Also this issue: Phrenic Pace After two years, Phrenic New Ballet continues to spin off of classical dance. -Lewis Whittington Hot and New Brave the summer heat to check out Vox Populi's newest batch of artists. -Robin Rice Bruce Campbell -Sam Adams Rosalie Knecht -Paul Burress Philadelphia Black Theatre Festival -Juliet Fletcher

August 22-28, 2002

artsbeat

compiled by Debra Auspitz

It’s been only a few weeks since the 2001-02 Barrymore nominations were announced

, but there's already some controversy surrounding next season's awards (for the 2002-03 season): The Walnut Street Theatre has withdrawn from Barrymore eligibility.

They'll still be up for their 11 nominations at this year's ceremony, taking place Oct. 7. But as of the start of their 2002-03 season, they've asked to be removed from the process. The official word, according to Theatre Alliance executive director Melissa Shaner and Ryan Klink, communications manager at the Walnut, is that the Walnut isn't pleased with the Barrymores' new nominating process, which goes into effect Sept. 1. In past years there was a pool of 60 Barrymore nominators, a volunteer group made up of theater professionals and patrons. Each show under consideration had to be seen by 12 nominators randomly chosen from the pool. If the initial 12 decided a show should be considered for an award, a panel of 18 Barrymore judges attended the production. That meant that a lot of free tickets had to be set aside for nominators and judges, and that judges had to see upwards of 70 productions in a given season.

To streamline the process, the Theatre Alliance is reducing the nominator pool to 40 people, out of which six random nominators must see each eligible production (in order to be considered, a theater must be a full member of the Theatre Alliance and be within a 25-mile radius of Center City). The nominators' picks will be seen by a panel of 10 judges. Fewer people means fewer tickets, which takes some of the pressure off the theaters and, according to Shaner, will allow the Alliance to be more selective in choosing the nominators and judges. Adjustments have also been made in the final judging process to ensure a fairer sampling of the panel's opinions.

Seems like these changes would be helpful all around, but apparently the Walnut doesn't agree. "We feel strongly that the overall process does not satisfy our concerns," Klink says. Asked to clarify those concerns or the problems in the process, Klink says the Walnut has no comment.

"Nothing fundamental has changed," Shaner insists. "We just mixed up the numbers." Shaner says that representatives from the Walnut were a part of the process to change those numbers, but that in the end they were not satisfied with the results.

The Walnut has fared relatively well at the Barrymores since the first awards in 1994. Nominated a total of 84 times, they've won 16 awards, or 19 percent. Last year, though, out of seven nods, the Walnut didn't win any awards.

Earlier this year, for still-undisclosed reasons, the Walnut rescinded complimentary ticket privileges for City Paper reviewers. Klink says the policy will remain unchanged in the coming season.

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