Ovations Give Nod to Taper, Doolittle : Theater: Center Theatre Group and Actors’ Gang shows lead nominations in local, peer-judged awards.

Center Theatre Group shows at the Doolittle Theatre and the Mark Taper Forum dominate the list of nominees for the Ovations, which are being touted as the first peer-judged, competitive awards to cover most of the professional theaters in Los Angeles County.

The CTG/Ahmanson series at the Doolittle roped in 30 nominations, including 11 for “Five Guys Named Moe” and nine for “Falsettos”--the most frequently cited shows on the list. Taper shows added another 14 nominations to the CTG honors. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Sunset Boulevard” got eight nods. The Actors’ Gang won 11 nominations, more than any other sub-100-seat theater, but the seven honors for the Colony’s revival of “Working” were more than the nominations for any other sub-100-seat show.

In a ceremony in Century City Tuesday, celebrities announced five nominations in each of 24 competitive categories and a single lifetime achievement award--for producer and impresario James A. Doolittle.

The awards will be passed out at the Alex Theatre in Glendale on Nov. 14, at a gala presentation to be emceed by John Larroquette.

Representatives from many of the 119 members of Theatre LA--an organization of theaters and production companies--graded shows throughout the period of eligibility, from September, 1993, through August, 1994. But only those voters who sent in score sheets for at least 25 shows may vote in the upcoming final round, and voters must have seen all five nominees in each category to vote in that category.

All but three nomination categories have separate awards for larger and sub-100-seat theaters.

The nominees:

* Play/Larger: “Carpa Clash,” Mark Taper Forum; “Conversations With My Father,” Doolittle Theatre; “La Bete,” Stages at John Anson Ford Amphitheatre; “Fool Moon,” Doolittle Theatre; “The Sisters Rosensweig,” Doolittle Theatre

* Play/Smaller: “Distant Fires,” Coast Playhouse; “The Tavern,” Matrix Theatre; “The Visit,” Pacific Resident Theatre Ensemble; “The Chicago Conspiracy Trial,” Odyssey Theatre Ensemble; “Men on the Verge of a His-panic Breakdown,” Celebration Theatre

* Musical/Larger: “Five Guys Named Moe,” Doolittle Theatre; “Company,” Long Beach Civic Light Opera; “Falsettos,” Doolittle Theatre; “Evita,” Civic Light Opera of South Bay Cities; “Sunset Boulevard,” Shubert Theatre

* Musical/Smaller: “The Fantasticks,” Blank Theatre Company at Egyptian Arena Theatre; “Romance/Romance,” International City Theatre; “Into the Woods,” Actors Co-op; “Hysteria,” Actors’ Gang; “Rendez-Vous With Marlene,” MGR Productions at Melrose Theatre

* Writing of a World Premiere: Win Wells, “The Pink Triangle”; Torill, “Rendez-Vous With Marlene”; Guillermo Reyes, “Men on the Verge of a His-panic Breakdown”; Richard Hellesen, “Dos Corazones”; Lisa Loomer, “The Waiting Room”

* Director/Musical: Tracy Young, “Hysteria”; Charles Augins, “Five Guys Named Moe”; James Lapine, “Falsettos”; Trevor Nunn, “Sunset Boulevard”; Todd Nielsen, “Working”

* Director/Play: Bill Irwin and David Shiner, “Fool Moon”; Joseph Megel, “Men on the Verge of a His-panic Breakdown”; Tony Giordano, “The Tavern”; Stephanie Shroyer, “The Visit”; Clark Gregg, “Distant Fires”

* Leading Actor/Play: Christopher Liam Moore, “Twelfth Night”; Felix A. Pire, “Men on the Verge of a His-panic Breakdown”; Bill Irwin, “Fool Moon”; David Shiner, “Fool Moon”; Tony Abatemarco, “La Bete”

* Leading Actress/Play: Denise Crosby, “Last Summer at Bluefish Cove”; Jenifer Lewis, “The Diva Is Dismissed”; Kyra Sedgwick, “Oleanna”; Shannon Holt, “Narrow Road to the Deep North”; Elizabeth Morehead, “Specter”

* Leading Actor/Musical: Michael Rupert, “Falsettos”; Chip Zien, “Falsettos”; Doug Eskew, “Five Guys Named Moe”; Milton Craig Nealy, “Five Guys Named Moe”; Stephen Bogardus, “Falsettos”

* Leading Actress/Musical: Molly Bryant, “Hysteria”; Glenn Close, “Sunset Boulevard”; Jodi Carlisle, “Working”; Barbara Walsh, “Falsettos”; Carol Burnett, “Company”

* Featured Actor/Play: Patrick Kerr, “The End of the Day”; Eric Allan Kramer, “The Wood Demon”; Dakin Matthews, “The Wood Demon”; Cliff Jewell, “Misalliance”; Ellis E. Williams, “Distant Fires”

* Featured Actress/Play: Jane Elliot, “Last Summer at Bluefish Cove”; Lela Ivey, “The Waiting Room”; Maree Cheatham, “Last Summer at Bluefish Cove”; June Kyoko Lu, “The Waiting Room”; Marga Gomez, “Carpa Clash”

* Featured Actor/Musical: William Hubbard Knight, “Working”; Sivan Cotel, “Falsettos”; Keith Tyrone, “Five Guys Named Moe”; Jeffrey Polk, “Five Guys Named Moe”; David Ellzey, “The Fantasticks”

* Featured Actress/Musical: Evie Peck, “Hysteria”; Linden Waddell, “Working”; Veanne Cox, “Company”; Heather Mac-Rae, “Falsettos”; Carolee Carmello, “Falsettos”

* Set Design/Larger: John Lee Beatty, “The Sisters Rosensweig”; Tony Walton, “Conversations With My Father”; Tim Goodchild, “Five Guys Named Moe”; Edward E. Haynes Jr./Gronk, “Carpa Clash”; John Napier, “Sunset Boulevard”

* Set Design/Smaller: Mark Wendland, “The Oresteia”; Kevin Rigdon, “Distant Fires”; Ian Falconer, “The End of the Day”; Neil Peter Jampolis, “The Tavern”; Rick Bluhm, “Working”

* Costume Design/Larger: Holly Poe Durbin, “The Wood Demon”; Noel Howard, “Five Guys Named Moe”; Anthony Powell, “Sunset Boulevard”; Patssi Valdez, “Carpa Clash”; Bill Kellard, “Fool Moon”

* Costume Design/Smaller: Lynn Jeffries, “Twelfth Night”; Cathy Crane-McCoy, “Opera Comique”; Mark Wendland, “The Oresteia”; Ian Falconer/Alison Hirsch, “The End of the Day”; Doug Spesert, “Misalliance”

* Lighting Design/Larger: Jose Lopez, “Carpa Clash”; Andrew Bridge, “Sunset Boulevard”; Anne Militello, “The Waiting Room”; Larry Oberman, “Once a Man, Twice a Boy”; Andrew Bridge, “Five Guys Named Moe”

* Lighting Design/Smaller: Ken Booth, “The Killing of Michael Malloy”; Gary Christensen, “Working”; Michael Gilliam, “The End of the Day”; Kevin Adams, “The Oresteia”; Jane Reisman, “The Tavern”

* Sound Design/Larger: Tony Meola, “Five Guys Named Moe”; Tom Morse, “Fool Moon”; Bruce Odland/Sam Auinger, “The Persians”; Mark Friedman, “Carpa Clash”; Martin Levan, “Sunset Boulevard”

* Sound Design/Smaller: Justus Matthews, “Opera Comique”; Ruth Judkowitz, “The Visit”; Nathan Birnbaum/Gina Leishman/Elliot Siegel, “The Oresteia”; Kyle Gass/Kristof Beck, “Narrow Road to the Deep North”; Matt Beville, “The Tavern”

* Choreography: Charles Augins, “Five Guys Named Moe”; Todd Nielsen, “Working”; Bob Avian, “Sunset Boulevard”; Tricia Parks/Adrienne Armor, “Hysteria”; Teresa Klorer, “Into the Woods”