The 28th annual nominations shined a light on the Adam Guettel musical about a Kentucky man trapped in a cave, produced by Actors' Playhouse in Coral Gables, FL. The show was a critical hit, but a box office dud in Florida, according to the Sept. 15 Carbonell announcement.

The Actors' Playhouse, which also staged the heavily nominated and still-running musical, The Big Bang, earned a total of 26 nominations for the 2002-03 season.

A production of the little-known Russian play, Fortune's Fool, snagged nine nominations for the Caldwell Theatre in Boca Raton.

The new musical, Romeo & Bernadette, which played the Coconut Grove Playhouse (and later Paper Mill: The State Theatre of New Jersey) earned seven nominations. It was the only Coconut Grove show nominated.

The South Florida theatre season ended Labor Day. One show already has received an award. The world premiere engagement of Nilo Cruz's Anna in the Tropics was excused from the Best New Work category to encourage consideration among other new shows.

Anna, whose world premiere was at The New Theatre in Coral Gables last fall, already has won The Pulitzer Prize and the American Theatre Critics Association's Steinberg New Play Award, and is aiming for a November Broadway opening, with the cast of the current production at McCarter Theatre in Princeton, NJ.

Cruz will be honored with a Special Achievement Award for Anna at the annual Carbonell ceremony Nov. 10, in the Amaturo Theatre at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts.

The pre-Broadway tryouts of Urban Cowboy at The Coconut Grove Playhouse and Little Shop of Horrors at The Actors' Playhouse, and the Grove engagement of Blue, were bumped by the Carbonell Awards administration into Non-Resident categories. Productions in Resident Theater categories must be "materially produced, cast, assembled and rehearsed" as well as originate at the host theatre."

A dozen theatre critics vote exclusively on Non-Resident shows; the Resident Theater panel numbers 26, including theatre and arts community veterans and critics.

Public tickets are on sale now through the Broward Center box office, (954) 462-0222, and online at www.browardcenter.org. visit www.carbonellawards.org.

28th Annual Carbonell Award Nominations

RESIDENT THEATRE NOMINATIONS

Special Achievement Award
Playwright Nilo Cruz for the world premiere of Anna In the Tropics, New Theatre, Coral Gables

Best New Work (Play or Musical) The Last Schwartz, by Deborah Zoe Laufer, Florida Stage
Open Season, by Michael McKeever, Hollywood Playhouse
Romeo & Bernadette, by Mark Saltzman, Coconut Grove Playhouse
Tin Box Boomerang, by Ivonne Azurdia, Mad Cat Theatre Company
A Town Like Irving,by Michael McKeever, New Theatre

Best Ensemble Production (Play or Musical)
Constant Star, Florida Stage
Menopause the Musical, Glist Productions at the Broward Stage Door 26th St. Theatre
Summer Shorts, City Theatre
Three Tall Women, Public Theatre
A Town Like Irving, New Theatre

Best Production of a Play
Constant Star, Florida Stage
Crimes of the Heart, Shores Performing Arts Theatre
Fortune's Fool, Caldwell Theatre Company
Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, GableStage
The Last Schwartz, Florida Stage

Best Director (Play)
Joseph Adler, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, GableStage
Michael Hall, Fortune's Fool, Caldwell Theatre Company
Richard J. Simon, A Shayna Maidel, Mosaic Theatre Company
Rich Simone, Crimes of the Heart, Shores Performing Arts Theatre
Tazewell Thompson, Constant Star, Florida Stage

Best Actor (Play)
Meshaun Arnold, Medal of Honor Rag, M Ensemble Company
John Felix, Fortune's Fool, Caldwell Theatre Company
Avi Hoffman, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, GableStage
Gordon McConnell, The Guys, GableStage
Anthony Sacco, The Food Chain, Mosaic Theatre Company

Best Actress (Play)
Lisa Bansavage, Master Class, Caldwell Theatre Company
Jennifer Lehr, Diary of Anne Frank, GableStage
Laura Turnbull, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, GableStage
Laura Turnbull, Crimes of the Heart, Shores Performing Arts Theatre
Claire Tyler, Comic Potential, The Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre

Best Supporting Actor (Play)
Peter Haig, Diary of Anne Frank, GableStage
Terrell Hardcastle, Fortune's Fool, Caldwell Theatre Company
David Kwiat, Dirty Blonde, GableStage
Michael Vines, Tabletop, GableStage
Geoffrey Wade, Fortune's Fool, Caldwell Theatre Company

Best Supporting Actress (Play)
Kimberly Daniel, Credeaux Canvas, New Theatre
Mayhill Fowler, The Last Schwartz, Florida Stage
Sandra Ives, Crimes of the Heart, Shores Performing Arts Theatre
Lanie MacEwan, Fortune's Fool, Caldwell Theatre Company
Lisa Morgan, Sherlock's Last Case, The Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre

Best Production of a Musical
The Big Bang, The Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre
Blood Brothers, Shores Performing Arts Theatre
Floyd Collins, The Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre
Parade, Broward Stage Door Theatre
Romeo & Bernadette, Coconut Grove Playhouse

Best Director (Musical)
David Arisco, Floyd Collins, The Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre
David Arisco, The Big Bang, The Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre
Dan Kelley, Parade, Broward Stage Door Theatre
Rich Simone, Blood Brothers, Shores Performing Arts Theatre
Mark Waldrop, Romeo & Bernadette, Coconut Grove Playhouse

Best Actor (Musical)
Ken Clement, The Big Bang, The Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre
Andy Karl, Romeo & Bernadette, Coconut Grove Playhouse
Robert Koutras, Parade, Broward Stage Door Theatre
Gary Marachek, The Big Bang, The Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre
Tally Sessions, Floyd Collins, The Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre

Best Actress (Musical)
Natalie Hill, Romeo & Bernadette, Coconut Grove Playhouse
Jennifer Hughes, The Sound of Music, The Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre
Margot Moreland, Zombie Prom, The Acting Studio, at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts
Laura Turnbull, Blood Brothers, Shores Performing Arts Theatre
Vicki White, Parade, Broward Stage Door Theatre

Best Supporting Actor (Musical)
John Paul Almon, Romeo & Bernadette, Coconut Grove Playhouse
Nicholas Richberg, Blood Brothers, Shores Performing Arts Theatre
Brian Charles Rooney, Floyd Collins, The Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre
Shane Tanner, Parade, Broward Stage Door Theatre
Michael Turner, Floyd Collins, The Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre

Best Supporting Actress (Musical)
Irene Adjan, Blood Brothers, Shores Performing Arts Theatre
Carole Cortland, A New Brain, Mosaic Theatre Company
Blythe Gouda, Floyd Collins, The Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre
Sandra Ives, The Sound of Music, The Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre
Lourelene Snedeker, Floyd Collins, The Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre

Musical Direction
Eric Alsford, Floyd Collins, The Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre
Bruce Coyle, Romeo & Bernadette, Coconut Grove Playhouse
David Halladay, Constant Star, Florida Stage (play with music)
Michael Larsen, A New Brain, Mosaic Theatre Company
David Nagy, The Big Bang, The Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre

Choreography (Musical)
Chrissi Ardito, Sophisticated Ladies, Broward Stage Door Theatre
Barbara Flaten, The Sound of Music, The Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre
Barbara Flaten, Floyd Collins, The Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre
Ray Roderick, I Love a Piano, Florida Stage
Reggie Whitehead, Zombie Prom, The Acting Studio, at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts

Best Scenic Design
Tim Bennett, Fortune's Fool, Caldwell Theatre Company
Kent Goetz, Constant Star, Florida Stage
Gene Seyffer, Big Bang, The Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre
Gene Seyffer, Floyd Collins, The Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre
Klara Zieglerova, Bach at Leipzig, Florida Stage

Best Lighting Design
Richard Crowell, I Love a Piano, Florida Stage
Mike Martin, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, GableStage
Jeff Quinn, Diary of Anne Frank, GableStage
Stuart Reiter, Floyd Collins, The Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre
Thomas Salzman, Fortune's Fool, Caldwell Theatre Company

Best Costume Design
Mary Lynne Izzo, The Big Bang, The Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre
Mary Lynne Izzo, Comic Potential, The Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre
Suzette Pare, Bach at Leipzig, Florida Stage
Estela Vrancovich, The Countess, Caldwell Theatre Company
Merrily Murray Walsh, Constant Star, Florida Stage

Best Sound Design
Matt Briganti Kelly, Bach at Leipzig, Florida Stage
Nate Rausch, Floyd Collins, The Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre
Anthony Reimer, Othello, New Theatre
Dan Muses Scareider, Diary of Anne Frank, GableStage
Steve Shapiro, The Big Bang, The Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre