Major revision in Non-Equity Jeff nominations list as Hypocrites deemed Equity theater

The ever-scrupulous Jeff Awards Committee was confronted with a highly unusual situation Friday — the very morning after they had announced the list of Non-Equity Jeff nominations in which The Hypocrites received the largest number of nominations — a total of 15.

Here is the statement from the Committee, followed by a statement by Sean Graney, the recently returned artistic director of The Hypocrites. It is followed by the full “revised” list of nominations. This means that the company’s several lauded shows, including the epic “All Our Tragic,” its Greek tragedy marathon, will not be eligible for Non-Equity Awards. Instead, they will be moved to the Equity Awards competition.

STATEMENT FROM THE JEFF AWARDS COMMITTEE:

NON-EQUITY JEFF AWARD NOMINATIONS RESCINDED FOR THE HYPOCRITES

Early Friday, April 24, 2015, the Joseph Jefferson Awards Committee learned that the Hypocrites, a Chicago-based theater company, has been operating under an Equity CAT-N contract for the duration of the 2014-2015 Non-Equity season. Nonetheless, requests for judging its productions were made to the Non-Equity Wing without the committee having knowledge of the company’s Equity status. The Jeff Committee was aware that two of the productions had Equity performers (as indicated in the program); however, the committee has now confirmed that these were not guest contracts. As such, the company’s productions are not eligible for consideration in the Non-Equity Wing, and all related Non-Equity Jeff Award nominations have been rescinded. The productions in question will be shifted to the Equity Wing for awards consideration during its current season, which commenced on August 1, 2014 and will end on July 30, 2015.

STATEMENT FROM SEAN GRANEY, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF THE HYPOCRITES:

“As I only returned as Artistic Director in November, I recently found out that we have been operating as an Equity company under a CAT N agreement for our entire 2014/15 season. I had wrongfully assumed that all of our Equity contracts for the season were Guest Artist contracts and that we were still a non-Equity company. I regret that we did not inform the Jeff Committee of this transition so we were considered as a non-equity company. As soon as we were nominated I realized The Hypocrites made this terrible mistake and I wanted to rectify it as quickly as possible in order to have transparency and decency. Therefore I contacted the Jeff Committee and informed them of our error. I am glad of the Jeff Committee’s decision and only wish that we were more communicative when we made the decision to become Equity. I apologize to all of wonderful artists who worked so hard for us and deserve their nominations but will no longer be considered a candidate. That is what breaks my heart the most about the course of events.”

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Here is the revised listing of nominees for the 2014-2015 Non-Equity Jeff Awards:

PRODUCTION – PLAY

PRODUCTION – MUSICAL

PRODUCTION – REVUE

ENSEMBLE

DIRECTOR – PLAY

DIRECTOR – MUSICAL OR REVUE

ACTOR IN A PRINCIPAL ROLE – PLAY

ACTOR IN A PRINCIPAL ROLE – MUSICAL

ACTRESS IN A PRINCIPAL ROLE – PLAY

ACTRESS IN A PRINCIPAL ROLE – MUSICAL OR REVUE

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – PLAY

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – MUSICAL

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – PLAY

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – MUSICAL OR REVUE

NEW WORK

NEW ADAPTATION

CHOREOGRAPHY

ORIGINAL MUSIC IN A PLAY

MUSIC DIRECTION

SCENIC DESIGN

LIGHTING DESIGN

COSTUME DESIGN

SOUND DESIGN

ARTISTIC SPECIALIZATION

Top Multiple Nominations by Production: