Excellence in local theater was honored Monday as the Hawaii State Theatre Council announced the recipients of the 2012 Po‘okela Awards at its annual "Stars Night Out" dinner and show at the Ko‘olau Golf Club in Kaneohe.

Perennial front-runner Diamond Head Theatre captured 33 awards, the highest total among the local theater groups.

Manoa Valley Theatre collected 19 awards, eight of them for its provocative musical "Spring Awakening."

Tom Holowach’s ambitious staging of "The Phantom of the Opera" at Paliku Theatre received the most awards of any individual show with 13, including overall musical, leading male and female in a musical (Miles Wesley and Lydia Pusateri, respectively), featured female in a musical (Jaime Craycroft) and two for featured male in a musical (Leonard Villanueva and Johnny Reed).

The leading award recipient for nonmusicals was The Actors’ Group revival of "A Doll’s House" with six.

Kumu Kahua, returning to the Po‘okela Awards program after a lengthy self-imposed absence, received two major awards — overall production of a play and ensemble performance in a play — for "Wilcox’s Shot," with playwright Sean T.C. O’Malley also receiving an award for the script. The group’s critically acclaimed revival of "Kamau A‘e" was also an honoree in the overall production of a play category.

The judging process allowed for up to six winners per category.

» Leading male, play: Danny Randerson, "Henry IV, Part 2" (HSF); Troy M. Apostol, "Miss Julie" (AWS); Sam Polson, "Harvey" (TAG); Rob Duval, "The House of Blue Leaves" (HPU)

» Leading female, play: Anemone Jones, "A Doll’s House" (TAG); Elexis Draine, "Saturday Night at the Pahala Theatre" (KKT); Lisa Konove, "The Butler Did It" (DHT); Stacy Ray, "The House of Blue Leaves" (HPU)

» Featured male, play: Dan Doohan, "Henry IV, Part 2" (HSF); Gregory Scott Harris, "Dividing the Estate" (MVT); Marc Cooper, "Seven Guitars" (TAG); Dan Kunkel, "Henry IV, Part 2" (HSF); Larry Bialock, "The Importance of Being Earnest" (HPU); David Farmer, "A Doll’s House" (TAG)

» Featured female, play: Sara Cate Langham, "A Doll’s House" (TAG); Reshawan Fields, "Seven Guitars" (TAG); Virginia Jones, "The Importance of Being Earnest" (HPU)

» Leading male, musical: Brandon Martinez, "Oklahoma" (UHM); Matthew Pennaz, "Sunset Boulevard" (DHT); Miles Wesley, "The Phantom of the Opera" (PKU)

» Leading female, musical: Lydia Pusateri, "The Phantom of the Opera" (PKU); Elise Levin, "Spring Awakening" (MVT); Leiney Rigg, "Spring Awakening" (MVT)

» Featured male, musical: Daniel Kunkel, "Xanadu" (DHT); Kyle Malis, "Singin’ in the Rain" (DHT); Olivier Jodloman, "Sunset Boulevard" (DHT); Leonard Villanueva and Johnny Reed, "The Phantom of the Opera" (PKU)

» Featured female, musical: Niki Babua, "Spring Awakening" (MVT); Ahnya Chang, "Singin’ in the Rain" (DHT); Lisa Konove, "Cinderella" (DHT); Jaime Craycroft, "The Phantom the Opera" (PKU); Kim Anderson, "Xanadu" (DHT)

» Ensemble performance, play: "Southern Hospitality" (TAG); "39 Steps" (MVT); "God of Carnage" (MVT); "Wilcox’s Shot" (KKT); "The Tempest" (HSF)

» Ensemble performance, musical: "How I Became a Pirate" (PKU); "Titanic" (DHT); "Happily Eva Afta" (OHI)

» Director, play: Tony Pisculli, "Henry IV, Part 2" (HSF); Rob Duval, "The Butler Did It" (DHT); Betty Burdick, "Dividing The Estate" (MVT); Wil K.T. Kahele, "Kamau A‘e" (KKT); Brad Powell, "A Doll’s House" (TAG)

» Director, musical: Paul Mitri, "Spring Awakening" (MVT); John Rampage, "Sunset Boulevard" (DHT); Ronald E. Bright, "The Phantom of the Opera" (PKU)

» Musical director: Clarke Bright, "The Phantom of the Opera" (PKU); Emmett Yoshioka, "Singin’ in the Rain" (DHT); Phil Hildalgo, "Sunset Boulevard" (DHT); Kenji Higashihama, "Spring Awakening" (MVT)

» Dance choreographer: Cindy Hartigan, "Spring Awakening" (MVT); Katherine L. Jones, "Honk!" (MVT); Ka‘ohi Yojo and Tony Tsang, "Happily Eva Afta" (OHI); Amy Schiffner, Kara Miller and Vicky Holt Takamine, "Ocean’s Motion" (UHM)

» Overall production, play: "The Butler Did It" (DHT); "The Inspector General" (TAG); "God of Carnage" (MVT); "Wilcox’s Shot" (KKT); "A Doll’s House" (TAG); "Kamau A‘e" (KKT)

» Overall production, musical: "Spring Awakening" (MVT); "Singin’ in the Rain" (DHT); "Titanic" (DHT); "Sunset Boulevard" (DHT); "The Phantom of the Opera" (PKU)

» Costume design: Carlynn Wolfe, "Henry IV, Part 2" (HSF); Karen Wolfe, "Titanic" (DHT); Dusty Behner, "The 30 Steps" (MVT); Amy Schrag, "Sunset Boulevard" (DHT); Yvette Tanouye Allerdings, "Phantom of the Opera" PKU)

» Sound design/engineering: Kainoa Jarrett, "The Phantom of the Opera" (PKU); Mikel Humerickhouse, "Singin’ in the Rain" and "Sunset Boulevard" (DHT)

» Set design: Benjamin MacKrell, "Little Shop of Horrors" (MVT); Willie Sabel, "Singin’ in the Rain" (DHT); Duncan Dalzell, "The 39 Steps" (MVT); Lloyd Riford III, "The Phantom of the Opera" (PKU); Andrew Doan, "Spring Awakening" (MVT)

» Lighting design: Stephen Clear, "Titanic" (DHT) and "Sunset Boulevard" (DHT); Dawn Oshima, "Singin’ in the Rain" (DHT); Lloyd Riford III, "The Phantom of the Opera" (PKU); Thomas Tochiki, "A Doll’s House" (TAG)

» Hair, makeup and wig design: Jess Aki, "Cinderella" (DHT) and "Sunset Boulevard" (DHT); Greg Howell, "Seven Guitars" (TAG) and "The 39 Steps" (MVT); Friston Ho‘okano, "Xanadu" (DHT)

» Nonresident guest artist: Tammy Colucci (director and choreographer), "Xanadu" (DHT); Mary Gutzi (actor), "Sunset Boulevard" (DHT); Sean Quinn (actor), "Singin’ in the Rain" (DHT); Greg Zane (director), "Singin’ in the Rain" (DHT); Musra Dahrizal, Jasrial Jamaluddin and Kristin Pauka (choreographers), "The Genteel Sabai" (UHM); Mitchell Milan (actor), "The Importance of Being Earnest" (HPU)

» Special awards: Duncan Dalzell (special effects), "The 39 Steps" (MVT); Paul Goto (video design), "Singin’ in the Rain" (DHT); Sean T.C. O’Malley (original script), "Wilcox’s Shot" (KKT); Sandra Finney (puppet designs), "The Tempest" (HSF)

Participating theater groups:

» AWS: All The World’s a Stage
» DHT: Diamond Head Theatre
» HPU: Hawaii Pacific University
» HSF: Hawaii Shakespeare Festival
» KKT: Kumu Kahua Theatre
» MVT: Manoa Valley Theatre
» OHI: ‘Ohi‘a Productions
» PKU: Paliku Theatre
» TAG: The Actors’ Group
» UHM: University of Hawaii-Manoa