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May 24, 2011 Archive Extras » Theater Awards stories

        
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Director of the Year

Stretching back to his days at Off-Tryon Theatre Company, Glenn T. Griffin has always directed with passion and conviction, oftentimes without the best talent artillery at his disposal. But in his fourth year as artistic director at Queen City Theatre Company, Griffin made all the right moves. His opening musical, Grey Gardens, was a perfect fit for Duke Energy Theatre; and with Alyson Lowe, Billy Ensley, Polly Adkins, and Beau Stroupe, he probably fielded Q.C.'s strongest cast ever. Evita was cunningly downsized for the Duke, and Reefer Madness had a campy, spoofy feel that must have had folks at Actor's Theatre thinking that Griffin had stolen their lunch. For his one dramatic excursion, Griffin went back, back, back to 1929 for Patrick Hamilton's Rope, by far the oldest non-Shakespearean play to compete for a major award last year. Griffin made the old-timey suspense of this one work without the help of any actors or actresses who had competed for Loaf awards before. Whitney Drury, Justin Younts, and Berry Newkirk were all in the running this time around – and likely will be for years to come.

Full list of all the winners