As always, the list of finalists comprises both expected choices and a few unexpected. The Denver Center Theatre Company, which has garnered surprisingly few nominations in the past, has a whopping 28 this year, nine of them for The Legend of Georgia McBride, several more for the hilarious Animal Crackers.
See also: The Tempest is both magical and mundane at the Shakespeare Festival
The Edge Theatre Company breaks through in the Outstanding Season for a Theatre Company category for the first time, with four additional nominations for its savage, beautiful production of The Beauty Queen of Leanane. Buntport, which usually graces this Outstanding Season list, is not on it this year, though the company has garnered two nominations for Electra Onion Eater.Curious Theatre Company reaps fifteen nominations in total, most of them for the brilliant play, The Whipping Man--profoundly well-deserved, though the omission of any mention of the stunning regional premier of The Brothers Size seems odd. And though it must have been a great production, you have to wonder what anyone could do with that ancient warhorse I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change at Breckenridge Backstage Theatre to make it worthy of five nominations.
Henry judges have ignored the Colorado Shakespeare Festival for years, and this year is no exception. Although two of the actors in last summer's electrifying A Midsummer Night's Dream are nominated, director Geoffrey Kent isn't--though Kent is honored for his lovely Metamorphoses at the Aurora Fox.
Read on for the complete list of nominations.