Few Distinctions for O.C. Theaters : Stage: Frequent front-runner South Coast Repertory picks up five of 60 nominations for L.A. Drama Critics Circle awards. GroveShakespeare gets its first nod.

LOS ANGELES — South Coast Repertory, which often vies for top honors in the annual Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle awards, received only five nominations for 1992 productions, LADCC announced Monday.

GroveShakespeare, meanwhile, picked up its first nomination, for Mitchell Ryan’s lead performance in the Garden Grove troupe’s production of Eugene O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey Into Night.”

None of SCR’s nominations were for outstanding production, direction or writing. Two of 13 nominations for outstanding lead performance went to SCR actors: Kandis Chappell for “Woman in Mind” and Nan Martin for “Odd Jobs.”

SCR’s other nominations are for costumes (Shigeru Yaji, “Twelfth Night” and Ann Bruice, “The Philadelphia Story”) and musical performance (Djimbe West African Dancers and Drummers, “Twelfth Night”). Between 1988 and 1990, the Costa Mesa company had received at least 10 nominations per year.

The Orange County Performing Arts Center received no nominations for any of the musicals it presented during 1992.

The most nominations went to two Mark Taper Forum epics, “The Kentucky Cycle” and “Angels in America,” plus the much smaller “Melody Jones.”

Robert Schenkkan’s “Kentucky Cycle” garnered more nominations, nine, than any other production. “Angels in America” picked up six nominations, and “Angels” playwright Tony Kushner won the special Ted Schmitt Award, presented annually for the outstanding play to receive its world premiere in Los Angeles or Orange County.

Among nominations for outstanding lead performance are Larry Fishburne for “Two Trains Running” at the Doolittle Theatre, Charles Hallahan in “The Kentucky Cycle,” Ed Harris for “Scar” at the MET Theatre, Ian McKellen for “Richard III” at UCLA’s Royce Hall and Bebe Neuwirth for “Chicago” at the Long Beach Terrace Theatre.

Center Theatre Group, which runs the Taper as well as the Doolittle and Taper, Too stages, had an especially impressive year. Five CTG productions received 18 out of the 60 nominations.

Several sub-100-seat theaters also did well. The production of “Melody Jones” at the Cast Theater received eight nominations. The West Coast Ensemble made its strongest showing ever, winning the Margaret Harford Award, which is presented for a continuing contribution to theater, and picking up six nominations, including five for its production of “Gorey Stories.”

Recipients of the awards in each category will be announced in March. Three awards, in addition to the Schmitt and Harford honors, were announced Monday.

Theater Row Hollywood, an organization of small companies that have formed a theater district centered on several blocks of Santa Monica Boulevard, will receive a special award. One of its members, the Fountainhead Theatre, picked up five nominations, four of them for “Cock & Bull Story.”

Shakespeare Festival/L.A., the company that does free Shakespeare at several Southland locations each summer, also won a special award. And Peter Maradudin will receive the second annual Angstrom Award for career achievement in lighting design.

The awards will be presented at a luncheon at the Sportsmen’s Lodge in Studio City on April 4.

The complete list of nominees:

* Production: “Angels in America” (Mark Taper Forum); ‘Candide” (Colony Studio Playhouse); “The Kentucky Cycle” (Mark Taper Forum); “Melody Jones” (Cast Theater)

* Direction: Julie Cobb, “Twelve Angry Men”; Oskar Eustis and Tony Taccone, “Angels in America”; Chris Hart, “Light Up the Sky”; Billy Hayes, “Cock & Bull Story”; Ron Link, “Melody Jones”; Warner Shook, “The Kentucky Cycle”; Tony Tanner, “Gorey Stories”; Evan Weinstein, “Candide”

* Writing--Original: Richard Crowe and Richard Zajdlic, “Cock & Bull Story”; John Guare, “Six Degrees of Separation”; Tony Kushner, “Angels in America”; Robert Schenkkan, “The Kentucky Cycle”

* Writing-Adaptation: Stephen Currens, “Gorey Stories”; Dan Gerrity and Jeremy Lawrence, “Melody Jones”

* Lead Performance: Avery Brooks, “Paul Robeson”; Kandis Chappell, “Woman in Mind”; Larry Fishburne, “Two Trains Running”; Dan Gerrity, “Melody Jones”; Trevor Goddard, “Cock & Bull Story”; Charles Hallahan, “The Kentucky Cycle”; Ed Harris, “Scar”; Ian McKellen, “Richard III”; Nan Martin, “Odd Jobs”; Bebe Neuwirth, “Chicago”; Mitchell Ryan, “Long Day’s Journey Into Night”; Mark Sheppard, “Cock & Bull Story”; Morgan Weisser, “Being at Home With Claude”

* Featured Performance: Lillian Garrett-Groag, Katherine Hiler and Michael Winters, “The Kentucky Cycle”; Rob Whitson, “Melody Jones”

* Ensemble Performance: “Gorey Stories” (Michael Abrams, Christy Barrett, Michael Donovan, Toni Drago, Peter Lavin, Alden Millikan, Christina Saffran, Liz Sheridan, Tony Tanner and Sel Vitella); “The World Goes ‘Round” (Joel Blum, Shelley Dickinson, Marin Mazzie, John Ruess and Karen Ziemba)

* Creation Performance: John Fleck, “A Snowball’s Chance in Hell”; Charlayne Woodard, “Pretty Fire”

* Scenic Design: John Conklin, “Angels in America”; Michael Olich, “The Kentucky Cycle”; Nina Ruscio, “Scar”

* Lighting Design: Ken Booth, “Melody Jones”; Pat Collins, “Angels in America”; Luc Lafortune, “Saltimbanco”; Peter Maradudin, “The Kentucky Cycle”

* Costume Design: Ann Bruice, “The Philadelphia Story”; Kitty Murphy, “Melody Jones”; Cara Vernell, Alex Jaeger and Lori Martin, “Under the Gaslight”; Susan Watanabe, “Gorey Stories”; Shigeru Yaji, “Twelfth Night”

* Sound Design: Jon Gottlieb, “Angels in America”; Scott Watson, “Melody Jones”

* Musical Direction: Steven Applegate, “Candide”; David Loud, “The World Goes ‘Round”; John McDaniel, “Chicago”; Darren Server, “Gorey Stories”

* Choreography: Ann Reinking, “Chicago”; Susan Stroman, “The World Goes ‘Round”

* Musical Performance: Djimbe West African Dancers and Drummers, “Twelfth Night”