2023 Arts-Louisville Theatre Awards

Playwright Larry Muhammad with Nefertiti Burton & LaShondra Hood. Photo: Lana Lindsay

Winners And Highlights

By Keith Waits

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In what might be considered by some an upset, The Little Colonel Playhouse took home the award for Best Play (local) at the 2023 Arts-Louisville Theatre Awards. The Pewee Valley-located community theatre, founded in 1956, was nominated alongside high-profile contemporary companies and a handful of independently produced plays with their production of Women Playing Hamlet from October 2021, from early in the period of eligibility.

In the honorific recognitions, in an emotional presentation from 2018 honoree Georgette Kleier, Youth Performing Arts School faculty Katie Blackerby Weible was recognized as The Barbara Cullen Theatre Educator of the Year. Kleier was awarded Best Actress in a Play (local) for The Cake from Pandora Productions.

Later, an equally heartfelt tribute was given by LaShondra Hood in bestowing African American Theatre Program Director Nefertiti Burton with the Kathi E.B. Ellis Lifetime Achievement Award. Burton is retiring from that University of Louisville position at the end of the 2022-23 academic year.

The awards for local playwrights returned after an absence owing to the lack of productions during the pandemic. Templeton Moss won Best Play Short Length for his Three Hours to Dawn, which premiered at The Bard’s Town’s Ten-Tucky Festival in fall 2021, while David Clark won his second award for Best Full Length Play for The Forest and The Flames, which ran as a part of the 2022 Louisville Fringe Festival.

Art Sanctuary is the home of the Va Va Vixens troupe and company member Hilary Van Reinen opened the ceremony with a song from their latest show, Va Va Valentine, which had just closed two days earlier. There were also performances by Emma Redmon and Heaven Williams from Best Student Musical Winner Elf: The Musical (YPAS), Sarah King accompanied by Scott Bradley from Best Musical (professional) for Derby Dinner Playhouse’s Bright Star, and Erica Yoletta Goodman representing Redline Performing Arts in Best Musical (local) for their production of Rent. Goodman was also a winner for Best Actress in a Musical (local) for her work in Sister Act from the same company.

Here is the full list of winners:

Best Student Performance Male
Travis O’Daniel – Elf: The Musical – YPAS

Best Student Performance Female
Elenna Usher – Elf: The Musical – YPAS

Best Student Play
Pride and Prejudice – Jeffersonville High School

Best Student Musical
Elf: The Musical – YPAS

Best Play by a Regional Company (outside a 15-mile radius
A Christmas Story – Hayswood Theatre

Best Musical by A Regional Company (outside a 15-mile radius)
The Drowsy Chaperone – Hayswood Theatre

Best Choreographer
Heather Paige Folsom – Saturday Night Fever – Derby Dinner Playhouse

Best Costume Design
Sharon Murray-Harrah – Saturday Night Fever – Derby Dinner Playhouse

Best Lighting Design
Alexa Holloway – Saturday Night Fever – Derby Dinner Playhouse

Best Music Director
Scott Bradley – Bright Star -Derby Dinner Playhouse

Best Scenic Design
Karl Anderson – Twelfth Night – Kentucky Shakespeare

Best Sound Design
Devon Rodlund – Bright Star – Derby Dinner Playhouse

Best Original Short Play by a Local Author
Three Hours to Dawn by Templeton Moss

Best Original Play by a Local Author
The Forest and the Flames by David Clark

Best Actor in a Musical (professional)
Tyler Bliss – Bright Star – Derby Dinner Playhouse

Best Actress in a Musical (professional
Sarah King – Bright Star – Derby Dinner Playhouse

Best Director/Musical (professional)
Lee Buckholz – Bright Star – Derby Dinner Playhouse

Best Musical (professional)
Bright Star – Derby Dinner Playhouse

Best Actor in a Play (professional)
Neill Robertson – Richard III – Kentucky Shakespeare

Best Actress in a Play (professional)
Jillian Prefach Baker – Steel Magnolias – Derby Dinner Playhouse

Best Director/Play (professional)
Lee Buckholz – Steel Magnolias – Derby Dinner Playhouse

Best Ensemble Cast (professional)
Steel Magnolias – Derby Dinner Playhouse

Best Play (professional)
Steel Magnolias – Derby Dinner Playhouse

Best Actor in a Musical (local)
Tyler Tate – Rent – Redline Performing Arts

Best Actress in a Musical (local)
Erica Yoletta Goodman – Sister Act – Redline Performing Arts

Best Director/Musical (local)
Alonzo Ramont – Rent – Redline Performing Arts

Best Musical (local)
Rent – Redline Performing Arts

Best Actor in a Play (local)
Brian Hinds – Misery – The Chicken Coop Theatre

Best Actress in a Play (local)
Georgette Kleier – The Cake – Pandora Productions

Best Director/Play (local)
Jason Cooper – Misery – The Chicken Coop Theatre

Best Ensemble Cast (Local)
Rent – Redline Performing Arts

Best Play (local)
Women Playing Hamlet – Little Colonel Playhouse