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Columbus Dispatch Theater Critic Michael Grossberg: CRITICS PICKS HONOR THE BEST SHOWS IN TOWN

How I Learned to Drive

By Paula Vogel

BEST ACTRESS
Debra Whitfield

"Debra Whitfield, a New York actress who grew up in Columbus, shined as L’il Bit in CATCO’s  How I Learned To Drive. The mesmerizing range of the performance was remarkable. Whitfield embodied the child’s plaintive simplicity, the teen’s dawning sexuality and an adult’s hard-earned compassion toward her past."

Debra Whitfield As Li’l Bit with Ed Vaughan in How I Learned To Drive at Contemporary American Theatre Company

New Times - Best of Miami/Palm Beach

The Adjustment

BEST ACTRESS
Debra Whitfield

By Michael T. Folie

 "Plenty of actresses can hold your attention while half-dressed in a bra and slip, but can you think of one who can get you to forget what she’s wearing and instead try to figure out what’s going on inside her head? Think of Debra Whitfield, who portrayed a self-possessed political lobbyist in Michael T. Folie’s The Adjustment at Florida Stage. Whitfield spent much of her stage time in her underwear, but there was nothing flimsy about her performance. In this Florida premiere, smartly directed by Gail Garrisan, the actress maneuevered her character around the stage with the confidence of someone who could lead a small country into war and never lose concentration. Whitfield may have displayed a lot of flesh, but her performance was all heart and brain."

John Fionte and Debra Whitfield in The Adjustment

Dorset Theatre Festival Golden Leaf Award:

Relatively Speaking

By Alan Ayckbourn

BEST ACTRESS
Debra Whitfield

Manchester Journal 

DTF Perfomance A Hoot 'Relatively Speaking'

By Wayne Kelley

"The action centers on two couples---Greg and Ginny (Loren Dunn and Karen Greatti) and Phillip and Sheila (Davis Hall and Debra Whitfield). Good comedy is hard work. On opening night four gifted artists delivered first-rate performances to a packed house ringing with laughter and applause."

Dorset Theatre Festival Golden Leaf Award:

The Mousetrap

By Agatha Christie

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Debra Whitfield

Manchester Journal

By Wayne Kelley

"Leslie Margaret Katherine Casewell, from the Spanish Island of Miorca, is played superbly by Debra Whitfield. Dressed in suitably anonymous beige pants and vest, and sporting a cropped hairstyle, Whitfield expertly communicates her character's sexual ambiguity and seamlessly portrays a complex character with keen and studied precision."

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