Po’okela Awards honor best in local theatre
Excellence in local theater was honored Monday as the Hawaii State Theatre Council (HSTC) announced the recipients of the 2013 Po‘okela Awards at its annual “Stars Night Out” dinner and show at the Ko‘olau Golf Club in Kaneohe.
Manoa Valley Theatre (MVT) placed first over all with 36 awards in 17 of the 23 award categories. Diamond Head Theatre (DHT) was second with 21 awards in 11 categories. The Actors Group (TAG) placed third overall with 20.
MVT’s production of “Young Frankenstein” received a pace-setting 15 awards — the most of any individual show. DHT’s summer production of “Legally Blonde: The Musical” was second overall with nine.
The leading award recipients for non-musical shows were The Actors Group (TAG) revival of “Cat on A Hot Tin Roof” with seven and the Kumu Kahua (KKT) world premiere production of “All That Remains” with six.
Hawaii Pacific University (HPU), the Hawaii Shakespeare Festival (HSF), Paliku Theatre (PKU) and the University of Hawaii-Manoa (UHM) also received awards last night.
The Po‘okela Awards were intended from the beginning to recognize as much excellence in local theater as possible. Under the adjudication process used during the first two decades of the Po‘okela Awards program, a panel of five adjudicators each made individual preliminary nominations and then met for a second round of voting to select a maximum of three honorees in each category. Under the current system there are three adjudicators; each selects a maximum of two honorees per category without communicating with the other adjudicators. This ensures a minimum of two honorees per category and a maximum of six.
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Each adjudicator may also award a maximum of two Adjudicator Discretionary Awards to recognize excellence in areas not covered by any extant category.
Honolulu Theatre for Youth was the only major theatre program on Oahu that did not allow its performers, playwrights and tech staff to be honored for their work during the 2012-2013 theater season.
| 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 |
Leading Male in a Play
Troy M. Apostol — "Cymbeline" — HSF
Bill Carr — "The Pillowman" — TAG
Isaac Ligsay — "Handler" — UHM
Seth Lilley — "The Pillowman" — TAG
Quantae Love — "King Hedley II" — TAG
Jim Tharp — "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" — TAG
Leading Female in a Play
Josephine Calvo — "La Stada" — UHM
Lillian Jones — "King Hedley II" — TAG
Stephanie Keiko Kong — "Richard III" — HSF
Terri Madden — "Anna in the Cold War" — TAG
Jo Pruden — "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" — TAG
Featured Male in a Play
Tim Jeffryes — "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" — TAG
Marcus Lee — "Cymbeline" — HSF
Adam Lefebvre — "The Pillowman" — TAG
Bill Self — "King Hedley II" — TAG
Shawn A. Thomsen — "The Belle’s Stategem" — TAG
Featured Female in a Play
Sara Borgeson — "Cymbeline" HSF
Ann Brandman — "Richard III" — HSF
Victoria Gail-White — "Hedda Gabler" — HPU
Eden-Lee Murray — "Richard III" — HSF
Deborah Pearson — "King Hedley II" — TAG
Leading Male in a Musical
Pedro Haro — "The Goodbye Girl" — DHT
Myles McGee — "Young Frankenstein" — MVT
Paul Mitri — "Young Frankenstein" MVT
Leading Female in a Musical
Allison Aldcroft — "Next To Normal" — MVT
Jody Bill — "Legally Blonde: The Musical" — DHT
Tricia Marciel — "The Goodbye Girl" — DHT
Shannon Winpenny — "Young Frankenstein" — MVT
Featured Male in a Musical
Britton Adams — "Young Frankenstein" — MVT
Daniel James Kunkel — "Young Frankenstein" — MVT
Kyle Malis — "Next To Normal" — MVT
Laurence Paxton — "Legally Blonde: The Musical" — DHT
Featured Female in a Musical
Brittany Browning — "Legally Blonde: The Musical" — DHT
Shari Lynn — "Funny Girl" — DHT
Megan Mount — "Legally Blonde: The Musical" — DHT
Stacey Pulmano — "9 to 5" — DHT
Kanani Rogers — "Next To Normal" — MVT
Ensemble Performance in a Play
"All That Remains" — KKT
"Bloody Murder" — MVT
"Fishing For Wives" — KKT
"Speed-the-Plow" — MVT
Ensemble Performance in a Musical
"Broadway@Paliku" — PKU
"Godspell 2012" — MVT
"Rapunzel! Rapunzel!" — PKU
Director of a Play
Troy M. Apostol — "The Pillowman" — TAG
Tony Pisculli — "The Belle’s Strategem" TAG
Tony Pisculli — "Richard III" — HSF
Dennis Proulx — "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" — TAG
Scott Rogers — "Speed-the-Plow" — MVT
Director of a Musical
Bree Bumatai — "Godspell 2012" — MVT
Brett Harwood — "Next To Normal" — MVT
John Rampage — "Funny Girl" — DHT
John Rampage — "The Goodbye Girl" — DHT
Hannah Schauer — "Young Frankenstein" — MVT
Musical Director
Keith Griffin — "Godspell 2012" — MVT
Megan Mount — "Next To Normal" — MVT
Alethea Train — "Legally Blonde: The Musical" — DHT
Emmett G. Yoshioka — "Funny Girl" — DHT
Judy Yoshioka — "Young Frankenstein" — MVT
Dance Choreographer
Grace Humerickhouse — "Godspell 2012" — MVT
Katherine L. Jones — "Young Frankenstein" — MVT
John Rampage — "Funny Girl" — DHT
Christine Yasunaga — "Legally Blonde: The Musical" — DHT
Overall Production of a Play
"All That Remains" — KKT
"Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" — TAG
"The Giver" — UHM
"The Pillowman" — TAG
"Thread Hell" — UHM
Overall Production of a Musical
"Funny Girl" — DHT
"Godspell 2012" — MVT
"Next to Normal" — MVT
"Young Frankenstein" — MVT
Costume Design
Dusty Behner — "Boeing Boeing" — MVT
Dusty Behner — "Young Frankenstein" — MVT
Peggy Krock — "Rapunzel! Rapunzel!" — PKU
Lacy Rohlf — "Funny Girl" — DHT
Cheri Vasek — "Thread Hell" — UHM
Karen G. Wolfe — "Legally Blonde: The Musical" — DHT
Sound Design/Engineering
Royce R. Okasaki — "All That Remains" — KTT
Brian Shevelenko — "Thread Hell" — UHM
Jason Taglianetti — "Godspell 2012" — MVT
Jason Taglianetti — "Next To Normal" — MVT
Jason Taglianetti — "Young Frankenstein" — MVT
Set Design
Andy Alvarado — "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" — TAG
Duncan Dalzell and Cristina Arroyo — "Bloody Murder" — MVT
Justin Fragiao — "All That Remains" — KKT
Meg Hanna — "Thread Hell" — UHM
Maria Liu — "The Giver" — UHM
M.J. Matsushita — "Young Frankenstein" — MVT
Light Design
Ray Moschuk — "The Giver" — UHM
Janine Myers — "Bloody Murder" — MVT
Janine Myers — "Next To Normal" — MVT
Dawn Oshima — "Legally Blonde: The Musical" — DHT
Lloyd S. Riford III — "Young Frankenstein" — MVT
Hair, Make-up and Wig Design
Michael Bargielski — "The Good Doctor" — HPU
Friston Ho’okano — "Fishing For Wives" — KKT
Lisa Ponce De Leon — "Bloody Murder" — MVT
Lisa Ponce De Leon — "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" — TAG
Lisa Ponce De Leon — "Young Frankenstein" — MVT
Non-Resident/Guest Artist
Tammy Colucci (Director of a Musical/Choreographer) — "9 to 5" — DHT
Isabelle Decauwert (Leading Female in a Musical) — "Funny Girl" — DHT
Traci Mariano (Director) — "All That Remains" — KKT
Andrew Sakaguchi (Director) — "Legally Blonde: The Musical" — DHT
Adjudicator Discretionary Award
Tony Pisculli — "For successfully leading the Hawaii Shakespeare Festival through its 12 year commitment to present every plan in the canon in Hawaii."
Ed Sakamoto — Original Script — "Fishing For Wives" — KKT
Mona Smith — Original Script — "All That Remains" — KKT
Sara Ward — Props Design — "Young Frankenstein" — MVT
John Wythe White — Original Script — "Parallel Realities" — TAG
