Repertory Theatre and San Jose Repertory Theatre
1993 Almost September, TheatreWorks; On the Town, San Jose Civic Light Opera; Phantom of the Opera, Cameron Macintosh
1994 Closer than Ever, Theater Artists of Marin and Cubit Productions; The World Goes ‘Round, TheatreWorks
1995 Medea, the Musical, Air Zimmerman Productions; The Secret Garden, TheatreWorks; She Loves Me, TheatreWorks
1996 A Little Night Music, American Musical Theatre of San Jose; Cabaret, TheatreWorks; Guys and Dolls, Peninsula Civic Light Opera; My Fair Lady, The Mountain Play
1997 Your Arms Too Short to Box with God, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre; High Society, American Conservatory Theater
1998 Brimstone, The Willows Theatre; Dames at Sea, Marines Memorial Theatre & Charles H. Duggan; Phantom, Peninsula Civic Light Opera
1999 Sunday in the Park with George, TheatreWorks; South Pacific, American Musical Theatre of San Jose
2000 1776, Willows Theatre Company
SPECIAL CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDS
1977 Paine Knickerbocker, Theatre Critic; Beach Blanket Babylon Goes Bananas, Bullshot Crummond, and Evolution of the Blues for contributions to Bay Area theater.
1978 Fred Geick, House Manager, Geary Theater; Ina Claire, Actor
1979 San Francisco Mime Troupe
1980 Gene Angell, Architect for the new Berkeley Repertory Theatre
1981 Richard Reineccius, Artistic Director, Julian Theatre
1982 None awarded
1983 Russell Hartley, Founder, Archives of the Performing Arts (awarded posthumously); Playwrights Unlimited for the Bay Area Playwrights Festival
1984 College of Marin Drama Department; Theater Rhinoceros for The AIDS Show
1985 Danny Glover, Actor; One Act Theater Company
1986 Stephen Fritsch-Rudser, Performance Signer for the Deaf
1987 Berkeley Repertory Theatre, for its marking of the Eugene O’Neill Centennial; Hanns Kolmar, Publicist
1988 Tale Spinners Theatre: The Oral History Project; Don Johnson and Gary Menger, In Memory of Friends
1989 Val Diamond, Actor; Joegh Bullock, Founder, Climate Theater
1990 The Ensemble Theatre Company; The Mountain Play Association
1991 Jim and Harriet Schlader, Producers, Woodminster Summer Musicals; Stephanie Weisman, Artistic Director, The Marsh
1992 James Haire, Stage Manager, American Conservatory Theater; Ken Holamon, Scenic Designer (awarded posthumously)
1993 Genevieve Hustead, Theater Usher; Climate Theatre for the Solo Mio Festival
1994 Chanticleer for staging Benjamin Britten’s Curlew River; Barbara Bladen, Theatre Critic and Circle member
1995 42 nd Street Moon
1996 Christina Augello and Richard Livingston, Artistic Directors, EXIT Theatre and SF Fringe Festival
1997 Word for Word; Children’s Theatre Association of San Francisco
1998 East Bay Children’s Theatre; Afro Solo Festival
1999 Rhodessa Jones, Founder and Artistic Director, The Medea Project: Theater for Incarcerated Women
2000 Albert Takazauckas, Director and Actor (awarded posthumously)
PAINE KNICKERBOCKER AWARDS
1978 Edwin Lester, Founder, San Francisco Civic Light Opera
1979 Julius Irving, Co-founder, The Actor’s Workshop
1980 Lamplighters Music Theatre
1981 Cyril Magnin, Philanthropist
1982 Nora B. Vaughn, Executive Director, Black Repertory Group
1983 Michael Leibert, Founder and Artistic Director, Berkeley Repertory Theatre
1984 Steve Silver, Creator of Beach Blanket Babylon
1985 Marrian Walters, Actor
1986 William Paterson, Actor
1987 Edward Hastings, Artistic Director, American Conservatory Theater
1988 Charles H. Duggan, Actor
1989 Jonathan Reinis, Producer
1990 Carole Shorenstein Hays, Producer
1991 William Ball, Founder, American Conservatory Theater (awarded posthumously)
1992 Jean Shelton, Founder, Jean Shelton Actors Lab
1993 San Francisco Performing Arts Library and Museum
1994 Berkeley Repertory Theatre & TheatreWorks for community outreach programs
1995 California Shakespeare Company & San Jose Repertory Theatre for community outreach programs
1996 Sharon Ott, Artistic Director, Berkeley Repertory Theatre
1997 Theatre Bay Area
1998 Z Space Studio
1999 John Lion, founder of the Magic Theatre (awarded posthumously)
2000 Theatre Bay Area’s Mary Mason Lemonade Fund
BARBARA BLADEN PORTER AWARDS
1995 Barbara Oliver, Actor and Director
1996 Joy Carlin, Actor and Director
1997 John B. Wilson, Set Designer
1998 Berle Davis, Choreographer
1999 Ken Ruta, Actor
2000 Beaver Bauer, Costume Designer