Awards. Both exciting and perplexing. How can one measure an artistic achievement? There is only one front-of-house adjudicator and one backstage adjudicator at this festival, so the awards often come down to personal preference. In years past the adjudicators here have been wonderfully impartial about the plays themselves, and I'm sure the same was true this year. Regardless, theater is a subjective experience so the outcome of every festival depends not only on the quality of the plays (of course), but also the little details that happen to stand out to the adjudicator. What the students hopefully take away is that this is a celebration of the creative spirit, regardless of who wins any hardware. That said, it’s always fun to see how my choices stack against the awards given. So let’s compare the actual winners of the top awards to what my selections would have been.
MY PICK FOR BEST OVERALL PRODUCTION: Tracks
MY RUNNER UP: Among Friends and Clutter
AWARDED BEST OVERALL PRODUCTION: Interview
AWARDED RUNNER-UP: Tracks
MY PICK FOR BEST VISUAL PRODUCTION: Tracks
MY RUNNER-UP: Among Friends and Clutter
AWARDED BEST VISUAL PRODUCTION: Tracks
AWARDED RUNNER-UP: Among Friends and Clutter
MY PICK FOR THE CHALLENGE CUP: To Burn a Witch
AWARDED THE CHALLENGE CUP: Tracks
MY PICKS FOR ACTING MEDALS (4):
Cassandra Turgeon, Earwig
Greg Barkway, Interview
Matt Tremblay, Tracks
Brittany Ayers, Among Friends and Clutter
AWARDED ACTING MEDALS (4):
Maya Branyik-Thornton, Two Dumb Dogs
Taylor Roy, Two Dumb Dogs
Brittany Ayers, Among Friends and Clutter
Keyanna Burgher, To Burn a Witch
MY PICKS FOR TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE (4):
Hair, To Burn a Witch
Props, Earwig
Costumes, Two Dumb Dogs
Sound, Tracks
AWARDED FOR TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE (4):
Lighting, Interview
Costumes, The Quest for Quasi
Lighting, Omnipotence and the Wheelbarrow Man
Sound, Two Dumb Dogs
Funny how two people can have such vastly different opinions! This proves how every single production at this festival should feel proud for having made it this far, regardless of the outcome. And since last year I received so much positive feedback from students and teachers for blogging about the festival, I thought I would point out a few more people that really stuck out in my mind...
OUTSTANDING ACTING: Macy Barber (Twitch), Amy King (Twitch), Katie Kotter (To Burn a Witch), Keyanna Burgher (To Burn a Witch), Kayla Milligan (Romeo and Julie), Megan Rumpel (Omnipotence and the Wheelbarrow Man), Kennedy Thompson (Omnipotence and the Wheelbarrow Man), Jesse Pallo (Earwig), Sam Paxman (Two Dumb Dogs), Carley Greening (Two Dumb Dogs), Maya Branyik-Thornton (Two Dumb Dogs), Taylor Roy (Two Dumb Dogs), Sam Kozun (Tracks), Jocelyn Beyer (Tracks), Ashlynn Harms (Interview), Drew Thommes (And Then There Was One), Emily Smith (The Quest for Quasi), Brandon Parfitt (Among Friends and Clutter), Mitchell Corbett (Among Friends and Clutter), Angeline Stankewich (Among Friends and Clutter)
OUTSTANDING TECHNICAL: Puppet design (Twitch), Set design (To Burn a Witch), Costumes (Romeo and Julie), Spot light (Romeo and Julie), Lighting (Omnipotence and the Wheelbarrow Man), Set design (Earwig), Stage combat (Two Dumb Dogs), Lighting (Tracks), Choreography (Interview), Chase sequence (And Then There Was One), Make-up (The Quest for Quasi), Revolving walls (Among Friends and Clutter)
I could go on and on and on and on. So to all the students at the festival, thank you for the great weekend of theater and congratulations on a job well done. I can't wait to do it all again next year!
Having heavily participated in drama festival in high school, provincials was one of the highlights of my year.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately due to my graduation last year, I was unable to attend this year and reading your blog made me feel like I actually was there. I have many great memories of the years and I'll never forget it