The Drammy Awards are always a great party, but this year Portland Center Stage had the distinct pleasure of being able to congratulate 12 artists from this season who took home Drammy awards for everything from best supporting role in a musical to best lighting design.

Check out the local coverage from the Oregonian and Willamette Week, and definitely don’t miss Alison Hallett’s blow by blow “Live at the Drammys” blog- the best way to get the flavor of the event if you weren’t able to attend.

Want reactions from performers who won after the show? Eric Bartels interviewed several winners in his coverage of the evening.

Here are the highlights on the record-breaking number of awards Chris had to lug into the theater this morning:

Darius Pierce and Brent Harris (pictured below) won for their delightfully bawdy portayal of the Bard and Edward DeVere in The Beard of Avon.

Michele Mariana secured an award for her work as Fraulein Schneider in Cabaret.

Jessica Wallenfels’ logger ballet choreography for Sometimes a Great Notion picked up an award, as did Tony Cisek’s set design and Dan Covey’s glowing, mist strewn lighting design.

Deborah Trout snagged a Costume Design accolade for her brilliantly hued pumpkin pantaloons in Twelfth Night.

The favorite of the evening, Twelfth Night also garnered an award for outstanding production and a nod to Jane Jones for her masterful direction. Dueling Kenneth Albers and Brad Bellamy took home awards for their supporting actor performances.

Rounding out the awards for Twelfth Night, William Bloodgood was honored for his multipurpose Elizabethan scenic design.

It was a beautiful evening, and we were honored to provide opportunities for so many outstanding artists and performers to shine!

The bonnet worn by the Sisters of Charity in our production of Doubt is atypical of what we think of nuns wearing. Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774-1821) started the first religious community of apostolic women founded in the United States. She was canonized in 1975 and is the first native born American to become a saint. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton is considered a patron saint of Catholic schools. She was a true pioneer in the educating of women in the United States.

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton

Sister James (Jen Taylor) in her rehearsal bonnet.

Kelly Cullom (assistant stage manager) and Jamie Hill (stage manager) get a feel for the bonnet.

buy tickets || bring a group || more blogs about Doubt

Let’s see - today is December 21st and we just ran the first act of Beard of Avon yesterday (well stumbled through is really the appropriate term at this point in the process).  I believe that 12th Night reviewed the entire first half yesterday as well.

 Last week we began by learning the songs in Beard (don’t think of it as a musical, which it’s not - but the ‘acting troupe’ does sing a couple of drinking tunes).  Our composer is Joshua Kohl from Seattle (the guy with the cap and guitar on his lap above).

We’ve been shifting rehearsals between the rehearsal space on the top floor of the Armory (seen above) and the Studio Theater (which is empty right now).  The Studio allows us to get a sense of the entire depth of the set (which will be just over 40 feet) - which is extremely helpful when we’re staging the big group scenes.

Barbara Casement (above) is our costume crafts genius (which means that she gets to create any specialty items that you might not quite classify as a piece of clothing).  For Beard one of the really fun items is this “bloody tongue” for the scene from Titus Andronicus that is enacted.  It looks pretty nasty, but Barbara seemed to enjoy showing off the tongue in action.

Another challenge in Beard is the superfast “transformation” that Cate Davis gets to make at the top of Act Two from “Ann Hathaway” to a “lady of the night”.  The change happens in full view of the audience as Cate is speaking - so it has to be pretty choreographed.  Cate and Deb Trout (our costume designer) spent several minutes talking through options [”well you could underdress it all” “yes, but then I’d have to wear an enormous pair of trousers over the skirt” “or you could not have the corset on until this speech” “yes, but how in the world is she going to fasten a corset onstage in 30 seconds?”]

Fun, fun, fun.

Work on A Christmas Carol has reached a fevered pitch in both of our shops.
Jeff Cone, our resident costume designer is trying to find his holiday cheer amidst all the Victorian clothing he has to have ready in a week.

Larissa is hard at work on the mountains of fabric used for The Ghost of Christmas Present.

Foggy is working on Dora’s bodice.

And Mrs. Fezziwig’s gown is starting to take shape:

The costume shop is about to explode.  In one week the clothes have to be ready for actor’s to wear onstage.  Tesa is seen here working on the “gorilla” costume for Act II.

Meanwhile, Foggy worked on the dress that said Gorilla will actually wear.

Larissa provided final touches on the ladies undergarments. 

Barbara built a pair of long gloves for Sally to wear.

While “Little Man” kept everybody happy