The ceremony, focusing on the best San Diego-area stage work of 2009, was dedicated to Noel, the 94-year-old founding director of the Old Globe. He's in frail health and, for the first time since the awards were renamed in his honor in 2002, was unable to attend the event at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Topping the winners' list was the La Jolla Playhouse world premiere of Bonnie & Clyde, which took five awards in the musical categories: new musical, direction, musical direction, female lead performance and female featured performance.

Taking four Noels was the La Jolla Playhouse’s fresh version of Strindberg's Creditors. It won for lighting design, set design, music for a play and for Tony-winning playwright Doug Wright's new adaptation.

The Globe's summer production of Cyrano de Bergerac won three major awards: dramatic production, direction of a play and lead male performance, which went to Patrick Page in the title role.

Darko Tresnjak, winning director for Cyrano, received one of the evening's Special Awards for his body of work in San Diego, "especially reviving and helming the Globe's Summer Shakespeare Festival." Also honored with a special award was DJ Sullivan, for her decades of acting on stage and screen, "for her union activities on behalf of actors, and for teaching and directing local actors, many of whom have gone on to illustrious careers."

An Outstanding Special Event Award went to the Ira Aldridge Repertory Players, for its doo-wop musical revue, Looking for an Echo.

Obba Babatundé, who won the Lead Actor in a Musical award for his performance as Sammy Davis Jr. in Sammy, thanked Davis for inspiring him and paving the way for other entertainers.

Veteran television actor Armin Shimerman ("Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer") was honored for his featured performance in San Diego Rep's The Seafarer.

The San Diego Theatre Critics Circle's 2009 Craig Noel Award Recipients

SPECIAL AWARDEES

DJ Sullivan, San Diego actor/teacher/labor organizer for more than 40 years - Lifetime Achievement Award

Darko Tresnjak, former artistic director of the Old Globe's Summer Shakespeare Festival – "for his vivid reimagining of the classics."

SPECIAL THEATRICAL EVENT

Looking for An Echo – Ira Aldridge Repertory Players

OUTSTANDING RESIDENT MUSICAL

42nd Street - Moonlight Stage Productions

OUTSTANDING NEW MUSICAL

Bonnie & Clyde – La Jolla Playhouse

OUTSTANDING DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL

Jeff Calhoun, Bonnie & Clyde, La Jolla Playhouse

OUTSTANDING MUSICAL DIRECTION

John McDaniel: Bonnie & Clyde, La Jolla Playhouse

Mark Danisovszky, Threepenny Opera, San Diego Rep

OUTSTANDING LEAD PERFORMANCE IN A MUSICAL, FEMALE

Colleen Kollar Smith, Bed and Sofa, Cygnet Theatre

Laura Osnes, Bonnie & Clyde, La Jolla Playhouse

OUTSTANDING LEAD PERFORMANCE IN A MUSICAL, MALE

Obba Babatundé, Sammy, The Old Globe

OUTSTANDING FEATURED PERFORMANCE IN A MUSICAL, MALE

Jordan Miller, Bed and Sofa, Cygnet Theatre

OUTSTANDING FEATURED PERFORMANCE IN A MUSICAL, FEMALE

Sara Chase, The First Wives Club, The Old Globe

Melissa van der Schyff, Bonnie & Clyde, La Jolla Playhouse

OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHY

Keith Young, Sammy, The Old Globe

OUTSTANDING DIRECTION OF A PLAY

Darko Tresnjak, Cyrano de Bergerac, The Old Globe

OUTSTANDING SOUND DESIGN

Lindsay Jones, Opus, The Old Globe

OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN

Linda Cho, Twelfth Night, The Old Globe

OUTSTANDING LIGHTING DESIGN

Japhy Weideman, Creditors, La Jolla Playhouse

OUTSTANDING SET DESIGN

Michael McKeon, Killer Joe, Compass Theatre

Robert Brill, Creditors, La Jolla Playhouse

OUTSTANDING MUSIC FOR A PLAY

Christopher R. Walker, Twelfth Night, Old Globe

David Van Tieghem, Creditors, La Jolla Playhouse

OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE

Noises Off, Cygnet Theatre

The Dresser, North Coast Repertory Theatre

Opus, The Old Globe

OUTSTANDING FEATURED PERFORMANCE IN A PLAY, FEMALE

Amanda Sitton, Doubt, San Diego Repertory Theatre

Harriet Harris, Unusual Acts of Devotion, La Jolla Playhouse

OUTSTANDING FEATURED PERFORMANCE IN A PLAY, MALE

Armin Shimerman, The Seafarer, San Diego Repertory Theatre

	Patrick Page inCyrano de Bergerac
	photo by Craig Schwartz

OUTSTANDING LEAD PERFORMANCE IN A PLAY, FEMALE

Karson St. John, The Little Dog Laughed, Diversionary

Dana Hooley, Frozen, ion theatre

OUTSTANDING YOUNG ARTIST

Ian Brininstool, Over the Tavern, North Coast Repertory Theatre

OUTSTANDING TOURING PRODUCTION

The 39 Steps, La Jolla Playhouse

OUTSTANDING DRAMATIC PRODUCTION

Cyrano de Bergerac, The Old Globe

OUTSTANDING ADAPTATION OF A PLAY

Creditors, Doug Wright, La Jolla Playhouse