Los Angeles theater takes center stage
By Josh Wasbin
Nov. 16, 2008 10:54 p.m.
The red carpet is rolling out in Los Angeles. No, it’s not the Emmys, the Grammys or the Academy Awards. It’s the Ovation Awards, the Los Angeles award show for theater achievements.
Seven UCLA staff members have been nominated for various awards in this show, ranging from Best Sound Design to Best Direction to Best Touring Production.
One nominee is Brian Kite. Kite, who got his master’s in directing from UCLA in 2004, directed “Driving Miss Daisy,” which is up for three other Ovation Awards, including best director for Kite. He began at his new theater in La Mirada purely by chance.
“The guy who was the director there kind of recruited me. I made a joke with him about 10 years ago, “˜One day I want your job (as artistic director), you seem to have a great life.’ And one day, he gave it to me.”
Kite, who has directed at Summerstock “French Woods” Festival in New York, believes that New York has more of a tradition of going to the theater. The Ovation Awards were created for this very reason, to correct this and encourage L.A. residents who are just as enthused to attend the local theaters in Los Angeles.
“The Ovation Awards bring attention to Los Angeles theater,” said Jonathan Burke, a UCLA lecturer.
Burke was also nominated for an Ovation Award in the sound design category for his work in Cabrillo Music Theatre’s “Singin’ in the Rain.” While this is his first nomination as well, he has worked on sound design for many theaters, including the Geffen Playhouse and the Rubicon.
He started his career as a rock musician in Hong Kong but realized that he became increasingly interested in the way his music sounded and less interested in actually playing it. Burke subsequently discovered his love for musical theater.
“(Musical theater) gave me the ability to do all the things I liked doing, creating the sounds, moving the sounds, it was a good mesh of all of those things,” Burke said.
The category of sound design awards is a new one. The Tonys did not have this category until very recently. When asked how one wins the sound design category, Burke responded that what helps is, “Picking good equipment, working with good people. It’s hard to say, you do the best you can, you make it fun, and a good director helps.”
The musical he worked on and was nominated for, “Singin’ in the Rain,” had around 76 sound inputs, from the orchestra, to the actors, to sound effects, according to Burke. Burke believes that the role of sound designer has evolved a lot in the last 10 or 15 years due to the rising number of shows that require underscores or sound effects coming from all over the place.
The Ovation Award is peer judged. Stocked with more than 200 voters and residing in an area so heavily packed with theaters (big and small), there is a lot of competition to get the award.
“It’s great that they are recognizing theater in L.A. … We’re so lucky to be here with talented people who, unfortunately for them, are often out of work, but we get to work with these great talents,” Burke said.
The award show will be held at California State University, Los Angeles and is open to the public. To see a full list of nominees, visit the Ovation Award Web site at 2008ovationawards.com
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