Proposed New Ovation Award Rules Would Mean More Prizes

The sponsor of the annual Ovation Awards, L.A.’s most coveted theater honor, is considering changes that would increase the number of awards, enlarge the voting pool and eliminate a conflict-of-interest rule for voters.

If approved on April 16 by the board of Theatre LA, which sponsors the Ovations, the changes would also add and subtract several award categories.

Since they became an annual competition in 1993, with the first competitive awards presented a year later, the Ovations have surpassed other awards to become the most sought-after trophies in L.A. theater. The Ovation voting pool, numbering 121 this year, is drawn primarily from the staffs of the 178 theaters and production companies that belong to Theatre LA. Last year, more than 300 shows registered for Ovation consideration.

Perhaps the most controversial proposed change would kill a rule concerning voters who have ties of “blood, love or money” to award contenders. These voters are supposed to disqualify themselves from scoring those contestants and the productions in which they are involved.

This provision is generally unenforceable, said Jon Lawrence Rivera, who heads the committee that has been reviewing suggested changes since 1999. The vote-counting computer is programmed to reject ballots cast by voters for productions from the theaters they represent, but if the new rules are adopted, even this safeguard would be dropped. Rivera cited the legality of entrants voting for themselves in most of the other show business awards, such as the Oscars and Tonys.

“It’s kind of insulting to stipulate [conflict-of-interest rules],” said Theatre LA President Lee Wochner. “We respect the integrity of the voters.”

However, Odyssey Theatre artistic director Ron Sossi said that theater artists who have been rejected for positions with his productions have then cast Ovation votes on those shows.

“That gets pretty hairy,” he said. He also said he doesn’t think that “it’s appropriate to vote for your own theater. I think the system is a little incestuous.”

Some of the other proposed changes may partially answer those objections, Theatre LA officials said. The voting pool would grow to about 170, with more representation from outlying areas, such as Long Beach and La Mirada, where producers often feel that they can’t attract the minimum eight voters needed for the show to be considered.

Additional voters from the underrepresented design professions also would be sought, and no voter would be allowed to serve for more than three years without taking a year off.

The biggest proposed change would mandate three winners in some of the award categories, depending on the number of contenders. In categories with more than 50 entrants, the top three winners would all receive awards. In categories with fewer than 50 contestants, only one award would be given.

Rivera cited 1999 figures to illustrate how this would work. That year, 13 categories attracted more than 50 entrants each, topped by a total of 247 directors contending for best director of a play. If the proposed rules had been in effect, those 13 categories would have yielded three winners apiece, a total of 39 winners in those categories instead of 13.

The remaining proposed changes would delete the award for new translation-adaptation, separate the “world premiere” writing category into one award for plays and another for musicals and create new categories for solo performance and writing, musical direction and “visiting/touring” productions.

Tours that begin elsewhere would be considered for only the visiting/touring honor, shining most of the Ovation spotlight on productions that originate in Los Angeles. A Theatre LA committee would arbitrate cases in which the boundary is hazy between a tour and a home-grown productions. For example, L.A.-based Center Theatre Group sometimes serves a co-producing role in tours that it brings to L.A.

The proposed changes follow on the heels of a previously unpublicized change that took effect last year. In earlier years, a runoff vote was held among the top five finishers in each category, with balloting restricted to voters who had seen all five finalists. Now, the only ballots that count are those that the voters submit within a week after seeing the production.