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The Colorado Theatre Guild’s always controversial Henry Awards recognized two artists from Colorado Springs at its annual ceremony this week at the Lone Tree Arts Center.

Veteran actor Steve Emily, a co-founder of Springs Ensemble Theatre, shared the award for best actor in a play for his performance in Sharr White’s “Annapurna,” an expertly written final reckoning between a divorced and damaged couple at the bare-butted man’s squalid motor home in the Colorado mountains. The play was performed at the Fifty-Niner, a hidden speakeasy in historic Old Colorado City.

And Christopher Sheley, artistic director of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College Theatre Company, won for best scenic design for “Misery.” That’s Stephen King’s gruesome tale — also set in the Colorado mountains — about a debilitated romance writer who is taken prisoner by an unhinged fan after he’s injured in a car accident.

Despite those deserved honors, only two awards (of the 41) hardly seemed representative of the swath of excellent work produced by Colorado Springs theater companies over the past year.

The Colorado Theatre Guild splits most of its awards into two tiers based on the budget size of each member company. (The dividing line between Tier 1 and 2 is an annual budget above and below $500,000.) The Fine Arts Center, Theatreworks, Springs Ensemble and Funky Little Theater Company received nine nominations combined.

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Emily’s award was for smaller-sized companies, and his category produced a tie, the other winner being Kent-Jameson Ehrman for the Breckenridge Backstage Theatre’s “Inventing Van Gogh.”

Emily, who moved to Colorado Springs from Chicago 15 years ago, thanked audiences “who didn’t throw garbage at the sight of my bare (butt) on the stage.” He also gave credit to his co-star, Julie Swuem.

“I just followed her lead every night and we got to go down some wonderfully strange trails,” he said. “If you want to make your show better by a thousand percent, just hire Julie Sweum.”

For Sheley, who was nominated in the scenic-design category every year from 2017-20, this was win No. 2. All the more impressive given that he was going up against the likes of the DCPA Theatre Company, the Arvada Center and the rest of the state’s biggest companies.

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The DCTC Theatre Company again led all troupes with seven Henry Awards, followed by the Arvada Center with five. Breckenridge Backstage Theatre, Miners Alley Playhouse and Performance Now took home three each.

The DCPA’s opulent Stephen Sondheim tuner “A Little Night Music” and little Thunder River Theatre Company of Carbondale‘s “Endgame” won the two biggest awards of the night — for best musical and play, respectively.

The Colorado Theatre Guild is historically known for crowning its winners in landslide fashion, but 20 member companies shared the 41 awards Monday. An unprecedented 25 plays or musicals won at least one Henry.

Other Colorado Springs nominees included:

• Hayley Ballard, younger performer, “Elf the Musical,” Fine Arts Center.

• Kaley Corinaldi, supporting actress in a play, “The Little Prince,” Theatreworks

• Birgitta DePree, supporting actress in a play, “The Taming of the Shrew,” Theatreworks.

• Isabella Maria Falber, supporting actress in a play, “We Will Rock You,” Funky Little Theater Company.

• David Hastings, supporting actor in a play, “The Seafarer,” Springs Ensemble Theatre.

• Colton Pratt, supporting actor in a play, “The Little Prince,” Theatreworks.

• Kitty Robbins, scenic design, “Annapurna,” Springs Ensemble Theatre

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