That most wonderful time of the year

Ah, The Drammy Awards, 2011 edition. We always call it the year’s largest cast party. And every year it really does feel that way, as a good chunk of Portland’s theater community gathers at the Crystal Ballroom to honor another season of gobsmacking theater. Darius Pierce, whose sense of humor make Stephen Colbert look like a stiff, hosts. The famed JAW Festival gets a special achievement award. And beyond that, all bets are off.

If you're not from around these parts, you may be surprised to learn that Portland has a lot of theater — much more than you’d expect, for a town of this size. Every year the work of over a hundred companies is considered for distinction. And, yes, why not admit it, some of that work is subpar (London’s about the only city I know of where you can walk into a theater at random and probably have a good experience), but an astonishing amount of each season’s offerings is of impressively high quality.


Even so, it’s actually pretty hard to get a Drammy Award. Only Committee members who have seen a particular show get to vote on it, of course (there are 15 of us in all), and a nomination must get a whopping 80% of ayes to carry the award. Which means that if all 15 can vote on a particular nomination, that’s 12 people who have to be in agreement. Yikes.

This also means that often a show arousing strong feelings pro and con will fall victim to a hung jury. How this pans out if that for me personally, every year I’m proud to have nudged an award or two in being that wouldn’t have carried the day otherwise . . . and contrariwise, there are some that I really, really regret not being able to inspire enough swing votes. I bet if you polled all 15 Committee members, all would say the same thing.

2011’s ceremony, which takes place Monday evening at the fab Crystal Ballroom, will much of a muchness only more so. There are going to be a few surprises that will astonish people. And some popular favorites that will cause standing ovations and verklempte acceptance speeches. And then too, as Ben Waterhouse points out, part of http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifthehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif fun is griping about all the deserving people and companies who were — yet again! — “overlooked.”

See you there. But you might not see me. I’m thinking of pulling a Ruth Reichl. Not because anyone's looking for me, but just because how often do you get to go somewhere incognito?

Drammys, baby, Drammys

For purposes of the Drammy Awards, known informally as "Portland's largest cast party," the 2009-10 theater season came to a close on May 30, Memorial Day's Eve. And now this Monday evening, June 14, we gather to find which artists, theaters and productions are distinguished with acknowledgments of outstanding work. It's a fun, often moving and always uproarious evening of theater folk acting up. And this should be especially so this year, as hosted by Portland's answer to Cary Grant, Mike O'Connell of Third Rail fame. Or, well....think of Cary Grant's enduring good looks paired with the insouiance of Dennis the Menace and you'll have the right idea.

In fact the actual event looks something like this:




All year I look forward to the event, yet with mixed feelings; every single year it winds up that I'm thrilled about some awards, but also tied in knots for the nominations that didn't ultimately stick. Actually it's fairly hard to get a nomination to blossom into an actual award; 80% of those who saw the nomination in question need to vote "yes" to make it a reality. While this often frustrates the few who are passionate about that nomination, the good thing is that it keeps the ceremony from being diluted by awards that were strong-armed into being.

Kay Vega will receive the distinction of Lifetime Achievement Award for all she's accomplished at Lakewood Theatre Company. Beyond that I can only say: expect to be surprised.

……………………………………………………………

FYI:

When: June 14, 2010, 7pm (with pre-show social hours starting at 6pm)
Where: The Crystal Ballroom, 1332 West Burnside Street
Why: Because we love you

Up in Arms

Every year is different when adjudicating the Drammy Awards, the ceremony known informally as Portland’s biggest cast party. Fifteen of us see scads of plays all year long; the commitment is to see at least 50 different productions annually, though many members see 80+. It’s a labor of love, for sure, and every Committee member takes the mission – to acknowledge outstanding work in the theater – very seriously.

This past season was my third on the Committee. For me personally (though I think most or all of my colleagues would echo this), every year has had its share of triumphs and disappointments. To put it another way: I’m always thrilled that work I thought was astonishing got recognized publicly as such; and I’m always agonized that some work I thought was gobsmackingly brilliant didn’t make the final vote.

For various reasons, this past ceremony had more than its shares of ups and downs. I had many more disappointments than previously, with work I strongly thought was outstanding going unsung.

That doesn’t mean I think the Awards are broken, or antique, or dispensable. There are checks and balances in the voting system to help ensure awards aren’t handed out casually. But that same system probably leads to less recognition being awarded that I/we would sometimes like.

A glaring case in point is that we wound up giving no award for Playwriting this time, even though there were excellent candidates. This wasn’t intended as some big statement about the quality of playwriting in Oregon; in fact, that art form is burgeoning here, and it could have been a great year to acknowledge that. But the vicissitudes of the system forestalled that, this time around.

Anyhow. Long post already, so I’m appending an eloquent protest crafted by the fab Marc Acito and the beatific Cynthia Whitcomb below, signed by 31 different playwrights who are either from here or who have been produced here. Marty Hughley published this statement today on OregonLive.com, where you can read people’s responses to it.

BTW, this protest has already had a positive effect – the Drammy Committee now has a subcommittee that takes special responsibility for the consideration of original playwriting. Believe me, the Committee is already rigorous in its deliberations; I wish everyone could hear the depth of discourse that takes place during its discussions. A subcommittee comprised of “stakeholders” in new writing will simply serve to augment those discussions. Nevertheless, as Martha would say: it’s a good thing.

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An Open Letter to the Portland Drammy Award Committee:

On Monday, June 8th, the Portland Drammy Awards once again celebrated every aspect of theatre from actors and directors, to sets, costumes, sound, music, even going so far as to acknowledge the ushers and folks who work in the box office. One category, however was noticeably absent: the very people who create theatre from literally nothing and without whom there would be no theatre, save a few stray mimes and improv events. That’s right, the playwrights.

Portland had many productions this year that were either world premieres or written by local playwrights or both, including Apollo, Cooler, Holidazed, Crazy Enough, Live Nude Fear, New Believers, and Pylon. To snub this group is not only baffling, it’s an insult in the extreme.

Other cities, many less literate and writer-friendly than Portland, honor writers in their regional theatre award ceremonies: notably the Tony Awards in New York City, (awards for playwrights, as well as writers of the books for musicals); the Jeffs in Chicago (two writing awards for original plays and adaptations); the Barrymore Award in Philadelphia for a world premiere play; and three writing prizes from the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics for new plays.

Portland has the biggest and best bookstore in the country. We have one of the largest writing organizations in the country, Willamette Writers, with 1,600 members. We have more best-selling authors than demographics would dictate (Jean Auel, Chuck Palahniuk, Chelsea Cain, Philip Margolin, to name a few). We have the Wordstock literary festival. And two new play festivals, Fertile Ground and JAW.

So why is it that one of the most literate cities in America, with one of the healthiest theatre communities, chooses to overlook playwrights for the second year in a row and the fourth time in the past eight seasons, ignoring such critically acclaimed world premieres as Celebrity Row and Another Fine Mess, the latter of which went on to become a nominee for the Pulitzer Prize? We the undersigned writers urge the Portland Drammy committee to wake up and acknowledge the source of great theatre.

Because the pen is mightier than the plastic stage sword.

Marc Acito
Adam Bock
Michael Thomas Cooper
Sandra de Helen
A.J. Doherty
Steven Drukman
Andrew Golla
Ciji Guerin
Wayne Harrell
Jordan Harrison
Michael Allen Harrison
Theresa Hernandez
Rolin Jones
Bill Johnson
Nancy Keystone
Sherry Lamoreaux
Storm Large
Susan Mach
Ellen Margolis
Christine McKinley
James Moore
Itamar Moses
Steve Patterson
Ebbe Roe Smith
Andrea Stolowitz
George Taylor
Molly Best Tinsley
Dan Trujillo
Cynthia Whitcomb
Eugenia Woods
Matt Zrebski

A Night at the Drammys

Is it just me or was this a particular wild Drammy ceremony this year?

Once again, I’m happy to report that bloggers more quick on the draw than I am have already covered the particulars, including Alison Hallett over at BlogTown and the ineffable culturejock at Culture Shock. But neither reported on the radiant nimbus sported by Megan Ward, which was so glam as to hold its own against the evening’s other goddess, Storm Large (our tattooed answer to Grace Kelly).

So now I’m free to talk about my favorite part of the evening: myself.

Again this year, the fabulous people at the Portland Area Theatre Alliance hosted a segment of the ceremony called The Spotlight Awards. These are kind of like Portland theater’s version of the People’s Choice Awards; in truly democratic fashion, any PATA member can nominate people who aren’t usually recognized in awards ceremonies: stage managers, for instance, and crew members, and … others.


While I’m as “other” as they come, nobody told me I’d been nominated. By that point in the ceremony, my mind had wandered briefly…I was thinking about the ancient Hitchcock film, Notorious, which I had just discussed with Marissabidilla a couple of nights before, and I wondered if it could be useful to me as I continued to tinker with another Bluebeard adaptation, Gozzi’s Zenobia…

Then all of the sudden I heard my name, and Megan jumped out of her chair and there was all this racket and I thought Oh no, now I’ll have to go up there. So I did, but it was flummoxing in the extreme because I didn’t actually know what I was going there for at that moment. Jen Raynak crowned me with the lovely tiara you see at the right (hand-made by herself), and I said thank you to the microphone and I fled.

Now I regret that; probably I disappointed some people by not saying a few words. (Though no doubt others were grateful.) So I’ll say a very few words now. Now that I know what the distinction was for.

Theater folk of Portland: it means everything to me that you wanted this award to be an encouragement to me. To say you’re proud of me. Because I’m proud of you, too. In the U.S. we have several cities with theater scenes that reflect what’s unique about where they are; I wonder if you realize that Portland is that way, too. There’s nowhere like it. And over the past seven years I’ve seen it grow and knit together till it’s become the city’s last big secret, invisible to many of its citizens but beloved by those have sought it out. I know that many of you could work in bigger markets and more glittery venues. But you choose to be here, and I’m grateful for that.

Gertrude Stein once wrote that personality reflects landscape – you move to San Francisco or Los Angeles knowing that an earthquake could kill you at any second, or instead you stick with certain Midwest states where you can be sure nothing will happen to you for the rest of your life. What does it say about us that we choose to live in this green corner of the wild, wild west? In the shadows of volcanoes, in a greenbelt between an ocean and a desert? I think it’s something to do with the DIY, rough and ready ethic of the Northwest – that sense that BY GOD I have something to say and I want to say it where people just might listen.

Seriously, more days than not I think about how lucky I am to live here and to work alongside tireless and dedicated artists who are so incredibly singular. I applaud your individualism, and I’m also gladdened that you can temporarily give it up when it really counts.

It touches me that you count me among your own. Thank you.

Portland theater's annual block party

From Katherine King's press release:

30th ANNIVERSARY DRAMMY AWARD CEREMONY CELEBRATES OUTSTANDING 2008-2009 THEATRE IN PORTLAND, OREGON

WHAT: 30th Anniversary Drammy Awards

WHERE: Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W. Burnside St., Portland, OR

WHEN: Monday, June 8

6:00 PM Social hour and slide presentation

7:00 PM Awards presentation

COST: FREE ADMISSION, no-host bar and pizza

DRESS: Theatrical, elegant, innovative. Costumes are encouraged.


Welcome to the biggest all-theater cast party’s 30th anniversary celebration. Mark your calendars and spread the word. Last year’s ceremony, featuring theatrical exuberance and flamboyant décor, drew well over 600 attendees. So plan to attend this year, because even if you don’t come with a group, there are sure to be people you know to sit and chat with.

The Masters of Ceremonies this year will be Portland favorites, actor/director Philip Cuomo and actress Maureen Porter. Expect a fun, joke-filled evening. The ceremony includes a slide show retrospective of the 2008-2009 season. This year, in honor of the 30th year of the awards, we will be honoring 30 “unsung heroes” of the theatre scene, who have been suggested by area theaters.
The ceremony is free and open to the public, young and old.

PATA will present their “Spotlight Awards” downstairs in Lola’s Room after the Drammy ceremony. The Spotlight Awards honor the important individuals who work behind the scenes to create great theater. These awards are nominated and voted on by the theater community.



The Drammy awards, a program of the Portland Civic Theatre Guild, are organized by the all-volunteer Drammy Committee, a group of theater artists and administrators, journalists and academics who review well over 100 productions in a season that ends May 24. In order to be considered for a 2009 Drammy Award, a production must be locally produced and has to have run at least eight performances by May 24. Because the awards are presented for “outstanding achievement” rather than “best of”, there is no list of nominees and from 0 to 4 awards may be presented in each category in any given year. Award categories are flexible in order to reflect the work presented in any given year.

The Drammy Award Ceremony is sponsored by Melvin Mark Properties, the Portland Civic Theatre Guild, Bardy Trophy and Culver Glass.


Website: www.drammy.info

Kudos to us

Last night The Drammy Awards reverted to a format I hadn't seen in a few years: semi-controlled chaos, a healthy mix of the outrageous and the emotional, and a delicious sense that anything could happen at any moment.

In other words, it was like Thanksgiving dinner with your entire extended family.

The O'Briens, mother and daughter, were terrific hosts -- genial and easygoing and off-the-cuff, clearing having a ball -- and though no turkey got served, Mother O'Brien did bring her home-baked brownies, which were dispensed to the award winners along with their trophies.

Of course I knew in advance which artists were getting awards, but during the actual ceremony, I felt keenly certain nominations that didn't quite make it to the award stage -- Storm Large's Sally Bowles, for example, and Rick Lewis' extraordinary musical direction for Cabaret. But it happens....a large majority of Committee members (80%) have to ratify each nomination, which sometimes means that worthy nominations just miss the cut. On the other hand, though, this system makes it almost impossible to pass any noms that are quixotic or misguided.

ANYHOW. I don't mean to complain, because PCS did every well, with 11 wins. And I was especially gladdened at the chorus of approval over Sojourn Theatre's win of Outstanding Production for its footloose adaptation of Brecht, entitled Good, which was among the most memorable and affecting plays I've see EVER.

Favorite moment of the evening: Chris Murray's Poem to the Anonymous Followspot Poster. It was en garde and touche all in one fell poop.

Monday @ The Crystal

“Mead, what are you doing this Monday evening,” you ask. To which I say DUH, of course I’m going to be at the Drammy Awards, but of course.

The Drammy Committee’s mysterious website acknowledges that there will indeed be an awards ceremony, but to get the local buzz on it, you must visit followspot, the local blog for theater folk. There you’ll find the snide, the sniggly, the proud and the hopeful sparring off on the astral plane.

Sp FYI: The 2008 Drammy Awards are Monday, June 9, beginning at 6:00pm, at the Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W. Burnside. That’s Portland ORE.



Emcees for this year's ceremony are the legendary Vana and equally yet differently fabulous Eleanor O'Brien, a mother and daughter team whose combined behind-the-scenes knowledge of Portland theater will have some of us on tenterhooks all night. That's them in the above photo as they appeared in Collected Stories at Coho Productions.

The Drammy Award Ceremony is sponsored by PDX Magazine, The Portland Civic Theatre Guild, the Regional Arts and Culture Council and Bardy Trophy Company -- our heroes.

NameGame Redux

What’s in a name, you ax? More than ever nowadays, in our litigious society.

To wit: I belong to a Portland service organization called the Drammy Awards. The fourteen of us who serve on the Drammy Committee see countless productions all year round with an eye to designating various aspects of these productions as “outstanding” in their respective categories. We are volunteers. We’re not paid to do this work; we do it because we love the theater and want to provide our community with a way to pay homage to the extraordinary work that happens here every year. Every year it’s a struggle to scrape together enough money to cover the costs of the Awards ceremony, and it is unquestionably totally worth the effort.

SO. Imagine our surprise last fall when we were contacted by attorneys representing the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, Inc., “in connection with the protection of it's [sic] intellectual property” -- better known to most of us as the Grammys.

After some paragraphs explaining what happens to people who mess with NARAS, they get to the point:

In view of the foregoing, the Committee’s use of the nearly identical mark DRAMMY for award services may constitute trademark infringement, unfair competition and false endorsement under federal, state and common law. This is especially true because the DRAMMY mark appears to have been contrived to resemble the GRAMMY mark.

I don’t actually know what “the DRAMMY mark” means.

The letter goes on to say that in order to settle this “unfair competition” without litigation, the Drammy Committee needs to answer a few questions and to do it within 10 days or else (the customary threats followed). The attorneys demanded that we supply them with:

1) Any particular meaning of the word "DRAMMY";

2) Why the Committee adopted "DRAMMY" for it's [sic] awards;

3) The audience for the DRAMMY Awards;

4) When the DRAMMY Awards were created; and

5) Whether the DRAMMY Awards are televised.

Once we stopped laughing, we had to ask ourselves how committed we were to the term “Drammy.” What if this was our chance to change it? How about throwing the question open to the theater community and asking them to rename the Awards?

Disappointingly, we never got that far. We responded politely but not cravenly to the Recording Academy’s interrogatories, and then……never heard from them again. Evidently the Academy’s goons realized they would need to look further than Portland to justify their salaries.

We’re not the only ones to suffer from overlawyering, of course. Portland City Commissioner and now mayoral candidate Sam Adams recently heard from Samuel Adams Beer, the Boston Beer Company, which demanded that the real live Sam Adams remove his name from his own campaign site’s URL, citing trademark infringement. Cited as precedential was that the company had been calling itself “Sam Adams” since 1984. Never mind that the Councilman had been called the same name since birth.

Maybe I’d do well to stake a claim for my own Internet domain, before it’s too late. A quick Google search reveals several Mead Hunters besides myself — one in his infancy, and two different dead ones. There’s also a respected philosopher named Hunter Mead, and a noted Australian bird watcher named Derek Mead-Hunter. There’s even an elaborate computer game, World of Warcraft, with a character named Mead Hunter who restocks his arsenal at a mysterious fortress called “The Armory”.

And in the teeny, tiny theater universe alone, there is Mame Hunt, Laural Meade and Laurel Hunter. In the past I’ve gotten letters, emails and phone calls intended for each of these ladies. I once fielded an angry call from a guy who was certain I was scamming him; he said he “knew for a fact” that Mead Hunter was a woman.

So names give us plenty of room for confusions and contusions. Just ask all the Monroes and Madisons growing up right now. I used to think that gender ambiguity was a hassle; now I think it's actually.....convenient....

Though perhaps the Grammy's laywers would disagree.