Nominees Announced for the 1st Annual Beat Awards

Nominees-Announced-for-the-1st-Annual-Beat-Awards-20010101

The Chicago Theater Beat (formerly the Chicago Theater Blog) today announced the nominees for the 1st Annual Chicago Theater Critics' Beat Awards. The Beat Awards provide an opportunity for Chicago's critics to give recognition to outstanding achievements in Chicago's theatre community and the artists involved.

"As a representative of the Chicago theatre critic community, I feel incredibly blessed to have the chance to experience such high-quality theatre, dance and opera that the least I can do is give credit to high artistic achievement," says Scotty Zacher, publisher of the Chicago Theater Beat and the head of the Beat Awards committee.

A panel of nine critics from six different publications submitted nominations in 19 categories. Judges considered more than 500 productions from July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011. The nominees with the most mentions were placed on the final ballot, which will be voted on by the panel within the following weeks. Winners will be announced in late March.

"Without a doubt, Chicago has the most vibrant theatre community in the world," Zacher says. "Enough can't be said for the support Chicago gives to the arts. We hope the Beat Awards will help foster and inspire the theatre community to continue to create great work."

Plans for the 2012 awards are already in the works, with requests for nominations set to go out in July. The panel of judges is expected to more than double to over 20 critics.

2011 BEAT AWARD NOMINEES

Best Production, Equity