‘Sunset,’ ‘Tavern’ Top Critics’ Nods : Theater: The plays earn seven nominations apiece from the L.A. Drama Critics Circle. South Coast Repertory receives 10 mentions as well as a special award.

The giant “Sunset Boulevard” at the Shubert Theatre and the intimate “The Tavern” at the Matrix Theatre received the most nominations--seven apiece--for the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle awards covering 1993 productions, it was announced on Monday.

South Coast Repertory snagged more nominations, 10, than any other single theater company. Five different productions contributed to its nominations. South Coast also won a special award on the occasion of the Costa Mesa company’s 30th birthday, and it produced the play that won this year’s Ted Schmitt Award for outstanding world premiere to occur in Los Angeles or Orange counties.

The Schmitt Award will go to Roger Rueff for “So Many Words,” a play about a best-selling author and his moral responsibilities, presented at South Coast’s Second Stage last April.

Center Theatre Group, whose productions at the Taper and Doolittle theaters dominated last year’s nominations, won only eight nominations this year.

Pacific Resident Theatre Ensemble won the circle’s Margaret Harford Award for continuous achievement in the small theater arena. J. Kent Inasy will receive the Angstrom Award for career achievement in stage lighting. And Artists Confronting AIDS will take home another special award for presentations that “memorably dramatize an urgent health-care crisis.”

Although “Sunset Boulevard” tied “The Tavern” for the most nominations for a single show, “Sunset” was omitted from the list of nominees for outstanding production. Nominees for that award, in addition to “The Tavern,” include the musical that preceded “Sunset Boulevard” at the Shubert, “Crazy for You”--which took six nominations--and West Coast Ensemble’s revival of “Equus,” which mustered a total of four nominations.

The only other shows to win as many nominations were Pacific Resident Theatre Ensemble’s revival of “Ondine” with five and South Coast’s “Great Day in the Morning” with four.

The winners in the competitive categories will be announced next month and will be presented at a luncheon at Sportsmen’s Lodge in Studio City on April 10. The occasion will mark the 25th anniversary of the critics’ organization, which includes 18 critics from 12 different publications.

The nominees include:

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* Production: “Crazy for You,” producers Roger Horchow and Elizabeth Williams, Shubert Theatre; “Equus,” producer James Thomas Bailey, West Coast Ensemble; “The Tavern,” producer Joseph Stern, Matrix Theatre

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* Direction: Jules Aaron, “Equus”; Marilyn Fox, “Ondine,” Pacific Resident Theatre Ensemble; Tony Giordano, “The Tavern”; Todd Nielsen, “Rags,” Colony Studio Theatre; Trevor Nunn, “Sunset Boulevard”

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* Writing: Roger Rueff, “So Many Words,” South Coast Repertory; Carol Wolf, “Monsieur Shaherazad,” Grove Shakespeare

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* Lead Performance: James Brennan, “Crazy for You”; Ian Buchanan, “Equus”; Ron Campbell, “Monsieur Shaherazad”; Kandis Chappell, “Shadowlands,” South Coast Repertory; Glenn Close, “Sunset Boulevard”; Richard Doyle, “Intimate Exchanges,” South Coast Repertory; Harold Gould, “Incommunicado,” Odyssey Theatre; Judd Hirsch, “Conversations With My Father,” Doolittle Theatre; Michael Kearns, “Camille,” Highways; Frank Langella, “Scenes From an Execution,” Mark Taper Forum; Dakin Matthews, “Shadowlands”; Jack Noseworthy, “Equus”; Liza Rivera, “Ondine”; Cotter Smith, “The Tavern”; Juliet Stevenson, “Scenes From an Execution”; Karen Ziemba, “Crazy for You”

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* Featured Performance: J.D. Daniels, “Conversations With My Father”; Edward Hibbert, “Jeffrey,” Westwood Playhouse; Tony Maggio, “La Bete,” John Anson Ford Amphitheatre; Douglas Rowe, “Great Day in the Morning,” South Coast Repertory

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* Creation Performance: John Robert Hoffman, “Northern Lights,” Egyptian Arena Theatre; Anna Deavere Smith, “Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992,” Mark Taper Forum

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* Scenic Design: John Lee Beatty, “Lips Together, Teeth Apart,” Mark Taper Forum; Cliff Faulkner, “Hay Fever,” South Coast Repertory; Gerard Howland, “Great Day in the Morning”; Neil Peter Jampolis, “The Tavern”; John Napier, “Sunset Boulevard”; Tony Walton, “Conversations With My Father”

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* Lighting Design: Andrew Bridge, “Sunset Boulevard”; Arden Fingerhut, “Scenes From an Execution”; Guido Girardi, “Ondine”; Peter Maradudin, “Great Day in the Morning”; Jane Reisman, “The Tavern”

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* Costume Design: Alan Armstrong, “The Tavern”; Ann Bruice, “Hay Fever”; Walter Hicklin, “Great Day in the Morning”; Barbara Jacobs, “Ondine”; William Ivey Long, “Guys and Dolls,” Pantages Theatre; Bob Mackie, “Ruthless!,” Canon Theatre; Anthony Powell, “Sunset Boulevard”

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* Sound Design: Matthew Beville, “The Tavern”; Martin Levan, “Sunset Boulevard”

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* Musical Direction: Steven Applegate, “Rags”; David Caddich and Paul Bogaev, “Sunset Boulevard”; Paul Gemignani, “Crazy for You”; John McDaniel, “Dreamgirls,” Long Beach Civic Light Opera

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* Choreography: Christopher Chadman, “Guys and Dolls”; Susan Stroman, “Crazy for You”

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* Original Music: Tom Gerou, “Ondine”

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* Musical Orchestration: William D. Brohn, “Crazy for You”