Live blogging from the Drammys, Portland's own local theater awards.

Nothing has happened yet, so skip this post if all you're looking for are winners—I'll have those up as they're announced.

We're at the Crystal Ballroom—I'm sitting in the corner grudgingly drinking a pink McBeer, while all around folks are mingling and schmoozing and waiting for the ceremony itself to get started. It's a far younger and livelier crowd than the audiences at most of the actual plays I've seen recently—unsurprisingly, the theater community saw an opportunity to play dressup and seized the shit out of it. I see heels, bare shoulders, elaborate updoes. A man in a skirt just walked by. (Or was that a ultilkilt?) Everyone looks very pretty, except for me, who just spilled beer on myself. Luckily my beer and my shirt are the same color.

Everyone looks familiar, for obvious reasons—there's Tyler Cafall, who was one of the only parts of Artist's Rep's The History Boys that I didn't find viscerally offensive. His date just spilled a drink; he cleaned it up. Ahh, chivalry. (At what point does liveblogging become creepyblogging?) There's Darius Pierce, who I certainly wouldn't be surprised to see get a nod tonight for his excellent turn in Portland Center Stage's The Beard of Avon; there's Val Landrum, who certainly earned herself a supporting actress nomination with her turn as Stella in Artist Rep's Streetcar. Michael O'Connell, maybe a little something-something for his role in Shining City?

I'm not one to make predictions, but on my wish list: I'd like to see Imago's The Dinner get a shout out, and I'm hard pressed to think of a better female performance than that Andrea Frankle, who played Blanche in Streetcar. Sojourn's Throwing Bones deserves a little love.

O theater critic Richard Wattenberg (a former professor of mine, which he may or may not remember) just dropped by and said that "Live from the Drammys" is a sexy name for a blog post. I know, right?

Everyone is schmoozing and mingling. How nice. More later when the ceremony itself commences.