Sunday 20 May 2018

Theatre Ontario Festival # 5: Awards and Thanks

The annual Theatre Ontario Festival brings together four outstanding productions selected from the four regional community theatre festivals.  Days at the Festival are occupied with various workshops, play readings, and other activities, and a different play is presented on each of the four nights, Wednesday through Saturday.  Awards are presented at a brunch on Sunday morning.  As is my custom, I have reviewed all four performances.  This post contains my final thoughts and thanks on another exciting Festival, as well as a complete list of all the award winners as selected by Festival Adjudicator Maja Ardal.

*****      *****     *****

Another Theatre Ontario Festival is now in the history books, and it impressed me as one of the more uneven ones I have attended -- for reasons which I have detailed in some of my reviews.  However, dear readers, please remember that I am only one person and my opinion is just that -- an opinion.

That reality was amply proven when the audience loudly acclaimed Maja Ardal's selection of the play I enjoyed the least as the outstanding production of the Festival!  

There's a fundamental difference between these reviews which I write and the work which Maja has been doing all week with the four companies.  An adjudicator does considerable preparatory work, reading the scripts multiple times, and making notes about things to watch for and important considerations for meeting the playwright's intentions -- the yardstick on which all adjudicated productions are judged.

On the other hand, I prefer to arrive at the theatre completely cold, knowing nothing at all about the play being presented, and refusing even to read programme notes before the performance.  In this, I try to place myself in the position of becoming pure audience.  This week, it worked for all of the plays except Tempting Providence -- and even that one was a brand-new experience for me when I first saw it performed back in March.

Also, it's good for all of us to remember that everything we saw this week was the result of thousands of choices made by directors, actors, designers, technicians, stage managers, producers, all willing workers who have tirelessly given of their time and talents, because community theatre is most certainly a volunteer art form.

This applies equally to all the people who worked so hard behind the scenes to make this Festival a reality.  It's been a delightful week and, for many of us, our annual theatrical family reunion.

I also want to extend heartiest congratulations to my good friend, Sue Perkins of London ON, whose half-century of working, learning, watching, and sharing her passion for top-notch community theatre was worthily recognized with Theatre Ontario's prestigious Michael Spence Award.

In closing, I want to thank all the people who have kindly expressed to me their appreciation for these blog reviews.

With that, here is the list of award winners.

[1]  Adjudicator's Award for carrying the theme of the play
       Presented to Venetia Lawless of Ottawa Little Theatre
       ("Lorna" in Dead Accounts)

[2]  Adjudicator's Award for sharing the love of telling the story with a twinkle in his eye
       Presented to Jim Graham of Elliot Lake Amateur Theatre Ensemble
       ("Angus" in Tempting Providence)

[3]  Adjudicator's Award for clear vision of the play and huge love for the actors
       Presented to Murray Finn of Elliot Lake Amateur Theatre Ensemble
       (Director of Tempting Providence)

[4]  Adjudicator's Award for bringing humour to the task of managing a cantankerous man
       Presented to Deb Deckert of Elmira Theatre Company
       ("Lucy Hopperstaad" in On a First-Name Basis)

[5]  Adjudicator's Award for imaginative and detailed set design
       Presented to Bernadette Hunt and Sean Treacy of Toronto Irish Players
       (Set Designers of Little Gem)

[6]  Outstanding Coordinated Production Award
       Chosen by the Festival Stage Managers
       Presented to Elliot Lake Amateur Theatre Ensemble

[7]  Outstanding Visual Presentation
       Presented to Elliot Lake Amateur Theatre Ensemble for Tempting Providence

[8]  Outstanding Technical Achievement
       Presented to Elmira Theatre Company for On a First-Name Basis

[9]  Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role
       Presented to Jane Morris of Ottawa Little Theatre
       ("Barbara" in Dead Accounts)

[10]  Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role
         Presented to Josh Sparks of Ottawa Little Theatre
         ("Phil" in Dead Accounts)

[11]  Outstanding Performance in a Leading Role
         Presented to Rebecca de la Cour of Toronto Irish Players
         ("Lorraine" in Little Gem)

[12]  Outstanding Performance in a Leading Role
         Presented to Phillip Merriman of Ottawa Little Theatre
         ("Jack" in Dead Accounts)

[13]  Outstanding Director, Presented in Memory of Richard Howard
         Presented to Geoff Gruson of Ottawa Little Theatre
         (Director of Dead Accounts)

[14]  The Elsie Award for Outstanding Festival Production
         Presented to Ottawa Little Theatre for Dead Accounts

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