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Craig Erickson, Ryan Beil, and Damien Atkins in Angels in America, Part One.David Cooper

Vancouver's Arts Club Theatre's production of Angels in America: Millennium Approaches leads the nominations for the Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards with nine nods, including outstanding production in the large theatre category. The nominations were announced Tuesday in Vancouver.

Also nominated for best production are Brothel #9 (Touchstone Theatre), Moonlodge (Urban Ink), Pericles (Bard on the Beach) and Straight Jacket Winter (Théâtre la Seizième).

Angels in America received two nominations for best lead actor – for Damien Atkins and Ryan Beil. (Brian Markinson, who was terrific as Roy Cohn, was not nominated.)

Craig Erickson was nominated for best supporting actor and Gabrielle Rose for best supporting actress. Kim Collier was nominated for best director, Ken MacKenzie for set design, John Webber for lighting design (Webber is also nominated in the same category for his work on Pericles) and Torquil Campbell and Alessandro Juliani for sound design or original composition.

Rounding out the best actor category are the teenage star of Billy Elliot: The Musical, Nolan Fahey; Nadeem Phillip for The Men in White and Haig Sutherland for The Flick.

For lead actress, Shannon Chan-Kent is nominated for The Flick, Megan Leitch for The Piano Teacher, Adele Noronha for Brothel #9, PJ Prudat for Moonlodge and Katharine Venour for Wit.

In the supporting actor category, Erickson is up against Scott Bellis and Andrew McNee – both for Romeo and Juliet, 16-year-old Valin Shinyei for Billy Elliot and Sanjay Talwar for The Men in White.

For supporting actress, Rose is up against Lindsey Angell for How to Survive an Apocalypse, Luisa Jojic for Othello, Erin Ormond for The Audience and Laara Sadiq for Brothel #9.

Up for best director, in addition to Collier, are Lois Anderson for Pericles, Katrina Dunn for Brothel #9, Gilles Poulin-Denis for Bonjour, là, bonjour and for Straight Jacket Winter: Poulin-Denis, Esther Duquette and Édith Patenaude.

The nominees for significant artistic achievement in the large theatre category are: Bonjour, là, bonjour (outstanding ensemble performance); Brothel #9 (outstanding work in expanding the diversification of Vancouver theatre through excellence); and Pericles twice – the cast for outstanding ensemble performance and Wendy Gorling for outstanding movement collaboration.

In the small theatre category, nominees for outstanding production are Creeps (Realwheels Theatre), Green Lake (Solo Collective), The Pipeline Project (ITSAZOO Productions and Savage Society in association with Neworld Theatre and the Gateway Theatre), Redpatch (Hardline Productions) and Walt Whitman's Secret (the frank theatre company).

Nominated for best direction: Brian Cochrane for Creeps, Sean Harris Oliver and Raes Calvert for Redpatch, Jack Paterson for Walt Whitman's Secret, Rachel Peake for Green Lake and Sarah Rodgers for And Bella Sang With Us.

Up for best actress in a lead role are Siona Gareau-Brennan for The Fighting Season, Alexandra Lainfiesta for Green Lake, Quelemia Sparrow for The Pipeline Project, Lori Triolo for Bug and Deborah Williams for 5@50.

Nominated for best leading actor: Linden Banks for Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol, Raes Culvert for Redpatch, Aadin Church for Top Dog/Underdog, Kyle Jespersen for The Fighting Season and Tom Pickett for Walt Whitman's Secret.

Nominated for best supporting actress: Reneltta Arluk for Redpatch, Yoshié Bancroft for Ithaka, Sarah May Redmond for And Bella Sang With Us and Kayla Deorksen and Donna Soares for Green Lake.

There are only three nominees for best supporting actor in the small theatre category: Sebastien Archibald for The Pipeline Project and Jesse Martyn and Ashley O'Connell for Flare Path.

Up for best original script are Dorothy Dittrich for The Piano Teacher, Esther Duquette and Gilles Poulin-Denis for Straight Jacket Winter, acclaimed novelist Anosh Irani for The Men in White, Sean Harris Oliver for The Fighting Season and Quelemia Sparrow for O'wet/Lost Lagoon.

The nominees for the Georgia Straight's Critics' Choice Innovation Award are am a (Amber Funk Barton and Mindy Parfitt), Revolutions (Fight with a Stick), Straight Jacket Winter (Théâtre la Seizième, 2Par4 and the National Arts Centre French Theatre) and Three Stories Up (Alley Theatre and Level-Headed Friends).

Winners will be announced June 26 in Vancouver.

Meat Loaf says a musical inspired by his greatest hits is 'high energy' like his live performances. 'Bat Out of Hell' debuts in Toronto in the fall.

The Canadian Press

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