Outspoken Men Win an Ovation

August Wilson will receive the annual lifetime achievement award at this year’s Ovation Awards ceremony, and Matrix Theatre producer Joe Stern will receive the new James A. Doolittle Award for leadership in Los Angeles theater.

The awards raise the possibility that the usual thank-yous will be supplemented by remarks of a more substantive nature than usual.

Seattle-based playwright Wilson is on the cusp of controversy in the theater world right now, having delivered a speech last June in which he condemned the lack of support for black-specific theaters and the practice of casting actors in roles that were originally created for actors of another race. Stern has been one of L.A.’s most outspoken producers for years, often speaking acerbically about the ties between L.A. theater and the showbiz industry in which he also works (as a TV producer).

With a higher profile for this year’s awards due to the ceremony’s location--at the Shubert Theatre in Century City--and the growing reputation of the event, Theatre LA board members “wanted to be able to acknowledge someone of August Wilson’s stature even if he doesn’t live here,” said William Freimuth, Theatre LA’s executive director. But they didn’t want to abandon their tradition of recognizing outstanding L.A.-based figures as well--so an additional award was created in order to recognize both Wilson and Stern.

“The awards are of equal prestige,” Freimuth said, “and we’ll position them that way in the ceremony.” Both Wilson and Stern have agreed to accept the awards in person, he said. Far from shying away from any potential controversy, board members wanted to honor people “who were eloquent and not afraid to speak their piece.”

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OOPS: Meanwhile, in the wake of the competitive Ovation Award nominations, announced last week, let’s add an Ovation category of our own: the “Miss Saigon” prize, for the most prominent show that failed to register for the Ovation awards (“Miss Saigon” created this category last year). The nominees are “Sisterella” and “Bermuda Avenue Triangle.”

“Sisterella” actually has a good excuse: Although it was the biggest hit ever at the Pasadena Playhouse, the Playhouse wasn’t a member of Theatre LA until August, after “Sisterella” closed. Producers must be members of Theatre LA for their shows to be eligible.

The playhouse’s previous parent organization, Theatre Corp. of America, had earlier belonged to Theatre LA. But as Theatre Corp. spiraled toward bankruptcy in 1994, the Theatre LA membership was dropped as a cost-cutting measure. Last summer, with the books better balanced, the playhouse rejoined in time for its last production of the Ovation season, “Camping With Henry and Tom,” to be eligible. “Camping” received three nominations, but it was too late for “Sisterella.”

Considering all of this, it looks as if the award will have to go to “Bermuda Avenue Triangle.” This popular comedy opened in October at the Tiffany Theater, which is a member of Theatre LA. Its three stars, Beatrice Arthur and co-writers Renee Taylor and Joseph Bologna, presented awards at last year’s Ovation ceremony, which also was attended by the show’s producer Arnold Mittelman, who recalled last week how much he enjoyed it.

In February, “Triangle” moved to the larger Canon Theatre in Beverly Hills, which is not a member of Theatre LA. However, the show still could have been eligible if Mittelman had joined Theatre LA as an independent producer. Nonetheless, by the time the show closed on July 28, it still wasn’t registered.

Mittelman said last week that Ovation procedures “weren’t made completely coherent to me. I regret the fact that it slipped through the cracks. I’d love to have it in the running.”

A total of 253 shows did register for this year’s awards. A few of these didn’t attract eight voters, the minimum number necessary for continued eligibility, or were disqualified in the best play or musical categories for other reasons.

However, of the 234 which did qualify in best production categories, the breakdown says a lot about the makeup of L.A. theater. A whopping 191 productions competed for best play/smaller theaters, while only 18 were in the running for best play/larger theaters. In the best musical categories, 16 smaller shows and only nine larger shows competed. So, once you passed the hurdle of raising enough money to do a musical in a larger theater, it was relatively easy to fill one of the five slots for best musical/larger theaters. But in order to be nominated for best play/smaller theaters, you had to beat 186 rivals.

There are plenty of productions in L.A. (perhaps even, as Theatre LA claims, more than anywhere else in the world), but most of them are in small theaters.