And the Nominees Are . .

The OC Weekly Theater Awards (which will be held Monday at South Coast Repertory, sponsored by Gelson's) is our way of thanking theater people for letting us come into your places of work every weekend and write what can often be some pretty hostile shit.

The awards—culled from the collective opinions of our theater staff as well as approximately 20 other well-situated people who watch, produce or otherwise care about local theater—honor some of the best and brightest work over the past 12 months or so. This year, due to deadlines and such, we opted to include shows that ran as far back as January 2003 and as recently as February 2004.

SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE, MALE Scott Barber (Road, Rude Guerrilla); Steven Lamprinos(Fuddy Meers, Stages); Mark Palkoner(Macbeth, Hunger Artists); Steven Parker(Penetrator, Rude Guerrilla); Ethan Rogers (Dracula, Insurgo Theater) SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE, FEMALE Johnna Adams (Fuddy Meers, Stages); Jessica Beane (The Attorney General, Hunger Artists); Charise Greene (Lend Me a Tenor, Grove Theater Center); Jessica Hutchinson (The Rivals, Insurgo); Renda Rae Norman (Lovers at Versailles, Laguna Playhouse) BEST PERFORMANCE, MUSICAL Rick Cornette (The Last Five Years, Laguna Playhouse); Kim Huber (The Last Five Years, Laguna Playhouse); Mark Palkoner(Sweeney Todd, Hunger Artists); Jonathan Talmadge (The Mikado, The Chance Theater) BEST DIRECTION Loy Arcenas (The Romance of Magno Rubio, The Laguna Playhouse); Dave Barton (Some Explicit Polaroids, Rude Guerrilla); Jocelyn Brown (The Cherry Orchard, The Chance Theater); David Chambers (The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow, South Coast Repertory); Shannon Flynn (Sweeney Todd, The Hunger Artists); Patrick Gwaltney (Rube, Stages) BEST PERFORMANCE, FEMALE Wendy Braun (The Cherry Orchard, The Chance Theater); Anne Gee Byrd (All My Sons, McCoy Rigby Entertainment); Kimberly Fisher (Madame Guignol's Macabre Theatre, Hunger Artists); Carmen Thomas (Mr. Shaw Goes to Hollywood, Laguna Playhouse); Ruby Wendell(Midsummer Night's Dream, The Chance Theater) BEST PERFORMANCE, MALE Nathan Baesel (Last Night of Ballyhoo, South Coast Repertory); John Beane(Waiting for Godot, Insurgo Theater Movement); Nicolas Coster (Mr. Shaw Goes to Hollywood, Laguna Playhouse); Jonathon Nichols(Anna in the Tropics, South Coast Repertory); Bradley A. Whitfield(Rube!Stages) BEST NEW PLAY The Hanging of Mary Surratt(Tom Swimm, The Chance Theater); The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow (Rolin Jones, South Coast Repertory); Lee Miller: The Angel or the Fiend (Antony Penrose, The Chance Theater)

Fuddy Meers BEST MUSICAL The Last Five Years(The Laguna Playhouse); The Mikado (The Chance Theater); The Rocky Horror Picture Show (The Maverick Theater); Sweeney Todd (Hunger Artists) BEST ENSEMBLE Crave (Hunger Artists); Fuddy Meers (Stages); The New Jersey Trilogy(Rude Guerrilla); The Romance of Magno Rubio(Laguna Playhouse); Some Explicit Polaroids (Rude Guerrilla); The Taming of the Shrew (Insurgo Theater Movement) BEST PRODUCTION Fuddy Meers (Stages); The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow (South Coast Repertory); The Romance of Magno Rubio(Laguna Playhouse); Some Explicit Polaroids (Rude Guerrilla); The Taming of the Shrew(Insurgo Theater Movement) ADDISON GLINES AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN COLLEGE THEATER A Piece of My Heart (Cal State Fullerton) —Joel Beers OC Weekly Theater Awards, South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Dr., Costa Mesa. Mon. Cocktails, 7 p.m.; awards, 8 p.m.