WINNER: MollyBinder in Matt & Ben(Know Theatre Tribe) played laid-back actor Ben Affleck in a comedy that imagines how the Good Will Hunting might have been created.

Annie Fitzpatrick in Wayfarer’s Rest (Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati) portrayed an American woman living in rural England during World War II. Stumbling on a strange cottage in the woods, she learns more about her future than she cares to know.

Sherman Fracher in A Streetcar Named Desire (Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival) played the ostentatiously refined and neurotic Blanche DuBois, who can’t bear the downhill slide her life has come to be.

Corinne Mohlenhoff in Private Lives (Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival) as Amanda Prynne, a witty divorcee who’s remarried only to find herself honeymooning next door to her ex-husband and his new bride.)

WINNER: Giles Davies as one of Shakespeare’s most despicable villains, played with unusual cynicism and humor, in Richard III (Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival).

Michael Shooner as Teach, a hard-boiled but dimwitted crook who can’t quite mastermind a heist, in American Buffalo (New Edgecliff Theatre).

Bill Hartnett as Mr. Green, a cranky widower who teaches a younger man some lessons about life in Visiting Mr. Green (Mariemont Players).

Adam Standley Adam Standley as David, a musician who loses his lover during 9/11, and several others who affect David’s life, in a one-man show, All We Can Handle (New Stage Collective/2006 Fringe Festival).

Hayley Clark as sweet Emily Webb, a young woman who marries, has children and dies — leading to some heartfelt lessons in Our Town (Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival).

Dale Hodges as Janet MacKenzie, the quirky, outspoken housekeeper for a murdered woman in Witness for the Prosecution (Cincinnati Playhouse).

Annie Fitzpatrick as Mrs. Van Buren, a wealthy, lonely white woman who finds friendship with an African-American seamstress in Intimate Apparel (Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati).

WINNER: Corinne Mohlenhoff as earthy Stella Kowalski, whose sister disrupts a life of passionate bliss in New Orleans, in A Streetcar Named Desire (Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival).

Drew Fracher as Mr. Marks, a quiet Jewish cloth merchant who contemplates an impossible relationship with an African-American seamstress in Intimate Apparel (Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati).

Jeff Sanders as Jeffas Mitch, a decent guy who becomes a pawn in the romantic scheming of Blanche DuBois, in A Streetcar Named Desire (Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival).

WINNER: Nick Rose as Satan, played with devilish glee and a glint in his eye as he manipulated Christ’s betrayer and gave testimony at his trial in Purgatory, in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Know Theatre Tribe).

David Zelina as all the men and a nun, from very, very bad (and very, very funny) dates to someone who might be the man of Lizzie’s dreams in The Catholic Girl’s Guide to Losing Your Virginity (Giggling Girls Productions/2006 Fringe Festival).

Sarah Brandon as a bookish and nearsighted heroine who finds a Prince Charming as smart as she is in Cinderella (Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati).

Sherry McCamley as hardboiled Penelope Pennywise, manager of the filthiest urinal in town, who ultimately has a heart of gold (or maybe porcelain), in Urinetown (Showbiz Players).

Lauren Dragon, who could sing all the familiar tunes in the same key as Rock icon Janis Joplin in Love, Janis (Cincinnati Playhouse).

WINNER: Lauren Sprague as Peggy Sawyer, the chorus girl who gets to step into the leading role and become an overnight star, in 42nd Street (Cincinnati Music Theatre).

Charlie Clark as pointillist artist Georges Seurat in Act I, then his latter-day descendant George, a performance artist, in Sunday in the Park with George (New Stage Collective).

Joseph Medeiros as Bobby Childs, a banker who would rather be in show business, in Crazy for You (College-Conservatory of Music).

Aaron Lavigne as Jon (Rent creator Jonathan Larsen) on the eve of his 30th birthday in Tick, tick … Boom! (Know Theatre Tribe).

WINNER: Gary Rogers as Officer Lockstock, the cynical cop and tongue-in-cheek narrator of Urinetown (Showbiz Players).

Ashley Bowman as the waiflike Little Sally, who offers wry observations on the bizarre story being told, in Urinetown (Showbiz Players).

Meggie Cansler as Mabel, the spirited oldest daughter and ringleader of Major-General Stanley’s brood of offspring, in The Pirates of Penzance (College-Conservatory of Music).

WINNER: Dee Anne Bryll as Maggie Jones, the one-time hoofer and good-natured songwriter for Pretty Lady, the new show that’s being staged in 42nd Street (Cincinnati Music Theatre).

Denise Devlin as the still-hopeful dancer Diana, who does it all for love, in A Chorus Line (Northern Kentucky University).

WINNER: Brian Benz as Caldwell B. Cladwell, the evil industrialist who has cornered the market on water as the head of UGC (Urine Good Company), in Urinetown (Showbiz Players).

Jonathan Parks-Ramage as the “modern” Major-General Stanley, the daffy dad of a dozen daughters who must broker their marriages to The Pirates of Penzance (College-Conservatory of Music).

James Lee Glatz as Skeets Miller, a reporter for The Louisville Courier-Journal who documents a man trapped in a coal mine, in Floyd Collins (College-Conservatory of Music).

Adam Slemon as Prince Frederick, the lucky guy who finds his ideal match — a girl who likes to read — in Cinderella (Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati).

Spencer Scott Barros in all the male roles, but most particularly as Eugene, a light-skinned African American who struggles to have a relationship with a dark-skinned woman, in Yellowman (Cincinnati Playhouse).

Warren Kelley as David O. Selznick, the manic producer of the film Gone with the Wind, in a fictionalized reinvention of the making of that historic movie, Moonlight and Magnolias (Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati).

WINNER: Raul Esparza in Company (Cincinnati Playhouse) as Bobby, a single man whose married friends keep trying to pair him with someone. He’s a passive observer until the breathtaking finale of emotional engagement, “Being Alive.”

Jeff Skowron as Hysterium, a neurotic chief of servants who must contend with the antics of the central character Pseudolus, in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Cincinnati Playhouse).

Susan Greenhill as Virginia, a woman whose obsession with cleaning fits perfectly with her obsessed sister’s aversion (and her sister’s cleaning woman’s interest in other activities), in The Clean House (Cincinnati Playhouse).

WINNER: Barbara Walsh in Company (Cincinnati Playhouse) as Joanne, the cynical woman who scorches her peers singing the drunken paean to wealthy women with nothing to do, “Ladies Who Lunch.”

Ann Randolph as a wide array of characters living in a shelter for homeless women, plus a very unusual man who plays the accordion, in Squeeze Box (Cincinnati Playhouse).

Heather Laws in Company (Cincinnati Playhouse) as Amy, the hyper-anxious bride who spends her wedding day agonizing over the future, singing the fast-talking “Getting Married Today.”

American Buffalo (New Edgecliff Theatre) featured three lowlifes who aspire to make a quick buck by stealing a coin collection, despite their ineptitude.

Crazy for You (College-Conservatory of Music) was a showcase for singing and dancing, using music by George Gershwin and faithfully recreating the choreography conceived by Susan Stroman for the 1992 production.

WINNER: Company (Cincinnati Playhouse) employed an ensemble of 14 actors who accompanied themselves musically in Stephen Sondheim’s 1970 show about a single man contemplating marriage.

(UN)Natural Disaster (2006 Fringe Festival) used 13 actors in an exploration of the devastating results — many of them physically re-enacted — of storms, upheavals and more.

Is There Life After High School?, directed by Chris Beiser (Middletown Lyric Theatre), is a show everyone can identify with, an exploration of the blessings and embarrassments of high school and the agonies and rewards of returning for a reunion.

Urinetown, directed by Bunny Arszman (Showbiz Players), is an offbeat production about a city where it’s a “privilege to pee,” told via parodies of musical theater productions and other theatrical conventions.

WINNER: 42nd Street, directed by Brian Anderson (Cincinnati Music Theatre), is the ultimate backstage musical about a chorus girl who leapfrogs into the lead when the star breaks her ankle. Anderson faithfully recreated choreography from the original production.

Visiting Mr. Green, directed by Ginny Weil (Mariemont Players), a moving two-character play about a crotchety old widower and the young man sentenced by a judge to check in on him regularly, following a careless traffic accident.

Company (Cincinnati Playhouse, scenic design by David Gallo) featured a cabaret-room set with a Steinway surrounded by a blond hardwood walkway. Actors sat and played musical instruments on swiveling bar stools.

Omnium Gatherum (Queen City Off Broadway, scenic design by Lyle Benjamin) was presented in a Northside warehouse using a bare-bones budget to create a rotating dining room table and a stairway to the nether world for Theresa Rebeck’s post-9/11 fantasy.

The Clean House (Cincinnati Playhouse, scenic design by Narelle Sisson) at first appeared to be a sterile, modern structure, but with some literal stage magic (and more) it becomes the setting for some amazing personal growth.

WINNER: Wayfarer’s Rest (Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati, scenic design by Brian c. Mehring) was a mysterious cottage in the woods reminiscent of the Brothers Grimm. Complete with a working smokestack and eerie trees, it conveyed the plays magical mood perfectly.

WINNER: Company (Cincinnati Playhouse) clad its cast of 14 clad New Yorkers in oh-so-chic black — from Armani to a black wedding gown — all conceived by Ann Hould-Ward.

The Pirates of Penzance(College-Conservatory of Music, costume design by Yu Ishida) offered a comic riot of cartoonish pirates, British bobbies and women in the frilliest dresses imaginable.

Crazy for You (College Conservatory of Music, costume design by Reba Senske) brought the 1920s back to life with a riot of colors, especially for a bevy of showgirls.

Private Lives (Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival, costume design by Heidi Joe Scheimer) featured sophisticated characters dressed to the nines — and appropriately so — for Noel Coward’s 1930 comedy.

The Clean House (Cincinnati Playhouse, lighting design by David Lander) had its magic augmented by lighting that went from blinding white to warm golden oranges, marking shifts from harsh reality to romantic reveries.

The Eight: Reindeer Monologues (Know Theatre Tribe) inventively used video footage, created by Luke Brockmeier, to give reality TV-style background on the characters caught up in a sexual harassment scandal at the North Pole.

WINNER: Company (Cincinnati Playhouse) featured pools of circular light that highlighted individual performers in the darkness, designed by Thomas C. Hase.

Sunday in the Park with George (New Stage Collective) used inventive video projections designed by Pete Thornbury to demonstrate how painter Georges Seurat created a painted masterpiece, the focal point of the show.

Company (Cincinnati Playhouse). Director John Doyle used the show’s 14 actor-musicians in scenes that required simultaneous acting, singing and playing music — sometimes changing from one instrument to another in ways that enhanced character.

Noises Off (College-Conservatory of Music; direction by Richard Hess, fight direction by k. Jenny Jones) required physical precision, from door slamming to spectacular falls, to tell the backstage and onstage tale of the cast of play who are slowly unraveling.

Moonlight and Magnolias (Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati, direction by Drew Fracher) told the frantic story of writing a screenplay for Gone with the Wind with non-stop physical action (including a amazing sequence of comic face-slapping) and pratfalls.

WINNER: (UN)Natural Disaster (created and directed by Richard Hess for the 2006 Fringe Festival) used actors as performers and scenery in four raw, unfinished rooms on Main Street. The audience followed along, watching scenes of disaster and its aftermath.

The Absurdity of Writing Poetry, created and performed by Matt Slaybaugh (2006 Fringe Festival), was an attention grabbing hour of material about a writer who gives up art and then struggles with the challenges that ensue. It offered the “why” of “Why bother?”

WINNER: (UN)Natural Disaster,created and directed by Richard Hess (2006 Fringe Festival) was an emotional, gut-wrenching piece that used snippets of commentaries and first-person accounts of horrendous events like floods, tidal waves and volcanic eruptions that reduce human existence to its most elemental.

All We Can Handle, directed by Andrew Lazarow (New Stage Collective/2006 Fringe Festival), was an emotional rollercoaster (and a one-actor show) about a guitarist who heads to New York City in pursuit of a sexual urge cut short by 9/11. An odyssey of emotional descent with several deeply personal encounters.

Waiting for Lefty, directed by Matt Johnson et al. (Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival), brought to life Clifford Odets’ brief 1935 play about taxi drivers striking back with a visceral punch: a union hall meeting, heckling from the audience and vignettes of domestic strife during the Depression.

The Catholic Girl’s Guide to Losing Your Virginity by Annie Hendy(Giggling Girls Productions) proved to be the date-night audience pleaser during the 2006 Fringe Festival, an amusing sitcom of a story about a young woman intent on putting her virginity behind her before her 25th birthday rolls around.

Squeeze Box by Ann Randolph (Cincinnati Playhouse) was a revised version of the former Loveland resident’s script presented in 2002 as part of the Playhouse’s “alteractive” series. It’s a monologue of self-discovery through the filter of a group of homeless women, a writer and an oddball musician.

WINNER: The Clean House by Sarah Ruhl (Cincinnati Playhouse) offered local audiences a production of an award-winning script that’s appearing at theaters from coast to coast. It’s a thought-provoking look at romance and reality and how we can live lives that have meaning.

Wayfarer’s Rest by Joseph McDonough (Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati) was one of two plays earning local premieres by this Cincinnati-based playwright. This one was a kind of adult fairy tale about a cottage in the woods and some scary realizations.

American Buffalo, directed by Elizabeth A. Harris (New Edgecliff Theatre), was a tense staging of David Mamet’s terse drama about inept criminals who think they can make a quick buck but become entangled in their egos and stupidity.

A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Drew Fracher (Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival), offered a revival of Tennessee Williams’ classic play about the clash of harsh reality and idealized romance, personified by Stanley Kowalski and Blanche DuBois.

WINNER: The Clean House, directed by Michael Evan Haney (Cincinnati Playhouse), presented the healing power of magic and humor to a group of women who find themselves dissatisfied with their present realities.

Wayfarer’s Rest, directed by D. Lynn Meyers (Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati), was a powerfully acted and interestingly conceived exploration of human love and fear. Sometimes knowing the future is a terrible burden.

WINNER: Company, (Cincinnati Playhouse) directed by John Doyle, reinvented Sondheim’s 1970 musical with actors who played musical instruments while telling the story of a man searching for personal connection. A sold-out run earned the attention of producers from New York City; the production will reappear on Broadway in November.

Tick, tick … Boom!, directed by Jason Bruffy (Know Theatre Tribe), was an energetic, simple staging of Jonathan Larsen’s meditation about turning 30. Done with three actors and a small band, it had all the joy and jolt — not to mention the humanity — of much bigger shows.

Love, Janis, directed by Randal Myler (Cincinnati Playhouse), reincarnated Rock legend Janis Joplin in an interesting staging that had one actress recreate her bluesy songs while another conjured her more personal voice from diary entries and letters.

Urinetown, directed by Bunny Arszman (Showbiz Players), proved to be a strong production of a show you wouldn’t expect from a community theater. It offered strong individual performances and an ensemble who “got” the sassy musical’s offbeat humor.