CL's 15th Annual Charlotte Theatre Awards 

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But it's what Lambert, Yost, and Hartness achieved together that captures the prize. Bankrolled by an $8500 collaborative marketing grant from the Arts & Science Council, the trio -- and their three theater groups -- put together Charlotte's Off-Broadway. Suddenly, with big print ads and a 17-show season lineup, the Queen City's littlest theater groups loomed large. And so far -- particularly with Off-Tryon's Corpus Christi, BareBones' Turn of the Screw, and the Chickspeare/BareBones Desdemona -- the product has lived up to the hype. The coalition is holding, and Charlotte's alternative theater scene has a new, vibrant synergy.

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR

Piloting two of our category winners, Wit (Best Drama) and Benedictions (Best Original Show), Steve Umberger was the runaway victor. Both of these dramas revolved around the acute sufferings of female protagonists -- the physical torments of a pedantic professor dying from ovarian cancer (Wit) and the spiritual trial of a minister who loses her faith after the death of her children (Benedictions). In each case, mood and essence were captured unerringly. But the founder of Charlotte Rep can also be a fun guy. Umberger's comedic gifts were underscored last fall as Rep launched its 25th anniversary with two uproariously successful revivals, The Foreigner and The Last Night of Ballyhoo. The Ubiquitous One fine-tuned his Ballyhoo and added a menacing edge to Foreigner that made it surprisingly, and rewardingly, topical.

ACTRESS OF THE YEAR

Up until 2001, Sheila Snow's local reputation was built entirely at Chickspeare playing dashing male protagonists -- and antagonists -- in a string of Chickspearean productions. But in her breakthrough year, Snow explored the theatrical terra incognita of her own gender. She brought her signature smirk along with her for a supporting role in Chickspeare's Fefu and Her Friends. Predatory fangs were still intact as Snow played the manipulative Marquise de Merteuil in Off-Tryon's Les Liaisons Dangeureuses. Then she went totally female, portraying a curiously morbid klepto in BareBones' production of Three Viewings. No trace of the old Snow smirk surfaced in the Off-Tryon revival of Paula Vogel's The Baltimore Waltz. What remained was a winning naivete, a twinkle of comedy, and a touch of mad desperation -- all exquisitely blended.

ACTOR OF THE YEAR

Duke Ernsberger has been a comedy commodity on the Charlotte theater scene for so long that his acting excellence is often taken for granted. The man of a thousand teeth reminded us of his dramatic prowess early in the year, plaguing the adorably tormented Presbyterian minister of Benedictions as beancounting homophobe Ray Richey. Then he took on the zaniest of cowboy roles in Rep's workshop production of Home on the Range as a wheelchair-bound kook who imagines he's Gene Autry, stealing scene after scene with his raucous entrances. Ernsberger took somewhat the opposite approach in the title role of The Foreigner, stripping away some of Charlie Baker's schtick, so that playwright Larry Shue's points on prejudice and terrorism could share the spotlight. Often nominated before, Duke gets the CL spotlight for his 2001 gems.

SHOW OF THE YEAR

Nothing else I saw in 2001 blew me away quite so thoroughly as Anton in Show Business by the mysterious Jane Martin. Superbly directed for Actor's Theatre by 1997 Theatreperson of the Year Dennis Delamar, Anton was the most revelatory script I encountered anywhere until I saw Tony Kushner's prophetic Homebody/Kabul late in December in New York. Cleverly paralleling Chekhov's Three Sisters while mercilessly depicting how today's entertainment factories mangle the classics, Anton eerily empathized with the ill-equipped actresses attempting to bring the pathetic sibs back to life. The most wicked satire was aimed at a pretentious Brit director and a Don King-like sponsor who exploit the actresses and compromise the art. A dense, carping critic planted in the audience topped off this hilariously absurd confection. But what had me in tears as I drove home from Anton was the wonderfully knit ensemble cast, totally dedicated at every sly turn, gloriously overachieving.

COMPANY OF THE YEAR

Anton was the prime example of the artistry and audacity that Actor's Theatre of Charlotte sustained throughout 2001. They began auspiciously with Martin McDonough's The Cripple of Inishmaan, capturing the soaring aspirations and the petty backbiting of an Irish backwater village during the Great Depression. Brutal, naturalistic, hysterically heartbreaking comedy. ATC went on to Anton and continued strong with their best musical production ever, Violet, based on Doris Betts's "The Ugliest Pilgrim" with heavy Flannery O'Connor flavorings. Then, largely because executive director Dan Shoemaker had the guts to ask for the rights, ATC premiered Thumbs, a new comedy-mystery-thriller by Tony Award winner Rupert Holmes. Every time Actor's Theatre pushed the envelope last year, they came out a winner.