IT Awards Nominations for Jane the Plain

(Photo by Deborah Alexander. Post by August Schulenburg.)

Tolkien has nothing on the One Ring of Indie Theatre.

It was a powerful moment: Samantha Soule of Rising Phoenix Repertory shared the story of how Lanford Wilson found a ring outside the Caffe Cino, one of the three legendary cradles of the Off-Off-Broadway movement. He gave the ring to impresario Joe Cino, who wore it until the end of his life, at which time he passed it on to Doric Wilson.

Wilson gave it to Rising Phoenix Rep when they launched their essential Cino Nights series, and a lesser company might well have held onto such a precious relic.

But they didn’t. Rising Phoenix gave the ring to the great stewards of the Indie Theatre movement, Martin and Rochelle Denton, who are now celebrating the 15th anniversary of the New York Theatre Experience.  And well the ring might have rested there…

…but it didn’t. To honor the 10th anniversary of the New York Innovative Theatre Awards, Martin, Rochelle and Samantha gave the ring to three members of the core IT Awards team: Akia, Shay Gines and Nick Micozzi. It was a beautiful moment to celebrate the past, present and future of Off-Off-Broadway and Indie Theatre;  as well as the spirit of generosity in which our movement was forged, and which continues to sustain it today.

And oh, yeah, there were some award nominations announced, and three artists from the creative team of Flux’s Jane the Plain were recognized, making this the sixth straight year Flux has been nominated:

Janie Bullard
Outstanding Sound Design (she was nominated for three different productions this year!)

Kelly O’Donnell
Outstanding Director (her second straight year so nominated!)

Kia Rogers
Outstanding Lighting Design (also nominated for two different productions!)

We were thrilled to see so many friends recognized: Gideon Productions, Retro Productions, Nat Cassidy, New York Neo-Futurists, Aizzah Fatima, WorkShop Theater Company, APAC, Alyssa Simon, The Gin Baby team, Phoenix Theatre Ensemble, Brick Theater, Oracle Theater, The Nerve Tank, MTWorks and many more.

As always, the IT Awards are exciting for introducing the work of new companies to each other, and there were many new names to learn about, like Broken Box Mime Company, Sanguine Theatre Company and Original Binding Productions.

Congratulations to all the nominees, and our deepest huzzahs for the amazing 2014 New York Innovative Theatre Awards staff and volunteers on another great night, and ten years of empowering the Indie Theatre movement. Joe Cino’s ring is in very good keeping.