Guy Biederman as Brooks Edgars and Ellen Swain Veen as Katherine Yates in award-winning “Jailhouse Conversion” at Fringe Marin. Photo by Ellen Swain Veen.

Dominican University and the Fringe of Marin began their awards ceremony with a standing ovation for Dr. Annette Lust, Artistic Director and Festival Coordinator, at Meadowlands Assembly Hall in San Rafael on December 6. This completes the 22nd season of new one-act plays and solo performances by Bay Area playwrights, directors and actors. Look for these plays to be further performed in other venues.

Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards for Best Play, Director, Actress and Actor were announced. The first awards were for Best Play. “Jailhouse Conversion” by Ellen Swain Veen won first place. The second-place winner was “Blessing Her Heart,” a solo piece by Susan Jackson. “The Perfect Crime” by Steve North won third place. Fourth-place winner was “Park Play” by VB Leghorn.

Next up were the awards for Best Director. First place honors went to Mike Ward for “Blessing Her Heart.” Second place went to Billie Cox for “Park Play.”  The third-place winner was Jennifer E. Hewitt for “Jailhouse Conversion.” Diana Brown won first place for Best Actress for “Blessing Her Heart.” Second place for Best Actress went to Erica Badgeley for “Hotline.” Third place honors went to Ellen Swain Veen for “Jailhouse Conversion.”

Nominations for Best Actress went to Pennel Chapin for “Park Play,” Sylvia Kratins for “Dance of the Innocents,” Christine Clemmons for “Two Way Split,” and Candace Brown for “Condoms.”

The last of the Critic’s Circle Awards went to Best Actor. Steve North won first place for Best Actor in both “The Perfect Crime” and “Bigger than Life.”  Second place went to T. Louis Weltz for “My Name Is Alice.” Rick Roitenger won third place for “What’s Love Got to Do with It?” and fourth place went to Johann Schiffer for “Hotline.”

Here are the results for the third annual Audience Awards: “Jailhouse Conversion” by Ellen Swain Veen took first place. Second place went to “Blessing Her Heart” by Susan Jackson. Third place honors went to “Bigger than Life” by Tony Matthews. There was a fourth place tie between “My Name Is Alice” by Charles Lerrigo and “What’s Love Got to Do with It” by David Talley.

Jennifer E. Hewitt was the People’s Choice for Best Director for “Jailhouse Conversion.”  Second place for Best Director went to Linda Vito for “Bigger than Life.” Third place honors went to John Clevenger for “What’s Love Got to Do with It,” and fourth place went to Carol Ellis for “My Name Is Alice.”

Steve North took first place again as Best Actor for “The Perfect Crime” and “Bigger than Life.”  Rick Roitenger won second place as Best Actor for “What’s Love Got to Do with It.” Johann Schiffer won third place as Best Actor for “Hotline” and fourth place went to Guy Biederman for “Jailhouse Conversion.”

At the conclusion of the Awards Ceremony, two certificates of completion of Advanced Theatre Workshop went to Linda Vito and Flora Lynn Isaacson.

Congratulations to Dr. Annette Lust for maintaining the Fringe Festival of Marin for 22 seasons! Next Festival will be in Spring 2009.