ADV – Leaderboard

United Solo performers at the 2014 United Solo Theatre Festival awards ceremony.

United Solo Theatre Festival Announces Award Winners

Among the honorees of the fifth annual festival was Billy Crystal.

NEW YORK CITY: The United Solo Theatre Festival held its fifth annual awards ceremony on Nov. 23 on Theatre Row at 42nd Street, concluding a 10-week season of solo theatre. This season was its longest season yet, with 130 productions presented from Sept. 18–Nov. 23, 2014.

“I couldn’t be happier to see how United Solo has grown, on many levels,” said Omar Sangare, the festival’s founder and artistic director, in a statement. “Our festival expanded from a two-week event to a season spanning over two months. We created an overseas showcase, and we have our own collection of published scripts. But most importantly, we created a community of artists around the festival, with whom we can be in constant conversation about new ways to fulfill our mission.”

Billy Crystal
Billy Crystal

Among the honorees was Billy Crystal, who received the United Solo Special Award for his autobiographical Broadway show 700 Sundays. On receiving the award, Crystal said that working solo “made me a better actor, it made my discipline stronger, it made every night more of a challenge, because it was just me.”

A fill list of winners is below:

SPECIAL AWARD
700 Sundays by Billy Crystal

Best Production
THE WONDER by Susan Ferrara, co-directed by Julie Ann Emery and Kevin Earley

Best Direction
Estelle Parsons for RHAPSODY IN BLACK

Best One-Man Show
Faggy at 50 by Joe Gulla, directed by Brian Rardin

Best One-Woman Show
Butoh Medea by Yokko, with associate director Brian Rhinehart

Best Encore
Spitting in the Face of the Devil by Bob Brader, directed by Suzanne Bachner

United Solo & Backstage Audience Award
My Insane Shakespeare by Arthur Elbakyan

Best Actor
Javier Rivera in Salve Regina: A Coming of GAY Story

Best Actress
Ali Harper in Bombshells

Best Comedian
Nancy Redman in The Doctor Is Not In

Best Storyteller
Leland Gantt in Rhapsody in Black

Best International Show
The Big Smoke by Amy Nostbakken, directed by Nir Paldi

Best Drama
Stealing Sam by Steven Gallagher

Best Comedy
Bio-Hazard: a relative comedy by Sarah Elizabeth Greer

Best Musical
Good Enough by Matthew LaBanca

Best Autobiographical Show
The Beauty, the Banshee & Me by Cathy Lind Hayes

Best Avant-Garde Show
Health Insurance by Daniel Piper Kublick

Best Variety Show
THAT’S ALL I GOT by Addie Walsh

Best Multimedia Show
Inside the Whale by Aurora Lagattuta

Best Cabaret
My Life Is a Woody Allen Film by Aja Nisenson

Best Satire
Lost in Lvov by Sandy Simona

Best Stand-Up
When I Could Feel by Vicky Kuperman

Best Spoken-Word Show
She Think She Grown by Shannon Matesky

Best Experimental Show
Nothing by Nic Balthazar by Jon Kovach

Best Concert
The Spirit of Vaudeville by Richard Stillman

Best Educational Show
The Magic of Rudyard Kipling: ‘Just So’ by Jackson Gillman

Best Dramatic Script
Women on the Verge by Kimba Henderson, performed by Faith Collins

Best Comedic Script
Tales from Geriassic Park – On the Verge of Extinction by Verna Gillis

Best Adaptation
The Tall Boy by Simon Bent, performed by Tandy Cronyn

Best Non-Fiction Script
Children Are Forever (All Sales Are Final!) by Julia Jackson

Best Documentary Script
Silent Witnesses by Stephanie Satie

Best Biographical Script
Einstein: A Stage Portrait by Willard Simms, performed by Tom Schuch

Best Storytelling Script
Random Acts by Renata Hinrichs

Best Autobiographical Script
What Will People Think? by Anthoula Katsimatides

Best Educational Script
L.A. Unified by David Newer

Best Premiere
Some of the Side Effects by Dave Shaw

Best Emerging Actor
Sentell Harper in Seek and Ye Shall Find

Best Emerging Actress
Melissa Ritz in Journey of a Bombshell: The Ina Ray Hutton Story

Best Festival Debut
In the Storm of Pleasure by Daniel Benhamu, directed by Zishan Ugurlu

First Sold-Out Show
Big Dummy by Mary Dimino

Best Musical Direction
Gary Schreiner, My Life Is a Woody Allen Film by Aja Nisenson

Best Projection Design
Richard A. Harris, Manchester Girl by Sue Turner-Cray

Best Lighting Design
Derek Van Heel, Butoh Medea

Best Costume Design
Deepsikah Chatterjee, Butoh Medea

Best Choreography
Yokko and Jordan Rosin, Butoh Medea

Support American Theatre: a just and thriving theatre ecology begins with information for all. Please join us in this mission by joining TCG, which entitles you to copies of our quarterly print magazine and helps support a long legacy of quality nonprofit arts journalism.

ADV – Billboard