McGowan, Tilghman Claim Top BWW Nashville Theatre Awards at Sunday Night Event

The Nutty Professor's Marissa McGowan, Caroline or Change's Dalton Tilghman and Kirk-Burgess Productions' debut production of Mysterious Skin claimed top honors Sunday night as winners of the BWW Nashville Theatre Awards were announced.

With Franklin's Boiler Room Theatre filled to capacity, members of Tennessee's theater community gathered Sunday night, January 6, for Midwinter's First Night-the annual salute to the very best in live theater in the Volunteer State that featured the presentation of the BroadwayWorld.com Nashville Theatre Awards and the Tennessee Theatre Awards, along with the announcement of First Night's Top Ten of 2012, critic Jeffrey Ellis' annual lists of the performances and productions he deemed to be the very best on Tennessee stages.

Midwinter's First Night, which was hosted by Ellis and actress Angela Gimlin, featured performances by The Divas, four women known throughout the theater community for their tremendous talents both onstage and off-, including Mallory Gleason, Amanda Lamb, Memory Strong and Jennifer Whitcomb-Oliva. Accompanied by longtime First Night musical director Jane Kelley, the Divas were also joined onstage by Jaclyn Lisenby Brown (who accompanied Lamb on the guitar, including one original song written by Brown) and Jill Sissel, who joined Whitcomb-Oliva onstage for a crowd-pleasing performance of "Pure Imagination."

Amelia Young, introduced as a "diva-in-training" and a member of the 2013 Class of First Night Most Promising Actors, sang "Wonderland" from the Frank Wildhorn musical during the show.

Presenters of the evening's awards were Cody Rutledge, Kate Byrd, Jessica Storvik, LaToya Gardner, Leila Nelson, Weslie Webster, Lauren Marshall Murphy, Ron Murphy and Joshua Stephen Lowery.

Rutledge, Byrd, Storvik, Lowery and Young are joined in the first group of Most Promising Actors announced in 2013 by Emily Marie Hughes and Paige Brouilette. The remainder of the 2013 Class of Most Promising Actors will be introduced in July when the First Night Honorees are revealed.

Winners of the BroadwayWorld.com Nashville Theatre Awards for 2012 are:

Best Actor in a Musical
Dalton Tilghman - Caroline or Change - Street Theatre Company

Best Actor in a Play
Bakari King - Death and the Maiden - Rhubarb Theater

Best Actress in a Musical
Marissa McGowan - The Nutty Professor - World Premiere Production

Best Actress in a Play
Francine Berk-Graver - Mysterious Skin - Kirk-Burgess Productions

Best Choreographer
JoAnn M. Hunter - The Nutty Professor - World Premiere Production

Best Community Theater Company
Circle Players

Best Costume Design
Ann Hould-Ward - The Nutty Professor - World Premiere Production

Best Director of a musical
Peter Vann - Caroline or Change - Street Theatre Company

Best Director of a play
Lt Kirk and JoNathan Burgess - Mysterious Skin - Kirk-Burgess Productions

Best Ensemble Performance in a musical
Caroline or Change - Street Theatre Company

Best Ensemble Performance in a play
Mysterious Skin - Kirk-Burgess Productions

Best Featured Actor in a Musical
Dalton Tilghman - Caroline or Change - Street Theatre Company

Best Featured Actor in a Play
John Silvestro - Over the River and Through the Woods - Towne Centre Theatre

Best Featured Actress in a Musical
KLea Blackhurst - The Nutty Professor - World Premiere Production

Best Featured Actress in a Play
Angela Gimlin - Mysterious Skin - Kirk-Burgess Productions

Best Lighting Design
David Weiner - The Nutty Professor - World Premiere Production

Best Musical
The Nutty Professor - World Premiere Production

Best Musical Direction
Rollie Mains - Caroline or Change - Street Theatre Company

Best Original/New Work
Marvin Hamlisch/Rupert Holmes - The Nutty Professor

Best Play
Mysterious Skin - Kirk-Burgess Productions

Best Professional Theater Company
Street Theatre Company

Best Set Design
David Gallo - The Nutty Professor - World Premiere Production

Best Sound Design
Steven Steele - Avenue Q - Street Theatre Company

Best Younger Actor (under age 25)
Dalton Tilghman

Best Younger Actress (under age 25)
Rachel Woods

Jeffrey Ellis is a Nashville-based writer, editor and critic, who's been covering the performing arts in Tennessee for more than 25 years. He is the recipient of the Tennessee Theatre Association's Distinguished Service Award for his coverage of theatre in the Volunteer State and was the founding editor/publisher of Stages, the Tennessee Onstage Monthly. He is a past fellow of the National Critics Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center and is the founder/executive producer of The First Night Honors, held during Labor Day Weekend, which honor oustanding theater artists in Tennessee in recognition of their lifetime achievements and includes The First Night Star Awards and the Most Promising Actors. Midwinter's First Night, held the first Sunday in January after New Year's Day, honors outstanding productions and performances throughout the state. Further, Ellis directed the Nashville premiere of La Cage Aux Folles, The Last Night of Ballyhoo and An American Daughter, as well as award-winning productions of Damn Yankees, Company, Gypsy and The Rocky Horror Show, with Ellis honored by The Tennessean as best director of a musical for both Company and Rocky Horror.

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