Best Season for an Actor -- Large Company

Keith L. Hatten has brought grace and vitality to a number of small roles over the past few years. No matter how little he has to do or say, you can always sense his character's inner life. Hatten was charming and funny in this year's Christmas Carol, stalwart as a servant in The Three Sisters. In John Brown's Body, he played a house slave, imbuing the role with such feeling and dignity that you didn't know whether to laugh or cry when he said he was "proud of my white folk. Proud of it all." With Blue-Orange, Hatten was finally given a lead role, and he performed it with jittery energy and humor.