Marin theater artists and companies received significant recognition at the 49th San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Excellence in Theatre Awards Gala. Hundreds of theater artists from throughout the Bay Area attended the event, which was held on Monday, March 30 at the Victoria Theatre in San Francisco.
The SFBATCC presented more than 60 awards across 24 categories for productions mounted in 2025 plus four Special Awards. The Circle doesn’t recognize gender distinction in its performance categories and classifies several awards by genre, including dramas, comedies and musicals.
Also, the SFBATCC utilizes a three-part separation by house size in certain award categories so that companies of similar sizes were under consideration for their outstanding work.
Mill Valley’s Marin Theatre took home nine awards in the 100-300 seat division, including eight for their co-production with Berkeley’s Aurora Theatre of Eureka Day. The remounting of Jonathan Spector’s award-winning comedy was recognized with awards for Lighting Design (Jeff Rowlings), Sound Design (Ray Archie), Stage Direction (Josh Costello), Featured Performance – Comedy (Charisse Loriaux), Principal Performance – Comedy (Lisa Anne Porter) and Ensemble – Comedy as well as Entire Production (North Bay) and Entire Production (Bay Area) awards.
Emily Newsome was also recognized for Principal Performance – Drama for her work as Luce in Marin Theatre’s Sally and Tom.
Tina Traboulsi was recognized with the Principal Performance – Drama in a house with fewer than 100 seats Award for her work as the visually impaired Susan Hendrix in the Ross Valley Players production in the Frederick Knott thriller Wait Until Dark.
Daniela Innocenti Beem’s performance as Fräulein Schneider in the Marin Musical Theatre Company production of Kander & Ebb’s Cabaret was recognized with the Featured Performance – Musical in a house with fewer than 100 seats Award.
Marin’s Marilyn Izdebski was honored with the Circle’s Gene Price Award. The award is named for the former arts editor and long-time theater critic of the San Francisco Bay Times and honors a person who embodies superlative professionalism and passion for Bay Area theater.
Izdebski was recognized for her decades of service to local theater, from running her own dance and musical theater studio to directing and choreographing hundreds of youth and community theater productions. She is the current president of the board of directors of Novato Theater Company.
Other North Bay productions recognized were the Spreckels Theatre Company production of David Templeton’s Featherbaby with the Entire Production (North Bay) in a house with fewer than 100 seats Award and Transcendence Theatre Company’s Beautiful: The Carole King Musical for Entire Production (North Bay) in a house with greater than 300 seats Award.
