Cortland Repertory Theatre Nominated for SALT Awards

Cortland Repertory Theatre has received a record-breaking eight nominations for the 2011 Syracuse Area Live Theatre (SALT) Awards, which recognize outstanding achievement in Central New York theatre. Hosted by the Syracuse New Times, the SALT Awards focus primarily on community theatre groups in Syracuse, but also recognizes regional summer theatres in their own categories.

In the category of Best Production of the Summer Season, CRT’s musicals Chicago and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat both received nods, as well as Souvenir: A Fantasia on the Life of Florence Foster Jenkins, the only “non-musical” in this category. Both Chicago and Souvenir were directed by long-time CRT director Bill Kincaid, who previously directed the SALT-nominated productions of Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks in 2010, Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde in 2009 and A Few Good Men in 2008. Eric Thomas Johnson served as music director for Chicago and Kevin P. Hill was choreographer. Joseph…Dreamcoat was directed by another long-time CRT director, Bert Bernardi, with music direction by Tammy Holder and choreography by Cynthia Halpin. Other nominees in this category include Merry-Go-Round’s Anything Goes, Hairspray, and 42nd Street.

CRT received two nominations for Best Actress of the Summer Season: Rin Allen, as the tough-as-nails Velma Kelly in Chicago and April Woodall for her performance as the tone-deaf opera diva Florence Foster Jenkins in Souvenir. Other nominees all appeared in Merry Go Round productions: Lena Mary Amato (Hairspray); Julie Cardia, (Anything Goes) and Julie Kavanaugh (42nd Street).

CRT received three nominations for Best Actor of the Summer Season: Austin Van Dyke Colby who played the title role in Joseph…Dreamcoat, Nicholas Wilder for his frantic lawyer in Neil Simon’s Rumors, and Producing Artistic Director Kerby Thompson as the slimy song-and-dance lawyer Billy Flynn in Chicago. The other nominees in this category also were from Merry Go Round’s productions: Christopher Carl (42nd Street); Todd Lattimore (Anything Goes) and Darryl Winslow (Hairspray).

The awards ceremony will be held at the Palace Theater in Syracuse on Sunday, May 20. The ceremony is open to the public and tickets may be purchased through the Syracuse New Times.