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The World Shakespeare Festival, led by artistic director and ������Ƶ theater professor John Blondell, earned two Indy awards at the 2009 ceremony hosted by the Santa Barbara Independent. The annual theater awards recognize excellent work done in the local region.

Lilia Abadjieva received an award for her direction of the Lit Moon and ������Ƶ co-production of “Measure for Measure/Othello,” which blended the two political plays into an expressive new work. Abadjieva, a distinguished Bulgarian director, was an artist-in-residence at ������Ƶ in the fall of 2008. She worked with ������Ƶ students, alumni and theater department chair Mitchell Thomas to develop the play.

Finnish actress Nina Sallinen won for her one-woman performance of “Poor, Poor Lear” in ������Ƶ’s Porter Theater. She portrays an aging actress who chooses “King Lear” as her farewell performance.

A third play associated with the World Shakespeare Festival also took home honors. Irwin Appel of the , theater department accepted an award for his direction of “The Winter’s Tale.”