From The Drowning Girls

Now in its 11th year, the Betty Mitchell Awards recognize the achievements of Calgary’s professional theatre community over the past season.

This year, 60 shows were eligible for consideration for a Betty. Of those, 27 were new works, something that excites Marcie Januska, chair of the Betty Mitchell Awards steering committee. “It’s great to see so many companies working with playwrights on new works,” she says. “I’m also really delighted with the fact that there were 20 eligible musicals, as they tend to be expensive to produce.

“It’s a really nice ballot this year,” she adds. “It’s nicely balanced between new companies and older companies. It’s really nice to see so many younger artists nominated alongside some of the senior, more experienced artists in the community this year.”

Sage Theatre picked up several nominations, including: outstanding production of both a drama (Lion in the Streets) and musical (Hedwig and the Angry Inch); four nominations in the actress category for both drama and musical, including Adrienne Smook (My Name is Rachel Corrie), Shawna Burnett and Jennie Esdale (Lion in the Streets); and Jamie Konchak (Hedwig and the Angry Inch); outstanding performance by an actor in a musical, Geoffrey Ewert (Hedwig and the Angry Inch); outstanding performance by a supporting actor, Frank Zotter (Lion in the Streets); outstanding direction, Kate Newby (Lion in the Streets); and several other nominations in technical categories.

Theatre Calgary’s The Wars and Half Life earned several nominations in the best director category (Dennis Garnhum, The Wars), supporting actor category (Grant Reddick, Half Life and Christopher Austman, The Wars), best actress in a drama (Shirley Broderick, Half Life), best actor in a drama (Christian Goustis, The Wars), outstanding production of a play (The Wars), as well as several technical nominations. Beauty and the Beast received several nominations in musical categories, and Vigil also got several significant nods in the outstanding production category, best actor category (Dean Paul Gibson), and best supporting actress category (Joyce Doolittle).

Young company, Urban Curvz Theatre, was not left off the list. It received nominations for its production of Helen’s Necklace in both the best actor (Shomee Chakrabartty) and best actress (Elinor Holt, who also received a nomination for her role in Vertigo’s The Mystery of Edwin Drood) categories, as well as for best sound design (Amir Amiri).

Alberta Theatre Projects’ Rabbit Hole and That Elusive Spark also earned several nominations, including best actor (Kevin K. James, That Elusive Spark and Curt McKinstry, Rabbit Hole), outstanding production (The Drowning Girls and Rabbit Hole), best director (Glenda Stirling, Rabbit Hole and Charlie Tomlinson, The Drowning Girls) and actress in a supporting role (Vanessa Holmes, That Elusive Spark and Nicola Lipman, Rabbit Hole).

Calgary Opera’s Tosca and Rigoletto also appear more than once among the nominees, as does Vertigo Theatre’s musical, The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

For the nomination process, 12 people, representing different aspects of the artistic community, watch eligible productions throughout the year. (To be eligible, a company must produce shows on a professional level; at least 50 per cent of artistic staff must be hired under professional contract.) Each person selects his or her top four choices in each category. These results are taken to an accounting firm that helps in the number crunching to determine the final list of nominees. Committee members then vote to determine the winners.

The public also has an opportunity to get involved in selecting winners through the “passport program.” It’s for anybody and everybody who loves theatre and sees lots of it. For every show you attend, the box office stamps your “passport.” If participants have seen 46 of the season’s 60 nominated shows, they can also vote on the winners.

Passports for next year will be distributed at the awards ceremony to be held at Stage West on Monday, August 25.