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Will Lyman To Receive Elliot Norton Award

Will Lyman will receive this year's Elliot Norton Award for Sustained Excellence at this year's 31st Norton Awards event May 13. He'll be joined on the Paramount Center main stage by this year's guest of honor, Broadway star Chita Rivera. Lyman's voice may be better known than his face as he provides the narration for "Frontline" and many other TV documentaries as well as for Dos Equis and BMW ad campaigns, among others. He has, however, increasingly turned his attention to Boston theater over the years, and is widely considered one of the area's best actors. He has also helped maintain Commonwealth Shakespeare Company's free summer Shakespeare series and is now chairman of the CSC board.

Lyman was also nominated this year for his acting in the Outstanding Actor, Midsize catetory for his work in "Long Day's Journey Into Night" at the New Repertory Theatre and "Operation Epsilon" at the Nora Theatre. His daughter, Georgia Lyman, was nominated in the Outstanding Solo Performance catergory for "Chesapeake" at New Rep.

The Norton awards are administered by the Boston Theater Critics Assn. of which I'm a member. Here is the list of nominees:

31st Annual Elliot Norton Awards Nominations

Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence: Will Lyman

Special Citation honoring Actors' Equity Association (AEA) on the occasion of its 100th Birthday.

Outstanding Visiting Production
War Horse (Broadway in Boston)
The Servant of Two Masters (Yale Repertory Theatre, presented by ArtsEmerson)
Metamorphosis (Vesturport Theatre and Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, presented by ArtsEmerson)

Outstanding Production by a Large Resident Theater
Good People (Huntington Theatre Company)
Our Town (Huntington Theatre Company)
The Glass Menagerie (American Repertory Theater)

Outstanding Production by a Midsize Theater
The Motherfucker with the Hat (SpeakEasy Stage Company)
Chinglish (Lyric Stage Company of Boston)
Clybourne Park (SpeakEasy Stage Company)

Outstanding Production by a Small Theater
The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (Company One)
Of Mice and Men (Moonbox Productions)
Ted Hughes' Tales from Ovid (Whistler in the Dark, presented by ArtsEmerson)

Outstanding Production by a Fringe Theater
Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead (Happy Medium Theatre)
A Behanding in Spokane (Theatre on Fire)
Tigers Be Still (Zeitgeist Stage Company)

Outstanding Design, Large Theater
Marie Antoinette: scenic design by Riccardo Hernandez, costumes by Gabriel Berry, lighting by Christopher Akerlind, sound by Matt Hubbs, puppet design by Matt Acheson (American Repertory Theater)
Metamorphosis: set design by Börkur Jonsson, lighting by Björn Helgason, sound by Nick Manning (Vesturport Theatre and Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, presented by ArtsEmerson)
A Raisin in the Sun: set by Clint Ramos, costumes by Kathleen Geldard, lighting by Lap Chi Chu, original music and sound design by Broken Chord (Huntington Theatre Company)

Outstanding Design, Midsize, Small or Fringe Theater
The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity: set and props by Jason Ries, lighting by Jen Rock, sound by Arshan Gailus, costumes by Kendra Bell, video by Olivia Sebesky (Company One)
Mildred Fierce: sets by Amelia Gossett and Lauren Duffy, costumes by Scott Martino, lighting by Sparrow Provoost, sound by Roger Moore (Gold Dust Orphans)
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson: scenic design by Eric Levenson, costumes by Elisabetta Polito, lighting by Jeff Adelberg, sound by Eric Norris (SpeakEasy Stage Company)

Outstanding Musical Production by a Large Theater
Billy Elliot The Musical (Broadway in Boston)
Fela! (Shawn “Jay-Z’’ Carter, Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, Ruth and Stephen Hendel, in association with Edward Tyler Nahem, presented by ArtsEmerson)
Pippin (American Repertory Theater)

Outstanding Musical Production by a Midsize, Small or Fringe Company
Mildred Fierce (Gold Dust Orphans)
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (SpeakEasy Stage Company)
Avenue Q (Lyric Stage Company of Boston)

Outstanding Musical Performance by an Actor
Sahr Ngaujah, Fela! (Shawn “Jay-Z’’ Carter, Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, Ruth and Stephen Hendel, in association with Edward Tyler Nahem, ArtsEmerson)
Gus Curry, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (SpeakEasy Stage Company)
John Ambrosino, Avenue Q (Lyric Stage Company of Boston)

Outstanding Musical Performance by an Actress
Erica Spyres, Avenue Q (Lyric Stage Company of Boston)
Amy Jo Jackson, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (SpeakEasy Stage Company)
Andrea Martin, Pippin (American Repertory Theater)

Outstanding New Script
The Last Will, by Robert Brustein (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company and Suffolk University)
Operation Epsilon, by Alan Brody (Nora Theatre Company and Catalyst Collaborative @ MIT Project)
Mildred Fierce, by Ryan Landry (Gold Dust Orphans)

Outstanding Solo Performance
Georgia Lyman, Chesapeake (New Repertory Theatre)
Seana McKenna, Shakespeare’s Will (Merrimack Repertory Theatre)
Hershey Felder, Maestro: Leonard Bernstein (ArtsEmerson)

Outstanding Director, Large Theater
Maria Aitken, Private Lives and Betrayal (Huntington Theatre Company)
Rebecca Taichman, Marie Antoinette (American Repertory Theater)
John Tiffany, The Glass Menagerie (American Repertory Theater)

Outstanding Director, Midsize Theater
David R. Gammons, The Motherf**ker with the Hat (SpeakEasy Stage Company)
Spiro Veloudos, Avenue Q (Lyric Stage Company of Boston)
Paul Melone, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (SpeakEasy Stage Company)

Outstanding Director, Small or Fringe Theater
Shawn LaCount, The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (Company One)
James P. Byrne, Mary Poppers and Mildred Fierce (Gold Dust Orphans)
Alice Olivia Choate, Of Mice and Men (Moonbox Productions)

Outstanding Actor, Large Theater
Steven Epp, The Servant of Two Masters (Yale Repertory Theatre, presented by ArtsEmerson)
LeRoy McClain, A Raisin in the Sun (Huntington Theatre Company)
Gísli Örn Garðarsson, Metamorphosis (Vesturport Theatre and Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, presented by ArtsEmerson)

Outstanding Actress, Large Theater
Brooke Bloom, Marie Antoinette (American Repertory Theater)
Bianca Amato, Private Lives (Huntington Theatre Company)
Cherry Jones, The Glass Menagerie (American Repertory Theater)

Outstanding Actor, Midsize Theater
Will Lyman, Long Day's Journey into Night (New Repertory Theatre), Operation Epsilon (Nora Theatre Company and Catalyst Collaborative @ MIT Project)
Maurice Emmanuel Parent, The Motherfucker with the Hat (SpeakEasy Stage Company)
Steven Barkhimer, Round and Round the Garden (Gloucester Stage Company), Middletown (Actors' Shakespeare Project)

Outstanding Actress, Midsize Theater
Evelyn Howe, The Motherfucker with the Hat (SpeakEasy Stage Company)
Marvelyn McFarlane, Clybourne Park (SpeakEasy Stage Company)
Celeste Oliva, Chinglish (Lyric Stage Company of Boston)

Outstanding Actor, Small or Fringe Theater
Harry McEnerny, Of Mice and Men (Moonbox Productions)
Ricardo Engermann, The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (Company One)
Mason Sand, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (Company One)

Outstanding Actress, Small or Fringe Theater
Becca A. Lewis, Tigers Be Still (Zeitgeist Stage Company)
Kiki Samko, Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead (Happy Medium Theatre)
Lizette M. Morris, Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead (Happy Medium Theatre)

Outstanding Ensemble, Large Theater
The Servant of Two Masters (Yale Repertory Theatre, presented by ArtsEmerson)
The Glass Menagerie (American Repertory Theater)
Our Town (Huntington Theatre Company)

Outstanding Ensemble, Midsize, Small or Fringe Theater
Avenue Q (Lyric Stage Company of Boston)
The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (Company One)
Operation Epsilon (Nora Theatre Company and Catalyst Collaborative @ MIT Project)-30-

This program aired on April 11, 2013. The audio for this program is not available.

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