Two Coral Gables theaters score Carbonell Awards
GableStage and its neighbor, Actors' Playhouse, won big at the 30th Carbonell Awards, presented Monday at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts.

A pain-filled play and a lavish musical, each involving three key characters, dominated their competition Monday night when the 30th annual Carbonell Awards were presented at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts.

Frozen, Bryony Lavery's play about the aftermath of a child's murder, won GableStage the regional best play Carbonell for its fiery, passionate production. Director Joseph Adler, actor Gordon McConnell, actress Lisa Morgan (who beat out her own performances in GableStage's Misery and The Retreat from Moscow) and lighting designer Jeff Quinn also won for Frozen.

With a sixth award for Michael J. Hoffman's sound design in Bug, the small Coral Gables theater was second only to its far-larger neighbor, Actors' Playhouse, which won seven Carbonells. Together, the two companies claimed 13 of the 20 Carbonells handed out to theaters in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Actors' again proved itself South Florida's musical powerhouse, winning best-musical honors for its production of Disney's Aida. Director David Arisco, musical director Eric Alsford, choreographer Barbara Flaten, and actress Desmon N. Walker also won Carbonells for their work on the show.

Two performers from Actor's other Disney musical, Beauty and the Beast, also won -- Terrell Hardcastle as best supporting actor, Lourelene Snedeker as supporting actress.

In switching from a seasonal period of eligibility to an annual one, this year's Carbonells considered productions from September 2004 through December 2005. Except for the strong showings by Frozen, Aida and Beauty and the Beast, no other production won more than a single award.

In the previously announced stock/roadshow competition, Miami's Coconut Grove Playhouse won four Carbonells, including best play and best director (Malcolm Black), for its production of The Constant Wife. Arnold Mittelman, the theater's producing artistic director for the past 21 years, was honored with the special George Abbott Award for outstanding achievement in the arts.

Relative newcomer Palm Beach Dramaworks edged past Malalapan's celebrated Florida Stage and Boca Raton's 30-year-old Caldwell Theatre Company in this year's regional Carbonell race, winning awards for Todd Allen Durkin (best supporting actor for That Championship Season), Patti Gardner (supporting actress for Lips Together, Teeth Apart) and Erin Amico (designer of the striking lizard costumes for Dramaworks' Seascape).

Florida Stage took home one Carbonell, for best new work (Joan Ackermann's Ice Glen).

Tim Bennett's lush Italian villa design for the Caldwell's Enchanted April won the set design award.

Despite the growth of Broward County's theaters over the past few years -- and even though the ceremony, hosted by forever-glam Brady Bunch mom Florence Henderson, has been held in Broward since 2001 -- only two Carbonells went home with Broward winners: best ensemble to Plantation's Mosaic Theatre for its production of Art and best actor in a musical to E.L. Losada for his starring role in the Broward Stage Door Theatre's Jekyll & Hyde.