2001
2003 
Production and Director
The Best Production award for 2002 goes to Amy Freed's The Beard of Avon at the Goodman Theatre. A lavish entertainment - a superbly written, expertly acted, and cleverly directed period-piece comedy - that examines a theory that the warm-hearted Shakespeare was merely a front man ""beard" for the dissipated intellectual Edward de Vere.
The Best Director award for 2002 goes to David Petrarca for The Goodman Theatre's The Beard of Avon. Balancing an intellectual script within a lush period piece, Petrarca draws memorably strong performances from his cast in a wonderful entertainment that is both insightful drama and clever comedy.
Performance
The Best Actress award for 2002 goes to Elizabeth Laidlaw in her role as Rosalind in As You Like It at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, fearfully fleeing a nighttime military-police raid in the city but becoming bold and resolute while pursuing her love within the forest.
The Best Actor award for 2002 goes to Christopher Plummer for his stirring title role performance in King Lear at the Stratford Festival of Canada. Whip-smart but suffering from old age and dementia, Plummer's memorable Lear is a masterpiece of stagecraft, at times comic and endearing, at other times boldly clinging to fleeting moments of stern strength.
The Best Supporting Actor award for 2002 goes to Kevin Gudahl for his brilliantly played doubled roles as both the guilt-ridden bully Claudius as well as his brother, the demanding ghost of the slain King, in Hamlet at Court Theatre.
The Best Supporting Actress award for 2002 goes to Deborah Hay for her poignant portrayal of the Jailer's Daughter in The Two Noble Kinsmen at the Stratford Festival of Canada. Hay's waifish character's wide-eyed failure to understand the depth of her emotions elevated an essentially comic role to heartbreakingly dramatic.
Technicals
The Best Scenic Design award for 2002 goes to Michael Yeargan for the Goodman Theatre's The Beard of Avon. The high hayloft of Shakespeare's barn in Stratford, then the bustling streets of plague-ridden London, and the opulent chamber of the Earl of Oxford all lend a sharp authenticity to the conspiracy-theory take on the true authorship of Shakespeare's plays.
The Best Costume Design award for 2002 goes to Jane Greenwood for her authentic Elizabethan costumes - well-worn commoner garb, the brocade tunics and elaborate gowns of the nobility, even the audaciously extravagant attire for Queen Elizabeth -in The Beard of Avon at Goodman Theatre.
The Best Lighting Design award for 2002 goes to Howard Werner for his striking duality within As You Like it at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. A stark Siberian winter amid a cold and soulless political landscape is followed by the warmth and brightness around gypsy-like rebels in the forest.
The Best Sound and Music Design award for 2002 goes to Scott Myers and Alaric Jans for Chicago Shakespeare Theater's elegant Love's Labour's Lost. Original songs played by an onstage string quartet and an array of effects enhance the ultimately melancholy romance.