Cleopatra, Opa! and Love, Incorporated Among MITF Award Winners

By Adam Hetrick
08 Sep 2008

Love, Incorporated; Cleopatra; and Opa! were among the winners of the 2008 Midtown International Theatre Awards, which were presented Sept. 5.

The 9th annual Midtown International Theatre Festival, which ran July 14-Aug. 10, honored winning productions in 32 categories, in a ceremony held at the Bleecker Street Theatre. The awards ceremony also offered highlights from the nominated productions, including Love, Incorporated; Cleopatra: A Life Unparalleled; Prince Trevor; and Kidnapping Laura Linney.

Opa! earned five awards, while Cleopatra and The Wendy Complex took home four apiece. Love, Incorporated; Prince Trevor; Bubby's Shadow; and Directors' Reality earned three awards each.

MITF Awards highlights (winners in bold) follow:

  • Outstanding Overall Production of a Commercial Division Production
    Exit Cuckoo
    Love, Incorporated
    OPA!

  • Outstanding Overall Production of a Musical
    Cleopatra: A Life Unparalleled
    Eighty-1
    Love, Incorporated
    OPA!

  • Outstanding Overall Production of a Short Play, One-Act, or Monologue
    The Proposal from "Flies in the Snuffbox"
    The Claw of the Schwa from "Directors Reality"
    A Telephone Call from "Those Whistling Lads: The Poetry and Short Stories of Dorothy Parker"
    The Trip to Bahia Blanca from "Striptease into the Trip to Bahia Blanca"

  • Outstanding Overall Production of a Solo Show
    By the Light of the Silvery Moon
    Exit Cuckoo
    Mother May I?
    Sacred is the New Profane

  • Outstanding Overall Production of a Revival
    A Shot in the Dark
    Flies in the Snuffbox
    Intimate Exchanges
    Quake

  • Outstanding Overall Production of a New Comedy Play
    10-Speed Revolution
    Kidnapping Laura Linney
    Prince Trevor Amongst The Elephants
    The Higher Education of Khalid Ami
    Writer's Block

  • Outstanding Overall Production of a New Drama Play
    Bubby's Shadow
    Couldn't Say
    Childhood Montana
    Penang
    The Wendy Complex

  • Outstanding Overall Production of a Staged Reading
    Raggedy Ann & Andy
    Alice
    Gentleman's Wish
    Daughters of the Mock

  • Outstanding Playwriting for a New Script Play OR Book of a Musical
    Monica Bauer for The Higher Education of Khalid Amir (tie)
    Mira Gibson for Childhood Montana
    Stacey Lane for A Thousand Variations on a Lie Told Once
    Philip Mutz for Kidnapping Laura Linney
    Duncan Pflaster for Prince Trevor Amongst the Elephants (tie)
    Andrew Rothkin for Bubby's Shadow

  • Outstanding Music & Lyrics
    Cheryl E. Kemeny for Cleopatra: A Life Unparalleled
    Mari Carras, Nicholas Carras and Nicholas Kitsopoulos for OPA!
    Marc Castle for Love, Incorporated
    Mary Stewart David and Clive Chang for Eighty-1

  • Outstanding Direction
    Maura Farver, Sympathetic Division (tie)
    Nadine Friedman, The Ghost Dancers
    Ann Garner, Intimate Exchanges
    Nathan Lemoine, 10-Speed Revolution
    Ramona Pula, Bubby's Shadow
    Lisa Rothe, Couldn't Say (tie)

  • Outstanding Choreography (Fight/Dance/Physical Movement)
    Jeremy Bloom, The Wendy Complex (tie)
    Igor Goldin, Love, Incorporated
    Kate Loprest, Eighty-1
    Merete Muenter, They Walk Among Us (tie)
    Wendy Waring, OPA!

    Named as the winners of the Producer's Awards – honoring the best-selling production for each venue – were Cleopatra: A Life Unparalleled, Directors' Reality, Entwine, Flies in the Snuffbox, OPA! and Yom Kippur.

    The Congeniality Award, acknowledging the company that honored the Festival regulations and guidelines most cooperatively, was presented to 81st Street Productions for Writer's Block.

    For a complete list of MITF Award nominations and winners, visit MITF.