By Mark Collins
Boulder Daily Camera

Thursday, June 11, 2009

BOULDER, Colo. — Three Boulder theater companies are among 20 in the Denver metro area that have received nominations for a 2009 Henry Award.

The awards, sponsored by the Colorado Theatre Guild, are given annually for outstanding work on stages in seven counties.

Boulder's Dinner Theatre earned 10 nominations, the Colorado Shakespeare Festival earned three and Boulder Ensemble Theatre earned two.

For the dinner theater, "The Producers" proved a coup, as members of the production received eight nominations, including Scott Beyette and Wayne Kennedy for Outstanding Actor in a Musical, Zina Mercil for Outstanding Supporting Actress/Musical and Michael Duran for Outstanding Direction/Musical.

The Colorado Shakespeare Festival's first-ever musical, Woody Guthrie's "American Song," was a commercial success last summer and an extra show was added due to ticket demand. Henry judges liked the show, too, as Woody Guthrie was nominated for Outstanding Production of a Musical, and production team members Jeff Waxman for Outstanding Musical Direction and Peter Glazer for Outstanding Direction of a Musical.

Colorado Shakespeare Festival Producing Artistic Director Philip Sneed said the musical that chronicles hard times among working-class and poor Americans was timely.

"It was the end of the Bush era and the show was talking about a lot of things that are relevant to the state our country is in -- homelessness, unemployment, unaffordable housing and environmental destruction," Sneed said.

Boulder Ensemble Theatre's "Morisot Reclining," William Kovacsik's play about the relationship between two Impressionist painters, earned a nomination for Outstanding New Play and for costume design.

Award winners will be announced June 29. For a complete list of the nominees, visit www.coloradotheatreguild.org.