Theater Latté Da wins City Pages Best of 2014 Awards

City PagesExcerpts from: City Pages Best of 2014 Arts and Entertainment April 15, 2015

Best Director 2015- Peter Rothstein  

Rothstein spun silk last year with Theater Latté Da, starting with a big, bold, and invigorating Cabaret,where you could almost taste the decay in the final days before Hitler's reign in Germany. That was followed by a transformative Our Town, and a searing Master Class. Rothstein always has a strong plan going in, and it is one that he will follow to the very end, creating memorable stagings that stay with you. That gets balanced with a tremendous eye for talent, and the ability to always get the best performances out of his actors.

Best Ensemble 2015- Our Town

Thornton Wilder's drama is a warhorse that has long been trounced by bad community and high school theater production. Oh, but in the right hands! Theater Latté Da's tremendous production infused the show with a level of breathtaking honesty. A lot of that power came from the company of actors, led by Wendy Lehr as the Stage Manager. Go down a bit further, and you find performers with plenty of accolades to their name. Yet, this wasn't a play about stars. It was a community of performers sharing a love of performance — and music — with an audience gladly along for the ride.

Best Emerging Actress- Andrea San Miguel

Andrea San Miguel has quietly moved to the forefront of young performers in the Twin Cities, having been featured in the likes of Theater Latté Da's Company and the title role in Walking Shadow's Eurydice. Her breakout role came in 2014, when she took on the doomed youth Emily Webb in Latte Da's Our Town, and then the title role in Illusion Theater's My Antonia. In both cases, the actor gave nuanced, deep, and ultimately beautiful performances that indicate the great talent of this relatively recent grad of the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater acting program.

Best Emerging Actor- Tyler Michaels

Tyler Michaels was an obvious choice for our 2014 Artists of the Year issue, and we're here to praise him yet again. The actor, singer, and director has gone from strength to strength: In a little over a year, he played the Emcee in Cabaret (Theater Latté Da), Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Guthrie Theater), and, now, the title character in Peter Pan (Children's Theatre Company). In between, there were additional turns at Chanhassen and the Guthrie, including a memorable bit as the lovesick Freddy in My Fair Lady. Michaels is a magnetic actor who has already shown us much in a short time.