Drammy Awards offer few surprise twists

Center Stage, Third Rail do most of the show-stopping at Monday night’s ceremony

By Eric Bartels

The Portland Tribune, Jun 12, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009

The 29th annual Drammy Awards, which recognize excellence in local theater, didn’t produce a lot of surprises Monday night.

With a crowd of several hundred in attendance at the Crystal Ballroom, most of them intimately connected to Portland’s theater world, the city’s biggest theater company, Portland Center Stage, gathered 12 awards.

But not far behind was Third Rail Repertory Theater, which extended a steady, four-year run of success with seven awards, including two awards for best actor, one for best production and another for best director.

The strong showing by Third Rail precedes the company’s move from the 99-seat Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center in North Portland to the much larger World Trade Center Theater downtown next season.

Click here to see a list of the Drammy Awards.

Slayden Scott Yarbrough of Third Rail, who announced he was “terrified” by the move, became the first person in Drammy history to win a best director award four consecutive years.

The biggest single winner was Center Stage’s “Twelfth Night,” which won six awards, including two nods for best supporting actor, and one each for production and direction. The conjoined “Beard of Avon,” which ran concurrently with “Twelfth Night” using the same actors and set, produced two awards for best actor.

One of those awards went to Darius Pierce, who said the win for his portrayal of Shakespeare as a humble bumpkin may not have been the highlight of his night. A newly minted award for puppetry was won by Theatre Vertigo’s “The Long Christmas Ride Home.” Pierce starred in the dark comedy-drama and is a company member.

1 | 2 Next Page >>

Facebook	Digg	Del.icio.us
Newsvine	Stumbleupon	Reddit