Plenty of reasons to praise season’s educational theater

The world as we know it wouldn't be the same without "Best of" lists at the end of the theater season (fall through summer). In a few days, we'll be saluting community theaters, but today, we take a look at what the educational people have been up to. We separate the two venues because of the huge difference in budgets and access to talent. Here's our top 10 in descending order.

10) Susan Lowe in Nevada Conservatory Theatre's March "All My Sons" (written by Arthur Miller, directed by Tom Markus). Lowe brought a near-hysterical conviction of self-righteousness to a woman who seemed well aware that her husband had been guilty of mass murder.

9) Griffin Stanton-Ameisen as the mischievous, fun-loving, skate-boarding fairy Puck in William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," directed "Hair"-like by Robert Benedetti at the Nevada Conservatory Theatre.

8) Dana Moran Williams' set for Nevada Conservatory Theatre's November "A Christmas Carol," by Charles Dickens, threw us into the misery of the Industrial Revolution with crumbling chimney towers, cold warehouse windows and a foreboding walk bridge. He served director Brad Carroll well.

7) Rainbow Company's February original sketch/musical "Unsung Heroes of Nevada's Past," written and directed by Karen McKenney at the Reed Whipple Studio, was an often hilarious yet insightful look into our state's early days. Just five talented people singing, telling stories and acting tales. All you need.

6) John Morris' light-hearted direction in May of John Cariani's "Almost, Maine," at the Las Vegas Academy Lowden Theatre, helped turn a series of romantic events into a genuinely charming and wistful treatise on young love.

5) Drew Lynch's performance in Las Vegas Academy's "Almost, Maine" was so innocent and fumbling, that it reminded even the most bitter among us of the poetry in first love.

4) Director Jo Cattell organized and guided one of the finest ensembles you're likely to see on a local stage in College of Southern Nevada/British National Theatre of America's violent, thought-provoking adult tale in March at "A Night at the Dogs" (by Mark Charman).

3) Miles Coleman, in College of Southern Nevada/British National Theatre of America's "A Night at the Dogs," delivered a performance as an affable, ever-smiling dim-witted gangster Chalky that told you the man was as clueless as he was dangerous.

2) Ryan Fonville, as a young Neil LaBute villain who sees women as little more than conquests, in Nevada Conservatory Theatre's September "Reasons to Be Pretty" (directed by Kent McLeod). He made his character's logic believable, so that we easily recoiled in the presence of this monster.

1) Nevada Conservatory Theatre's "Musical of Musicals" was by far the educational season's most outstanding production, in large part due to director Josh Penzell. The Joanne Bogart/Eric Rockwell script poked gentle fun at five of musical theater's most well-known composers. Penzell seemed to be in love with them all. His knowledge of what he was doing was matched by his humor and affection for the whole genre.

Anthony Del Valle can be reached at vegastheaterchat @aol.com. You can write him c/o Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas NV 89125.