To see a list of currently running Ovation Recommended productions, Click Here!

What does Ovation Recommended mean?

The LA Stage Alliance Ovation Voters, a body of theatre professionals selected annually through a rigorous application/interview process by the Ovation Review Committee, has determined through their votes cast on these productions that they are ranked in the top 15% of all registered shows in their Overall Production voting category.

How Ovation Recommended Status is Determined:

Once a production has had at least eight (8) Ovation voters attend and cast their ballots, it is eligible to become Ovation Recommended. After that point, if at any time the average overall production score for that production rises to the level which would have placed it in the top 15% of productions for the previous Ovation Season, it will become Ovation Recommended.

Once a production gains Recommended status, it cannot lose that status, even if subsequent voters who attend score the production poorly and its average overall production score declines.

PLEASE NOTE: Being Ovation Recommended does not guarantee that a production will receive Ovation Award nominations at the end of the season. There will be Ovation Recommended productions that do not receive any nominations at all. Similarly, since the Recommended status is only based on the Overall Production score, there will be productions which are not Ovation Recommended, but which will receive Ovation Award Nominations due to high achievement in an individual category, such as acting or design. Ovation Recommended status is only to help communicate to the general public, during the show's run, that the production is highly successful overall.

Background:

Over the last twenty years that the Ovation Awards have been in existence, LA Stage Alliance has regularly heard the following complaint:

I'm thrilled that my production received the Ovation Award for [XXXXX], but I wish there could have been a way to get this recognition while my production was still running, so it could have helped more people see this wonderful show.

After long effort and many MANY meetings, the Ovation Rules Committee and the LA Stage Alliance Board of Governors and Staff instituted a trial program in September 2009 to address exactly this issue - the Ovation Recommended program. This program was heartily endorsed by over 90% of the theatre producers in Los Angeles at the end of its first season, and has become a standard program of the Ovation Awards.

Through this program, theatre productions who register for Ovation Awards consideration have the possibility of being designated as Ovation Recommended at some point during their run. This acts as a marketing tool for theatres to use to promote their production as one which has been judged to be notably effective overall, as judged by the vetted and approved members of the body of Ovation Voters - all of whom are currently working theatre professionals in the Los Angeles area.

(This can be thought of as a new version of a Critic's Choice, only chosen through the aggregate opinion of a group of professional theatre-making artists, instead of by a critic for a publication.)

Every Tuesday morning, the staff at LA Stage Alliance generates a list of all productions which have become Ovation Recommended in the previous week. Those productions are notified immediately, and provided with logos and language regarding their new status that can be used in any marketing promotions they choose to create. The Ovation Recommended logo will also appear in all LA Stage Alliance materials/publications/websites for any Ovation Recommended productions.

For further information about the Ovation Awards or the Ovation Recommended program, please contact LA Stage Alliance at Ovations@LAStageAlliance.com.