Best Presented Production for Jane Austen UnScripted
Award Ceremony to be held on January 17
The 2016 LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Award nominations were announced today and The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage in Santa Monica received two nominations, both in the “Best Presented Production” category: Headlong Theatre’s 1984 by George Orwell in a new adaptation created by Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan and Jane Austen UnScripted from local improvisational theater troupe, Impro Theatre.
“It is always an honor to receive this kind of acknowledgement from the Los Angeles Theater community,” said Jane Deknatel, Executive Director of The Broad Stage. “Impro Theatre is an extremely talented, local company we’ve worked with many times. 1984 was an international touring production that came direct to us from London’s West End. These two productions fully represent the range of our programming. We thank LA Stage Alliance for this very special distinction.”
1984 launched its American Tour at The Broad Stage and ran January 8 – February 6, 2016. The production from Britain’s Headlong Theatre Company, directed by Jeremy Herrin, used technical effects to create a sensory-overload visceral experience, keeping the audience disturbingly complicit. The Los Angeles Times said of 1984, “[The] theatrical imagination of this British import brings the tale shockingly to life onstage.”
Jane Austen UnScripted ran at The Broad Stage December 4 – 20, 2015. Using Jane Austen’s wit and wisdom as inspiration, the Impro Theatre deftly creates a world of love-struck girls, brooding noblemen and charming cads. As the show is improvised, each performance is vastly unique from the one that came before it. The Los Angeles Times called Jane Austen UnScripted “One of the funniest evenings in town…An amazing comedy troupe spins an entire play into comedy gold right before your eyes.” Impro Theatre returns to The Broad Stage December 15-17, 2016 in the all-new 1966 Holiday Variety Extravaganza.
Founded in in 1989, the Ovation Awards are the only peer-judged theater awards in Los Angeles. Voters are LA theatre professionals who are chosen each year, through an application process, by the Ovation Rules Committee. The award ceremony will be held at the Ahmanson Theatre on January 17.
Photo Credits:
1984 – Photo by Ben Gibbs
Jane Austen Unscripted – Photo by Alison Inconstanti/Puck Photography