Best supporting actress

For the past several seasons, Mercedes Perez has deftly portrayed supporting parts while maintaining each role's proper place in a play's grand scheme, showing her ability to be an artful team player in a business that increasingly

values novelty over craft. And this past year saw her unique talents showcased as never before. She lit up the stage as Anita in the Arvada Center's exuberant production of West Side Story and was a divine presence as a thrice-appearing choric figure that replaced the stodgy role of Father Time in the Denver Center's lavish Winter's Tale. Although she's since relocated to Aspen (where her husband is the new artistic director of Theatre-in-the-Park), Perez will, we hope, migrate periodically from the land of pointy-headed stars to play an even more supportive role in Denver's burgeoning professional scene.