Undercutting SCR, Spirit of LADCC Awards

South Coast Repertory recently received great news from the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle. The LADCC had nominated SCR for 10 Distinguished Achievement Awards. SCR co-founder Martin Benson was the only person to receive two nominations, and SCR’s world premiere of “Search and Destroy,” a challenging play that we had commissioned and developed, had won the first Ted Schmitt Award for Best New Play.

To Orange County readers, however, it appeared that SCR had been embarrassed by the nominations: The Times Orange County Edition (“SCR Not So Dominant in Critics Circle,” Calendar, Feb. 27) reported that the theater had “slipped several notches” in receiving “just 10 nominations.” There was no mention that we had in fact received the same number of nominations last year. There was only the reference that SCR had “dominated” in 1987 and ’88.

This undercuts the spirit of the LADCC, which goes out of its way to ensure that the awards are non-competitive, calling them Distinguished Achievements rather than “Bests,” and being free to give multiple awards, or no awards, in any category.

That one of the theaters most acclaimed by the LADCC over the past decade is located 60 miles from most of the critics (all but one of the 18 LADCC members live in Los Angeles County) is an achievement worthy of Ripley’s.

CRISTOFER GROSS

Director of Public Relations

South Coast Repertory

Costa Mesa

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