Cameri leads in ITP nominations

The Cameri also has two plays in the best play category, Was It a Dream by Edna Mazia and Make My Heart Flutter by Hanoch Levin.

By HELEN KAYE
As it so often does, the Cameri Theater of Tel Aviv leads the 12th Israel Theater Prize (ITP) nominations with 28, followed by Habimah, the Khan and Gesher with 10 each. The Cameri also has two plays in the best play category, Was It a Dream by Edna Mazia and Make My Heart Flutter by Hanoch Levin, with both playwrights nominated for Best Playwright; both plays also include nominations for Best Director, Omri Nitzan and Udi Ben-Moshe, Best Actor, Yehezkel Lazarov and Rami Baruch, and Best Actress, Helena Lazarov and Meyrav Gruber. The others in this category are Hanoch Levin's Yakitch and Puptche for which Yevgeny Arye and Shimon Mimran received nods for Best Director, and the Khan's Othello with Best Actor and Supporting Actor nominations for Arye Tcherner in the title role and Yosef Eini as Iago. Indeed, the top awards are rich in talent with Sasson Gabai nominated for Best Actor as Raymond in Beit Lessin's production of The Rain Man and Habimah actresses Leah Kenig and Yevgenia Dodina in the title roles of Driving Miss Daisy and Anna Karenina. Other noteworthy nominations include Avenue Q for Best Entertainment, Marriage: The 39 Steps for Best Comedy and Driving Miss Daisy for Best Revival. ITP academy president Judge Shelly Timmen said that 113 valid ballots from the 121 academy members were submitted and that of the 45 plays eligible, 35 were actually put forward. In the past 11 years, the Cameri has won Play of the Year six and a half times, including last year for Antigone, a joint production with Habimah. The awards ceremony takes place at the Gesher Theater in Jaffa on April 4.