L.A.’s Most De-Voted Theatergoer

Don Nelson: manager of a Great Western Bank telemarketing center by day, champion Ovation voter by night.

During the September 1996 to August 1997 voting season, Nelson saw 202 out of the 250 shows that are up for Theatre LA’s 1997 Ovation Awards, to be presented Monday at the Shubert Theatre.

Four of the shows he saw were later declared ineligible, but 198 Ovation-eligible shows is still more than any other voter has ever tallied in one year since the competitive Ovations began four years ago. Nelson may have more say in deciding this year’s awards than any other individual--the average voter saw only 35 shows.

Although Nelson’s day job is at a bank, he qualifies as an Ovation voter because he also works in the theater--the Ovations are peer-judged awards. Nelson designed costumes for 17 plays last year and also acts from time to time. He represents Woodland Hills Community Theatre in the group of 100 voters who picked the winners.

Nelson was a voter during 1995-96, too, but that proved somewhat disappointing. Though he saw 163 shows, he was ineligible to vote in the final round because there wasn’t a single category in which Nelson met the requirement of having seen all five of the nominees.

This year is different. Nelson voted in the final round of 17 out of the 26 categories.

Seeing 202 shows during 12 months requires elaborate planning. Nelson complicated the logistics by singing in a choir on Thursday evenings, which made one key night off-limits for playgoing. He also spent two weekends acting in a play instead of watching them, and he took one long weekend off to see a daughter graduate from college.

He found it easier to see productions that gave Ovation voters plenty of advance information about their schedules. But he also organized his plays-to-see list by closing dates, giving top priority to those closing sooner. This meant he frequently saw plays as they were about to close, which left little time to recommend the good ones to other Ovation voters.

Nelson hopes and expects that “Ragtime” will win in many of the record-breaking 16 categories it’s nominated for this year. Last year, the best musical award in a larger theater went to the lightweight “Radio Gals” in the McCoy Rigby series at La Mirada Theatre, which topped the London/New York/Ahmanson Theatre-acclaimed “Carousel” in a dark-horse victory that some observers viewed as an indication of the parochialism of the Ovations. Nelson doubts that McCoy Rigby’s entrant this year--a revival of “Once on This Island” (by the same composing team that wrote “Ragtime”)--will pull off that kind of feat.

In the smaller musical category, Nelson’s hunch is on “Putting It Together” or “The All Night Strut.” Nelson’s best guess for the play categories are “The Heiress” (larger) and the Indian-flavored “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (smaller)--a particular favorite of Nelson’s, though he couldn’t vote in that category because he had missed two of the nominees.

Solo autobiographical performances like “I Remember Mapa” and “Don’t Buck With Me!” are included within the same categories as more conventionally structured, larger-cast plays. Nelson believes separate categories should exist for the writing and acting of solo performances. “I have a hard time comparing the writing of a one-person show with that of a play,” he said.

Nelson will not be a 1997-98 Ovation voter. “This year I want to be on the boards more,” he said. “But I really miss seeing so many shows.” Ovation voters see eligible shows for free; “I can’t afford to see nearly as many now,” he said. He has seen six since September.

Theaters drop out of the Ovations as well as voters. This past season’s most noted dropout was the West Coast Ensemble. Artistic director Les Hanson said he questions “the way they select voters. They also have to find some way to guarantee that eight voters see each eligible show”; shows are ruled ineligible if eight voters don’t show up. He believes that limiting the number of shows that could qualify might help--”it’s not that selective.”

A Noise Within has withdrawn its shows from Ovation consideration during the current season. Artistic co-director Art Manke cited the cost of registering the shows and mailing invitations and reminders to voters and concluded that “our advertising dollars are better spent elsewhere.” He also said that it’s difficult to accommodate Ovation voters because his group’s shows play to an average of 97% capacity.

L.A. County’s major musical theater companies--Hollywood’s Broadway/LA, San Gabriel’s Music Theatre of Southern California, Redondo Beach’s Civic Light Opera of South Bay Cities and La Mirada’s Musical Theatre West--don’t compete in the Ovations. Neither does International City Theatre, despite its new mid-sized status this year--its artistic director Shashin Desai says not enough voters will venture to Long Beach.