The Penelopiad at Alberta Theatre Projects got nine Betty Mitchell nominations. Trudie Lee/ATPAn Alberta Theatre Projects' production of The Penelopiad has a leading nine nominations for the Betty Mitchell Awards, the annual prizes for the best in Calgary theatre.

Nominations for the awards, named after a pioneer of Calgary's theatrical community, were announced Tuesday.

The Penelopiad is Margaret Atwood's take on the story of Odysseus, who returns from his travels to his wife Penelope and promptly has her maids killed. First produced jointly by Britain's Royal Shakespeare Company and Ottawa's National Arts Centre, it features a maid singing from the underworld and telling tales about what happened in the warrior's absence.

This production, part of the first season programmed by APT artistic director Vanessa Porteous, has earned her a nomination for best director and has a nomination for best drama.

The Penelopiad showcased 10 of the city's leading actresses, among them Jamie Konchak, who is up for best actress in a supporting role. It also earned nominations for lighting set, costumes, sound, choreography and musical direction.

Jamie Konchak recognized

Konchak racked up three Betty nominations for her performances this year — in MacBeth, The Penelopiad and Reasons to be Pretty.

Two Vertigo Theatre productions — The 39 Steps and 12 Angry Men — are in the running for best drama, competing with Ghost River Theatre's ONE and Ground Zero Theatre's Reasons to be Pretty.

The 39 Steps, a comic mystery based on the Alfred Hitchcock film (and full of Hitchcock references), has six nominations, including performance nods for Christopher Hunt, John Ullyatt and Adrienne Smook and best direction for Mark Bellamy. The Hitchcock film was based on the 1915 spy novel by John Buchan.

Reasons to be Pretty, a new play by Neil LaBute about the way men treat women and how women try to cope, has five Betty nominations, including best set and direction. Konchak earned the supporting actress nod, while co-star Patrick MacEachern is nominated for best actor.

Musical theatre

In the musical theatre category, One Yellow Rabbit's Nevermore, part of the High Performance Rodeo, is leading with six Betty nominations. The creepy musical loosely based on the story of the life of American Gothic novelist Edgar Allan Poe is up for best musical production and best direction for Jonathan Christenson and Betty Moulton.

Mieko Ouchi's Nisei Blue is nominated for best new play. Trudie Lee/ATPNew works such as Lunchbox Theatre's First World War story In Flanders Fields, Ghost River's Reverie and Twisted, a collaboration of Forte Musical Theatre Guild and Bitter Suite Society, are also vying for best musical. Theatre Calgary also has a best musical nomination for its production of The Drowsy Chaperone, a Toronto-created work that had a run on Broadway.

The best new play nominees include One Yellow Rabbit writer-actor Denise Clarke for Smash Cut Freeze, Darrin Hagen's drag comedy With Bells On, Rebecca Northan's fast-paced hit Kung Fu Panties and writer-director-filmmaker Mieko Ouchi for Nisei Blue. Another contender is Lost: A Memoir, Cathy Ostlere and Dennis Garnhum's adaptation of Costlere's best-selling book about her missing brother.

A jury of 12 theatre professionals considered 57 shows for this year's Betty Mitchell Awards. The winners will be named Aug. 8 in Calgary.