Thespie 2013

Lansing State Journal Thespie Award Winners 2013

Community winners are noted and linked on their respective pages in this database.
Professional shows, as well as many MSU and LCC shows, are not included in this database.

MUSICALS

• Best musical: Ragtime, LCC
• Director: Mary Job, Ragtime, LCC.
• Actress: Three-way tie, with Zachera Wollenberg, Funny Girl, MSU; Brittany Nichol, Spring Awakening, Riverwalk; Amanda Whitehead-DeKatch, Ragtime, LCC.
• Actor: Three-way tie, with Juan Salazar, In the Heights, Peppermint Creek; Rick Merpi, Ragtime, LCC; Adam Woolsey, Spring Awakening and My Favorite Year, both Riverwalk.
• Supporting actress: Tie: Jacqueline Wheeler, Funny Girl, MSU; Alexsandria Clift, Ragtime, LCC.
• Supporting actor: Zev Steinberg, Funny Girl, MSU.
• Featured actress (character role): Three-way tie: Shantel Hamilton, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Over the Ledge; and Barbara Stauffer and Kyra Macomber, both Ragtime, LCC.
• Featured actor (character role): Diego Ramirez-Love, In the Heights, Peppermint Creek.
• Choreography: Missy Lilje, Ragtime, LCC.
• Music director: John Dale Smith, Ragtime, LCC.

PLAYS

• Best play: End Days, Williamston Theatre.
• Best play (non-professional): The 39 Steps, Riverwalk.
• Director: Tony Caselli, End Days, Williamston.
• Director (non-professional): Jane Falion, The 39 Steps, Riverwalk.
• Actress: Julia Glander, Shirley Valentine, Williamston.
• Actress (non-professional): Connie Curran Oesterle, August: Osage County, Riverwalk.
• Actor: Joe Quick, The Diviners, Riverwalk (black-box theater).
• Supporting actress: Three-way tie with Alysia Kolascz, Ebenezer, Williamston; and Linda Granger, Steel Magnolias, and Laura Croff Wheaton, Curious Savage, both Starlight.
• Supporting actor: Andrew Head, End Days, Williamston.
• Supporting actor (non-professional): Jack Dowd, Yankee Tavern, Riverwalk (black box).
• Featured actress: Winifred Olds, Steel Magnolias, Starlight.
• Featured actor: Tied among the four actors who played the multiple roles (billed simply as “Clown 1” and “Clown 2”) in two The 39 Steps productions — Josh Martin and Jeff Kennedy at Over the Ledge, Scott Laban and Bob Purosky at Riverwalk.

TECHNICAL

• Costumes: Ashley Bryan, Ragtime, LCC.
• Set: Tie between two opposite approaches to sets. For Riverwalk’s August: Osage County, Tim Fox’s three-story set was large, impressive and stationary; for MSU’s Funny Girl, Renee Suprenant’s set underwent constant transformation.
• Set dressing and properties: Diane Erley and Mary Pomeroy, Steel Magnolias, Starlight.
• Sound: Matt Ottinger, The Diviners, Riverwalk (black box).
• Lighting: Daniel Walker, 10:53, Williamston.
• Lighting (non-professional): Tim Fox, The Diviners, Riverwalk (black box).
• Hair design and wigs: Claire Young and Lane Fragomeli, //Funny Girl//, MSU.

ROBERT BUSBY AWARD (for outstanding contribution to local theater in general)

• Over the Ledge, for an outstanding first season. Previous groups had a tough time drawing crowds to the Ledges Playhouse in Grand Ledge. Joe Dickson’s new group, however, brought fresh interest. Last summer, its debut season brought praise and — despite blistering heat — audiences for Apartment 3A, Escanaba in Da Moonlight, The 39 Steps and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

SPECIAL AWARDS (not confined to categories)

• The MSU Opera Theatre for //Kurt Weill 2012: But the Days Grow Short//. Director Melanie Helton and her cast conceived the project, putting Weill songs in a futuristic, authoritarian setting.
• The ensemble cast of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Over the Ledge — Shantel Hamilton (also an individual winner), Doak Bloss, Ann Carlson, Abigail English, Ben English, Emily Hadick, Justin Hein, Ian Henretty and Angela Lett.
• Janine Novenske Smith, for another excellent revue with her LCC musical-scenes class. Each year, for 10 years, Smith has skillfully molded songs, flowing into a theme.
• Shannon Rafferty for superb work in Peppermint Creek’s Good People. When the lead actress was unavailable, she stepped in and gave strong performances, with a barely noticeable script in hand.
• Eric Miller, for three extraordinary vocal performances, in Adrift in Macao and Funny Girl at MSU and Spring Awakening at Riverwalk.
• Alison Dobbins for media visual effects in two MSU shows, U.P. and James and the Giant Peach.