The DFW Theater Critics Forum met last week over friend chicken and sweet tea to bestow its annual awards for local theater excellence, as as usual, the gay community was well-represented.

Of the eight best director winners, five locals were gay: Regan Adair for Red Light Winter, Rene Moreno for three shows (The Trip to Bountiful, No Child… and Creditors), Michael Serrecchia for two shows (Uptown Players’ Next to Normal and ICT MainStage’s How to Succeed…), Joel Ferrell for two shows at DTC (Cabaret and Dividing the Estate), and Len Pfluger for My Fair Lady at Lyric Stage. Pfluger’s partner, Jay Dias, was also singled out for his season of music direction with Lyric.

Larry Randolph, as a tragic drag queen in One-Thirdy Productions’ FIT entry, The Madness of Lady Bright, was a popular choose for acting, as were two New York actors who sizzled at the Wyly (and whom we interviewed): Wade McCollum as the M.C. in Cabaret, pictured, and Sydney James Harcourt as the Tin Man in The Wiz. Whitney Hennen, the ditzy blonde in Uptown’s Victor/Victoria, was also singled out.

Justin Locklear received the second Emerging Artist Award for his acting and costume work this season with Balanced Almond, which actually won him two other individual awards.

In addition to yours truly, participating critics in Martha Heimberg (Turtle Creek News); Elaine Liner (Dallas Observer); Mark Lowry (TheaterJones and Fort Worth Star-Telegram); M. Lance Lusk (D Magazine); David Novinski (TheaterJones); Punch Shaw (Fort Worth Star-Telegram); Perry Stewart (TheaterJones); Lawson Taitte (Dallas Morning News); and Lindsey Wilson (D Magazine).

Full list below.

NEW PLAY: Bob Birdnow’s Remarkable Tale of Human Survival and the Transcendence of Self by Eric Steele (Second Thought Theatre); The Love Song of the Albanian Sous Chef by Robert Askins (Rite of Passage Theatre Company); Morphing by Matthew Posey (Balanced Almond).

TOUR: Billy Elliot (Lexus Broadway Series); David Lee Nelson… Status Update (WaterTower Theatre’s Out of the Loop Fringe Festival); Young Frankenstein (Lexus Broadway Series).

DIRECTION: Regan Adair, Red Light Winter (Second Thought Theatre); Jim Covault, Talking Pictures (Stage West); Joel Ferrell, Cabaret (Dallas Theater Center) and Dividing the Estate (DTC); David A. Miller, Wittenberg (Amphibian Stage Productions); Rene Moreno, Creditors (Broken Gears Project Theatre), No Child… (Amphibian Stage Productions) and The Trip to Bountiful (Contemporary Theatre of Dallas); Katherine Owens, The Dog Problem (Undermain Theatre) and Easter (Undermain Theatre); Len Pfluger, My Fair Lady (Lyric Stage); Michael Serrecchia, How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying (ICT MainStage) and Next to Normal (Uptown Players)

ACTOR: Sydney James Harcourt, The Wiz (Dallas Theater Center); Justin Locklear, Morphing ; Wade McCollum, Cabaret; Barry Nash, Bob Birdnow’s Remarkable Tale of Human Survival and the Transcendence of Self; Larry Randolph, The Madness of Lady Bright (One-Thirty Productions); Max Swarner, How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying; Lee Trull, Arsenic and Old Lace (Dallas Theater Center); Steven Walters, Thom Pain (Based on Nothing) (Second Thought Theatre) and Henry IV (Dallas Theater Center).

ACTRESS: Tovah Feldshuh, Arsenic and Old Lace; Whitney Hennen, Victor/Victoria (Uptown Players); Julie Johnson, Cabaret; Elly Lindsay, The Trip to Bountiful; Rhianna Mack, No Child…; Tina Parker, Charm (Kitchen Dog Theater); Fiona Robberson, Easter; Dana Schultes, Talking Pictures.

ACTING ENSEMBLE: Dividing the Estate; My Fair Lady; Red Light Winter; Wittenberg.

CREATIVE CONTRIBUTION: John Arnone, set design for Dividing the Estate, The Dog Problem and Easter; Design team, Cabaret; Design team, Macbeth (Trinity Shakespeare Festival); Jay Dias, music director, for his season with Lyric Stage; Christopher Huggins, for his choreography of the Dallas Black Dance Theatre company, The Wiz;
Justin Locklear, costume design, for Morphing and The Butcher (Balanced Almond); Anna Louizos, set design, Arsenic and Old Lace; George Miller, set design, for his season with Jubilee Theatre.

EMERGING ARTIST AWARD: Justin Locklear.

SPECIAL CITATIONS: Matthew Posey and Balanced Almond, the creativity and originality in producing provocative new plays at the Ochre House; the DFW theater community for its cooperation and coordination in mounting the area-wide Foote Festival.