Stage Reviewers Applaud Emerson Faculty, Alumni with Nominations

Nine Emerson College faculty and alumni and two ArtsEmerson presentations were nominated for awards from the Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE), for their achievements in regional theater.

Alumnus Tyler Kinney ’11 and faculty Rachel Bertone each took two nominations.

Kinney was nominated twice in the same category, Best Costume Design (Small Stage), for his work on Stoneham Theatre’s Mame, and, with Jen Bennett, on School for Scandal at Actors’ Shakespeare Project.

Bertone was nominated in two categories for her work on Moonbox Productions’ The Wild Party—Best Choreography and Best Director, Musical (Small Stage).

Also nominated for Best Director, Musical, was faculty Spiro Veloudos '74 for Lyric Stage’s Company.

MJ Halberstadt ’10 received a nomination for Best New Play (Small Stage), for The Launch Prize, produced by Bridge Repertory Theater of Boston.

Two Emersonians were nominated in the Best Director, Play, Midsize, category: Senior Distinguished Producing Director-in-Residence Benny Sato Ambush for Lettuce and Lovage at Gloucester Stage Company and Guy Ben-Aharon ’12 for Israeli Stage’s Oh God.

Oh God also was nominated for Best Play, Midsize.

Senior Artist-in-Residence Amelia Broome was part of the cast of New Rep’s Fiddler on the Roof, which was nominated for Ensemble.

Faculty Janie Howland took a Best Set Design nomination for Nora Theatre Company’s Arcadia, and John Kuntz ’90 was nominated for Best Director, Play, Fringe, for Blasted, at Off the Grid Theatre.

ArtsEmerson received two nominations for its Large Stage productions.

Playwright Melinda Lopez was nominated for Best Solo Performance for her one-woman show, Mala.

And Historia de Amor, produced by Chile’s Teatrocinema, was nominated for Visiting Play, Large.

The IRNE Awards were founded in 1995 and are selected by a panel of theater critics from newspapers and trade journals across New England.