Wright State Theatre performances in 2019-20 win applause from Dayton Most Metro

Wright State Theatre produced “The Addams Family” in the fall of 2019 in the Festival Playhouse. (Photos by Erin Pence)

Wright State University performances dominated nominations and awards from Dayton Most Metro’s 2019-20 recognition of theatre excellence in the region.

Dayton Most Metro is an online magazine that showcases arts and entertainment in the Miami Valley.

Theatre reporter Russell Florence Jr. said he was impressed with Wright State Theatre’s “wonderful knockouts” both comical — with “Peter and the Starcatcher,” “The Addams Family” and “Into the Woods” — and thought-provoking, with “The Wolves,” “An Enemy of the People” and “Into the Woods.”

Joe Deer, chair of Wright State’s Department of Theatre, Dance and Motion Pictures, said the nominations and awards affirm the training Wright State offers theatre artists when virtually every category is filled with students, faculty, staff and former students who are defining live performance in the region.

Deer said he is particularly proud of Wright State’s productions in the Herbst Theatre of “An Enemy of the People” and “Into the Woods.”

“They were so smartly done, and I felt as if they each reinvented their stories in ways that are so particular to our community,” he said.

Deer said he was also pleased to see so many alumni nominees and winners.

“We spend four years helping our students begin their careers,” he said. “These productions show us what happens five or 10 years later when that training has really sunk in and the artists have been able to distill it for themselves.”

Wright State Theatre’s production of “The Wolves” told the story of a teenage girls’ soccer team.

Deer said the many awards for design and technical theatre remind him of how extraordinary the faculty, staff and students are in these programs.

“It’s no surprise so many of them go to major regional theatres, Broadway and touring productions all over the world,” he said. “From the gestural design of ‘The Wolves’ to the fanciful worlds of ‘Peter and the Starcatcher’ and ‘The Addams Family,’ the season was truly a feast for the eyes.”

Below is the list of nominations and awards won by Wright State Theatre faculty, staff, students and alumni in Dayton Most Metro’s end-of-year awards for the 2019-20 theatre season. Bold case indicates the winner. An asterisk indicates that the nominee or winner was faculty or staff, a > indicates it was a student or alumni, and a + indicates it was a Wright State theatre production.

BEST PROFESSIONAL PRODUCTION OF A PLAY
*> “The Cake,” Human Race Theatre Company

BEST COLLEGIATE PRODUCTION OF A PLAY
+ “An Enemy of the People,” Wright State University

BEST COLLEGIATE PRODUCTION OF A MUSICAL
+ “The Addams Family,” Wright State University

BEST VIRTUAL PRODUCTION
> “A Streetcar Named Desire,” The Virtual Theatre

BEST LEADING ACTOR IN A PLAY
> Will Graber as Peter, “Peter and the Starcatcher”
> Nick Martin as Dr. Thomas Stockmann, “An Enemy of the People”

BEST LEADING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
> Hunter Minor as Gomez, “The Addams Family”

BEST LEADING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
> Megan Arseneau as the Baker’s Wife, “Into the Woods”
> Casey Borghesi as the Witch, “Into the Woods”
> Robin Dunavant as Morticia, “The Addams Family”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A PLAY
> Will Graber as Peter Stockmann, “An Enemy of the People”
> Louie Kurtzman as Hovstad, “An Enemy of the People”
* Josh McCabe as Black Stache, “Peter and the Starcatcher”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A PLAY
> Lauren Kampman as Molly, “Peter and the Starcatcher”
> Claire Kennedy as Jen, “The Cake”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
> Mark Antony Howard as Rapunzel’s Prince and Granny, “Into the Woods”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
> Hailey Noll as Little Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel, “Into the Woods”
> Michaella Waickman as Wednesday, “The Addams Family”

BREAKTHROUGH MALE PERFORMANCE IN A PLAY
> Ben Evory as Jim O’Connor, “The Glass Menagerie” (Xenia Area Community Theater)
> Cole Frasher as Aslasken, “An Enemy of the People”
> Christopher Wells as Billing, “An Enemy of the People”

 BREAKTHROUGH FEMALE PERFORMANCE IN A PLAY
> Lauren Eifert as No. 7 – Striker, “The Wolves”
> Hailey Marshall as Catherine Stockmann “An Enemy of the People”
> Margo Russ as No. 11 – Midfield, “The Wolves”
> Annika Whetsone as Petra Stockmann, “An Enemy of the People”

BREAKTHROUGH MALE PERFORMANCE IN A MUSICAL
> Austin Gladstone as the Wolf and Cinderella’s Prince, “Into the Woods”
> Jared Levy as Jack and the Steward, “Into the Woods”
> Erik Moth as Fester, “The Addams Family”

BREAKTHROUGH FEMALE PERFORMANCE IN A MUSICAL
> Logan Hylinski as Velma Kelly, “Chicago”
> Molly Seybert as Cinderella, “Into the Woods”

BEST ACTOR IN A VIRTUAL PRODUCTION
> Ryan Imhoff as Tom Wingfield, “The Glass Menagerie”

BEST ACTRESS IN A VIRTUAL PRODUCTION
> Chelsey Cavender as Stella Kowalski, “A Streetcar Named Desire”
> Claire Kennedy as Blanche DuBois, “A Streetcar Named Desire”

BEST SOLO PERFORMANCE
> Annie Pesch as Laurel and others, “Fractured”

BEST DIRECTION OF A PLAY
* Marya Spring Cordes, “Gloria: A Life”
* Bruce Cromer, “Peter and the Starcatcher”
* Greg Hellems, “The Cake”
* W. Stuart McDowell, “An Enemy of the People”
* Annie Pesch, “On the Horizon”

BEST DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL
* Joe Deer, “The Addams Family”
* Lee Merrill, “Into the Woods”

BEST LOCAL CHOREOGRAPHY
>* Jessica Eggleston, “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”
* Dionysia Williams, “The Addams Family”

BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A PLAY
> Chris Harmon, “The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940” (Dayton Theatre Guild)
> Scott J. Kimmins, “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill”
* Pam Knauert Lavarnway, “Peter and the Starcatcher”
> Carleigh Siebert, “The Wolves”
> Terry Stump, “Treasure Island”

BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A MUSICAL
* David J. Castellano, “The Addams Family”

BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A PLAY
> Tatyana Kowalski, “An Enemy of the People”
*> Michelle Sampson and Victoria Gifford, “Peter and the Starcatcher”

BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A MUSICAL
*> Zoë Still, “The Addams Family”

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A PLAY
> Malia Dalba, “An Enemy of the People”
> Autumn Light, “Peter and the Starcatcher”

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A MUSICAL
* Matthew P. Benjamin, “The Addams Family”

BEST SOUND DESIGN OF A PLAY
* James Dunlap, “An Enemy of the People”
> Lara Sagraves, “Peter and the Starcatcher”

BEST SOUND DESIGN OF A MUSICAL
> James Dunlap, “The Addams Family”
>* Aaron Poland and James Dunlap, “Into the Woods”

BEST ORCHESTRA
+* “The Addams Family” (Music Director: Wade Russo)

BEST PROPERTIES
+* John Lavarnway, “An Enemy of the People”
+* John Lavarnway, “The Addams Family”
> Terry Stump, “Treasure Island”
> Terry Webb, “Peter and the Starcatcher”