Not just an awards ceremony, but a showcase of the finest in Chicago theatre talent, this year's Jeff Awards ceremony on November 6th promises to be a unique theatrical event. “A blockbuster evening,” says ceremony director Michael Weber, “with performances from all of the nominated productions for Play, Musical, and Revue, introduced by Masters of Ceremony Ora Jones and Ed Kross.” Present plans include scenes or numbers from the following productions:
Bus Stop (Writers’ Theatre), The Clean House (Goodman Theatre), Dealer's Choice (Shattered Globe Theatre), Fences (Court Theatre), A Flea in Her Ear (Chicago Shakespeare Theater), Pride and Prejudice (Northlight Theatre), Grand Hotel, The Musical and Plaid Tidings (Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower Place), Loving Repeating: A Musical of Gertrude Stein (About Face Theatre and the Museum of Contemporary Art), Man of La Mancha (Court Theatre), Oliver! (Marriott Theatre), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Spelling Bee Chicago), Urinetown (Blue Dog Entertainment LLC), Iraqtile Dysfunction and War! Now In Its 4th Smash Year! (The Second City), and A Marvelous Party: The Noel Coward Celebration (Northlight Theatre and Geva Theatre Center).
The Jeff Awards ceremony will be held at the DePaul Merle Reskin Theatre, 60 Balbo Drive. Pre-show light buffet and cash bar across the street at Hilton Chicago’s Normandie Lounge, 720 S. Michigan Ave., runs from 5:30 to 7:30pm and the awards ceremony begins at 8:00pm. Doors open at 7:30pm for the ceremony. The evening is black tie optional and the public is invited to attend. Discount parking is available at most street-level parking lots starting at 4:00pm.
Tickets for both ceremony and pre-show buffet are $65 ($50 for members of Actors’ Equity Association, United Scenic Artists, Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers and the Dramatists Guild of America). Ceremony-only tickets are $35. Tickets may be purchased at the door for an additional $10 per ticket ($75, $60 and $45 respectively).For more information, contact Bruce K. Siewerth, Equity Wing Chair, email: jeff–equity@sbcglobal.net.
The Joseph Jefferson Awards Committee earlier announced 155 nominations in 28 categories for Chicago's Equity theatrical productions which opened between August 1, 2005 and July 31, 2006. The Jeff Committee sent judges to the opening nights of 123 Equity productions offered by 51 producing organizations, and recommended 92 of these productions for further judging by the entire Committee, which made them eligible for Jeff Awards. The complete list of nominees is available at www.jeffawards.org.