Taking home Elliot Norton awards

Several members of the Emerson community recently won Elliot Norton Awards, presented annually for outstanding theatrical productions, performers, directors, and designers in the Boston area. The ceremony was held May 23 at Emerson’s Paramount MainStage.

The following is a selection of Emersonian Norton Award nominees and winners:

• ArtsEmerson, along with Doug Elkins and Friends, was nominated for Outstanding Visiting Musical Production for Fräulein Maria. Doug Elkins won the award for Outstanding Choreography.
• Part-time faculty member Thomas Derrah won Outstanding Actor (Large Theater) for his performance in R. Buckminster Fuller: The History (and Mystery) of the Universe, performed at the American Repertory Theatre (ART). He was also nominated for Outstanding Musical Performance, for Cabaret, also at the ART.
• Stacey Fischer ’98 won the Outstanding Actress award (Small/Fringe Theater) for her performance in Hysteria, or Fragments of an Analysis of an Obsessional Neurosis, performed at the Nora Theatre Company.
• Rafael Jaen, MA ’02 and Performing Arts faculty member, was a nominee for Outstanding Design (Midsize/Small/Fringe Theater) for costumes he created for The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Parts I&II, performed at Lyric Stage Company of Boston.
• John Kuntz ’90 won for Outstanding New Script for The Hotel Nepenthe, performed at Actors’ Shakespeare Project.
• Spiro Veloudos ’74 and Courtney O’Connor, MA ’96 (associate director), were winners for Outstanding Director (Midsize Theater) for The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Parts I & II, performed at the Lyric Stage Company of Boston.

Spiro Veloudos ’74 won the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Director.

The Elliot Norton Awards, presented by the Boston Theater Critics Association, are named for the eminent Boston theater critic Elliot Norton, who was an active supporter of drama, both locally and nationally, until his death in 2003 at age 100. For 48 years, Norton was a drama critic for Boston newspapers.