“The 39 Steps”
“The Maltese Falcon”
“Best Actor”
“Best Sound Design”
“Best Original Play”
“Best Producers”
Myra Yellin Outwater, The Morning Call :
‘The Crowded Kitchen Players’ production of the mystery thriller “The 39 Steps ” was a fast-paced, acrobatic, topsy turvy spy yarn in which the agile cast romped through British music halls, traveled by train through the Scottish Highlands and raced through foggy, sheep-clogged Scottish back roads, spooky country inns and political rallies.
Keith Moser as the hero Richard Hannay was a master of farce, with an innate comedic sense and a wonderfully expressive face. Dave Oswald and J. D. Lepeta were a dynamo duo. They not only understand and delight in physical theater, but know how to play a crowd and brazenly milk a good gag for all its worth.’
Paul Willistein’s “The ABE Awards” – Bethlehem Press:
Best Actor, Play: David ‘Oz’ Oswald (Sam Spade) “The Maltese Falcon”. “Oswald owned the show, commanding the stage with a mix of relaxed authority, cunning insight and twinkling bemusement.”
Best Original Play: “The Down of A Thistle,” written & directed by Ara Barlieb. “The comedic whodunit packed a surprise one-two punch with a very cleaver plot twist in Act Two.”
Best Sound Design: “The 39 Steps,” – Ara Barlieb. “Barlieb’s Hitchcockian touch included sampling the scores of “North by Northwest,” “Dial M for Murder” and “Vertigo.”
Best Producers: Ara Barlieb, Pamela McLean – Wallace, Crowded Kitchen Players. “Barlieb and Wallace always try to top themselves in sleuthing a selection of eclectic and eccentric fare: “Brendan,” an Irish comedy-drama; Alfred Hitchcocks’s ‘The 39 Steps’, a Valley debut; “The Maltese Falcon,” the East Coast premiere; and “The Down of A Thistle,” a Barlieb original.”