Whatever else one thinks about awards for artistic efforts, it’s always fun to read the nominations whenever they’re announced, if for no other reason than to cheer when you see a friend’s name – and maybe your own (whether you “believe” in Awards or not). Last Friday, the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle announced its nominations for the theater year of 2016.

As usual, a number of excellent North Bay shows failed to pick up noms, possibly because few of the critics, the bulk of them in San Francisco and Marin, rarely make it far enough afield, in sufficient enough numbers, for smaller companies on the periphery of Sonoma County and Napa to end up with their name on the list.

In fairness, the vast majority of the Circle’s critics are not paid for their writing and blogging, and see shows in their spare time after their day jobs – just like so many theater people do with the shows they appear in. To ask them to see even MORE shows, and to drive further and further on their own dime, is not a trivial thing. (And when it’s common for four or five companies to open shows on the same Friday-Sunday weekend, it makes it even harder for us to see everything).

Until the critics, myself included, can find creative ways to see to it that more worthy shows get seen by more of us, and till theater companies find better ways to schedule their shows, and then get the word out to the reviewing press in sufficient enough time for them to plan their weekends accordingly), it’s just going to be the case that good work occasionally gets overlooked.

Like John Goodman’s Oscar-worthy performance in ’10 Cloverfield Lane.’But that’s just a movie.
What we’re talking about right now is live theater.

Here, then, are the North Bay companies and artists who drew nominations this year.

MARIN COUNTY

MARIN THEATRE COMPANY

August Osage County
Entire Production Bay Area, Entire Production North Bay, Featured Actress (Anne Darragh), Principal Actress (Sherman Fracher).

Anne Boleyn
Entire Production Bay Area, Entire Production North Bay, Ensemble, Stage Direction (Jasson Minadakis), Featured Actor (Charles Shaw Robinson), Principal Actress (Liz Sklar), Principal Actor (Craig Marker) Costume Design (Ashley Holvick), Lighting Design (Kurt Landisman), Set Design (Nina Ball).

Gem of the Ocean
Entire Production North Bay, Entire Production Bay Area, Featured Actress (Omoze Idehenre), Principal Actress (Margo Hall), Costume Design (Katherine Nowacki).

The Invisible Hand
Entire Production North Bay, Entire Production Bay Area, Ensemble, Stage Direction (Jasson Minadakis), Principal Actor (Craig Marker), Lighting Design (York Kennedy), Sound Design (Chris Houston), Specialties (Lynn Soffer/Dialect coaching).

Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley
Entire Production Bay Area, Entire Production North Bay, Featured Actress (Laura Odeh), Costume Design (Callie Floor), Set Design (Erik Flatmo), Sound Design (Sarah A. Huddleston), Original Script (Lauren Gunderson & Margot Melcon).

Swimmers
Original Script (Rachel Bonds).

MARIN SHAKESPEARE COMPANY
Othello
Entire Production Bay Area,
Entire Production North Bay,
Principal Actor (Dameion Brown),
Featured Actress (Elena Wright).

The Taming
Entire Production Bay Area,
Entire Production North Bay,
Principal Actress (Tristan Cunningham).

NOVATO THEATER COMPANY
4000 Miles
Entire Production Bay Area, Entire Production North Bay, Principal Actress (Shirley Nilsen Hall), Principal Actor (Jesse Lumb), Costume Design (Marie Maier), Lighting Design (Frank Sarubbi), Set Design (David Shirk)

A (Cajun) Midsummer Night’s Dream
Entire Production Bay Area, Entire Production North Bay, Stage Direction (Clay David), Costume Design (Clay David, Jaselle Ponte), Set Design (Clay David, David Shirk, Michael Walraven), Sound Design (Clay David, Marilyn Hughes, Simon Eves).

Dancing at Lughnasa
Choreography (Kristine Ann Lowry).

A Streetcar Named Desire
Principal Actress (Amber Collins Crane), Principal Actor (Gregory Crane).

MARIN ONSTAGE
Venus in Fur
Principal Actress (Melissa Claire)

ALTER THEATER
Rose in America
Featured Actor (Charles Dean)

SONOMA COUNTY

CINNABAR THEATER
Bad Dates
Overall Production Bay Area, Overall Production North Bay, Director (Molly Noble), Solo Performance (Jennifer King).

The Most Happy Fella
Principal Actor in a Musical (Stephen Walsh), Principal Actress in a Musical (Jennifer Mitchell), Featured Actor in a Musical (Michael Van Why), Featured Actress in a Musical (Krista Wigle)

Time Stands Still
Overall Production Bay Area, Overall Production North Bay, Ensemble, Director (Sheri Lee Miller), Featured Actress (Ivy Rose Miller), Set Design (Jesse Dreikosen).

MAIN STAGE WEST
Road to Mecca
Overall Production Bay Area,
Overall Production North Bay.

Hope
Musical Direction (Jim Peterson)

Dancing at Lughnasa
Choreography (Allison Rae Baker)

SANTA ROSA JUNIOR COLLEGE
THEATRE ARTS

Twelfth Night
Overall Production Bay Area, Overall Production North Bay, Principal Actor (Kot Takahashi), Featured Actor (Daniel Banales), Costume Design (Maryanne Scozzari), Lighting Design (Vince Mothersbaugh).

SANTA ROSA JUNIOR COLLEGE – SUMMER REPERTORY THEATER
Nice Work if You Can Get It
Principal Actor in a Musical (Daniel Belusci), Choreography (Anne McAlexander).

SPRECKELS THEATRE COMPANY
Disney’s The Little Mermaid
Overall Production Bay Area, Overall Production North Bay, Principal Actress in a Musical (Julianne Bretan), Costume Design (Pamela Enz), Choreography (Michela Snyder).

Kismet
Featured Actress in a Musical (Carmen Mitchell)

Titanic: The Musical
Overall Production Bay Area, Overall Production North Bay, Ensemble, Director (Gene Abravaya), Musical Direction (Tina Lloyd Meals), Featured Actor in a Musical (Jacob Bronson), (Featured Actress in a Musical) Karen Pinomaki, Specialty – Projection Design (Gene Abravaya), Set Design (Eddy Hansen, Elizabeth Bozzano), Sound Design (Jessica Johnson).

6th STREET PLAYHOUSE
Threepenny Opera
Principal Actor in a Musical (Jerry Lee)

My Fair Lady
Featured Actor in a Musical
(Norman A. Hall)

Silent Sky
Lighting Design (April George)