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The St. Louis Theater Circle Awards founding members held a successful inaugural awards ceremony before a crowd of over 300 at the Florissant Civic Center Theatre Monday night March 18th.  Organized last summer, the group is made up of 12 critics that cover St. Louis professional theater, including resident business person Mark Bretz of Bretz Public Relations, 801 Rue St. Francois, who serves as a critic for the Ladue News.

The inaugural awards went to shows produced and presented here in the St. Louis area during 2012. (Touring productions were not included). Some of the participants at the awards have performed at the Civic Center in the past.

The awards are new this year. The St. Louis Professional Theatre Council’s “Kevin Kline Awards” disbanded last year.  Bretz pointed out that there are a number of such critics’ awards around the country; the Drama Desk and Obie Awards in New York are two of the best-known examples. “We are different from the Klines,” he said. “We’re more like other critics’ organizations,” setting up a critics’ choice award. “All of us go to the theater a minimum of 40 times a year, many of us much more often. We wanted to take one night to thank the actors and other theater artists who make our work a pleasure.”

The awards recognized excellence in theatre and were presented to groups that ranged from smaller companies to the largest big budget theatre houses in town.  “As Mayor, I recognized while in attendance that everyone celebrated the large talented performing arts community we have here in the Metropolitan area. Florissant is proud to support the efforts of the Performing Arts Community who make us laugh or cry and help us pay more attention to the gentler side of our humanity,” said Schneider.

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