In addition to ushering the end of the regular theater season, spring is also a precursor for the lavishing of awards. Here in New York City, we will shortly be awash in a sea of laurels—with the advent of the Obies, the Drama Desks and Broadway’s annual bash, the Tonys—in early June. At Stage Directions, we are tossing our hat into the ring with some of our own citations, which we will announce at our second annual summer conference this year, to be held August 8–9 at the Hilton New York. Among the awards we will be presenting in a special ceremony are the 2004 Stage Directions’ Educator of the Year Awards, which recognize the outstanding achievements of two technical theater teachers, one at the high school level and the other at the college/university level; and the Technical Theater Grant, which awards a windfall of state-of-the-art equipment (donated by top-ranked industry manufacturers) to one of the following: a nonprofit theater, a high school theater or a college/university theater program. If you would like to participate in nominating candidates, please fill out the form on page 19 and mail or fax it back to us by the June 7, 2004 deadline; you can also complete an online nomination form at www.stage-directions.com. Please remember to attach a brief 500-word-or-less statement explaining why you think your nominee(s) deserves the honor(s). Good luck!

Geoff Curley…Brett Jarvis…Nicole Pearce…Christal Weatherly…if this roll call of names sounds familiar to you but yet you can’t place them offhand, don’t worry—you probably will sooner than later. Poised on the cusp of professional glory, these four young (under 35) breakout talents are emerging as designers to keep your eyes out for in the heavily saturated, competitive field of theater. They also are the subjects of our special section this month—hot young designers. Read all about these players destined to be icons of tomorrow, starting on page 50.

In 1998, when Matthew Shepard, a gay young college student, was brutally and senselessly murdered in a hate crime in Laramie, Wyoming, the country was convulsed in horror and grief. This outpouring of emotion engendered a national debate that grappled with the ramifications of being gay in contemporary society. In Ed Roy’s The Other Side of the Closet, a searing one-act drama dealing with a group of teenagers and the fallout that results when one friend reveals his homosexuality, this complicated issue is given further dimension. Currently the linchpin of a successful Northern California school tour launched by San Francisco’s New Conservatory Theatre Center, the play is part of an ongoing initiative supported by the U.S. Department of Education seeking to promote tolerance among young people. To find out more about the tour, turn to page 36 and read Jean Schiffman’s probing feature on it. With the Massachusetts Supreme Court’s November ruling allowing for gay marriages, compounded by San Francisco’s recent issuance of marital licenses to same-sex partners, this topic remains as socially relevant as ever.