STAGE

And the Winner Is: Director-actor Tony Abatemarco won the first $5,000 Ted Schmitt Award for innovation in Los Angeles’ smaller theaters Monday at Theatre LA’s Ovation Awards. Ironically, Abatemarco is currently employed in large theaters on the East Coast, directing “Lucifer’s Child” with Julie Harris, en route to Broadway. The production’s Hollywood engagement was recently canceled. Abatemarco told the crowd Monday that he met Harris--and got his current job--through his appearance in a play (“Camaralenta”) at Hollywood’s tiny Stages Theater. At the performance Harris attended, she was one of only three people in the audience.