One last curtain call for local theater in 2005

By Judith Newmark
POST-DISPATCH THEATER CRITIC
Sunday, Jan. 01 2006

The big hurrahs

(excerpt)

This was also the first year that local productions were judged for the Kevin Kline Awards. The awards - named for one of the most distinguished actors in the country, a man who grew up in St. Louis - were organized in 2004. Its first honors, of course, won't be presented until 2006.

But in 2005, most St. Louis professional productions were judged for the Klines for the first time. (Only one troupe declined to participate, the St. Louis Black Repertory Company. But that could change any time, even next year.)

In other cities, such as Chicago and Washington, similar awards programs have raised the profile of professional theater companies and have boosted attendance across the board. The two men who organized the Kline Awards, actor Steve Isom and director Jerry McAdams, hope that, over time, the same thing will happen here. So do their Kline colleagues, who are drawn from every corner of the local theater community. The board members and judges include performers and directors, writers and designers, regular theatergoers and critics. (I am one of the Kline judges.)

It will take years to assess what effect the Klines have on the St. Louis scene. But the first season of Klinedom passed without any significant hitches. Things are off to a sunny start.