By Matt Berkley
It would be an understatement to say Kevin Kline’s acting career has been a successful one. The St. Louis native has graced the stage and screen, picking up two Tonys and an Academy Award. Most recently, Kline has been honored by the Professional Theatre Awards Council. The St. Louis organization has created an annual award bearing his name for area productions and actors.
“I’ve long been under the impression that people didn’t lend their names to awards until after they had died,” Kline says in a press release on the award. “I’m in pretty good health right now, and feeling all the better for receiving this lovely and unexpected honor. It’s gratifying to think that I can continue to be associated with theater excellence in the city where so many of my earliest theater impressions were formed.”
The judging for the Kline awards will begin this month as more than 20 theater companies and 80 different productions go under the spotlight. In spring 2006, the first annual awards will be presented in categories including best direction, best performances for male, female and ensemble, as well musical direction, costume and set design and a host of others. But the council is focused on more than simply handing out awards. The group hopes to increase awareness of local productions and promote more financial support. The program is modeled after the Helen Hayes awards, which, over a 20-year period, helped Washington, D.C., more than triple its number of theaters.
“We want this program to draw both the media and the public’s attention to local theater,” says Steve Isom, local actor and executive director of the program. “We’re going through a period of growth and expansion. We hope this will spur growth in attendance as well as the number of theaters in St. Louis.” For more information visit www.kevinklineawards.org.
