San Diego theater awareness month

Craig Noel Awards

A reminder: The San Diego Theater Critics Circle will hold its annual awards ceremony on Monday, February 6, at the Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation at 404 Euclid Street, in Lincoln Park. The ceremony has been moved to the Jacobs Center because the Museum of Contemporary Art, the previous site, is under renovation.

The ceremony will run from 6 to 10 p.m. — if award-winners, trusting that “brevity is the soul of wit,” will honor the two-minute rule for acceptance speeches.

The new location offers table seating, bar access during the ceremony, an outdoor patio, free parking onsite, and nearby access to the San Diego Trolley line.

The numbers: over 90 artists in 56 local productions received nominations for 2016. There are 33 categories. Each usually has 5 nominees, though this time, since the candidates were so strong, we had to stretch some to 6.

Special awards: Don Braunagel Award for a Small Theatre Company (a financial gift donated by Yolanda Braunagel); Outstanding Young Actor/Sandra Ellis-Troy Scholarship. Plus male and female actors of the year, best production, and a new category, Designer of the Year, which will be richly deserved.

Don Braunagel was a theater critic/arts lover and valued member of the original Theater Critics Circle, founded in 1983.

Sandra Ellis-Troy was a multi-talented actor, a “real life Auntie Mame,” who enhanced every show, and every rehearsal, she played in.

Craig Noel (1915–2010) — the “Father of San Diego Theater” — was the founding director of the Old Globe Theatre, which he headed for over 60 years. He raised the Globe to national prominence, supported local companies and artists, and, in 2007, was awarded the National Medal of Arts for “his decades of leadership as a pillar of the American theater.”

Invitations to the ceremony have been sent digitally. If you have yet to respond, better get hopping. The seats are filling up.

San Diego Theater Week

If the critics boast that we have a top-shelf arts scene, then we’re just pounding our keyboards. Come the end of this month, the San Diego Performing Arts League presents its second annual “San Diego Theatre Week.” You can judge for yourself.

Over 30 companies from Carlsbad to Coronado — in theater, dance, comedy, and music — will offer incentives to see their shows. These may include ticket discounts, low-cost concessions, talk-backs with the cast, and more.

The event isn’t just to strut our stuff. The hope is that people will try something new: discover a new company or art form.

San Diego Theater Week runs from February 26 to March 5.

George Weinberg-Harter Memorial

The beloved critic, scholar, and irrepressible court jester passed away last November. He was 72. A memorial will take place at St. Paul’s Cathedral, 2728 Sixth Avenue, Banker’s Hill, on Saturday, February 18 at 4:00 p.m.