Best Theater Company Season

Artistic director Nicholas Sugar has returned the Theatre Group to a high level of quality -- something the organization, best known for producing plays at Theatre on Broadway, has lacked since it expanded some seasons back. This past year, Jonathan Harvey's Beautiful Thing was a competently acted tale that took an inviting look at first love's discoveries, exultations and tumults; Diana Son's Stop Kiss explored a budding relationship between two young women and overflowed with episodes that defied stereotype and transcended curiosity; David Rabe's A Question of Mercy was an unflinching examination of AIDS and assisted suicide; and Howard Crabtree's When Pigs Fly was a lighthearted musical revue that enjoyed multiple extensions of its original run. Thanks to Sugar's leadership, this all bodes well for the future of provocative but tasteful entertainment.