Theater Alums Recognized with Several Barrymore Award Nominations
Theater Alums Recognized with
Multiple Barrymore Award Nominations
by Alex Weintraub '11
8/6/10
Nominations for the 2010 Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre are out and Swarthmore alumni are again well represented. Pig Iron Theatre Company, founded by three Swarthmore graduates, received six nominations for its critically acclaimed show, Welcome to Yuba City, including:
• Outstanding Overall Production of a Play• Outstanding Direction of a Play, Visiting Assistant Professor of Theater Gabriel Quinn Bauriedel '94
- Outstanding Set Design, Mimi Lien
- Outstanding Ensemble in a Play, which included Dito van Reigersberg '94 and Sarah Sanford '99
- Independence Foundation Award for Outstanding New Play for playwright Deborah Stein '99
- Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Play, Charlotte Ford
Pig Iron, the past recipient of seven Barrymore Awards, enjoyed its largest-ever Philadelphia audience with its Yuba City shows during last year's Live Arts Festival. With 14 sell-outs, it was the festival's highest attended show.
Sarah Sanford '99 was also individually recognized for her work with two additional nominations:
- Best Supporting Actress, The Hunter Gatherers, Theatre Exile
- The F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Philadelphia Theatre Artist
"Swarthmore's theater program gave me a rigorous introduction to all aspects of theatre, particularly to directing," says Sanford, who had a directing concentration. "In my sophomore year, Adam Koplan '94 brought a Lecoq teacher named David Shoemaker to the LPAC's Frear Ensemble Theater to teach a weekend workshop. It changed my life. I said to myself: 'This is me.'"
Voters for the Barrymore Awards, given by the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia, review more than 120 shows produced by the region's professional theatres each year. The 2010 awards ceremony will take place October 4.
