Winners of the Equity Awards

Hello everyone

I thought you might be pleased to hear the results of tonights Equity Awards in Western Australia. These awards celebrate the best in professional theatre in WA for the last 12 months.
The nominees this year were of a particularly high standard.

Best Production - Below (Effie Crump Theatre)

Best Director - Marcelle Schmitz ( for 'Below')

Best Actor Male - Steve Turner ( for 'Below')

Best Actor Female - Pippa Williamson ( 'Salt' , Deckchair theatre)

Best Stage Manager - Jenny Poh ( Effie Crump)

Best Newcomer - Nic Christo ( for "Swell Party')

Congratulations to all nominees and winners of this years awards.

Kerri

Congratulations to all.

I was curious how the judges assesed the merits of each stage manager?

And why aren't designers given a look in?

Also curious to know how many shows the judges get to see on average?

Is it just main companies and the occassional blue room?

Do they need to be invited to attend and if so who are they?

Excuse my questioning but im sititng ina telecentre in the middle of the desert and any distraction is of major interest

Cheers

Dave Ryding

David Ryding wrote:
>
> Congratulations to all.
>
> I was curious how the judges assesed the merits of each stage
> manager?
> And why aren't designers given a look in?
> Also curious to know how many shows the judges get to see on
> average?
> Is it just main companies and the occassional blue room?
> Do they need to be invited to attend and if so who are they?

> Excuse my questioning but im sitting in a telecentre in the
> middle of the desert and any distraction is of major interest




G'day Dave

Nominations for Best Stage Manager and for the Guild Award were made by peer submissions...Equity members were sent forms on which they could nominate their choice for the award, and write a description of why they thought that person met the criteria to win. The judges would have mainly used those nomination forms, counting both the number of nominations for each individual, and the quality of the criteria submissions, to make their choice.

(Kerri forgot to mention that Andrew Hull, long time dancer and union organiser for the WA Ballet, was awarded the Guild Award, for professional achievements and for his services to the industry. He was not present to accept, touring over east with the Ballet. Congratulations, Andrew!)



Designers, as a rule, are not a category of employment covered by Equity, and so are not (yet) considered in the awards presentation. (Mind you, neither are directors, but they were one of the early exceptions that were agreed should be included). The Best Stage Manager award is a new one this year.
The funding for the awards is pretty limited, so the scope has only been slightly widened from previous years. Based on the success of several WA writers seeing their plays being nominated for best production, a new category of Best Writer has been proposed for next year.

On a side rant, I believe award ceremonies like this are really important for highlighting and lifting the profile of our local industry, recognising to ourselves and to the general public what talent resides and springs from this state. Everybody came away with a very positive and congratulatory feeling which can only lift the esteem of the theatre artists in this state and inspire greater achievement.
However, the Guild didn't cover it's costs, and once again the future of the awards is rather tenuous. If more members and theatregoers had attended...
I personally had a great night, really enjoyed the band, and certainly managed to get my money's worth of food, wine and cocktails...drink-sodden bitter disillusioned runner up nominee that I was. (Only kidding - congratulations, Steve, on your second win! Looking forward to working with you next month). Also great to catch up with gorgeous old mate Kate Atkinson, who flew back to Perth to be the guest presenter and did a great job and managed to put me in my place in her hilarious funny speech!


Kerri may be best placed to answer your questions about the judging, as she has been one of the judges for several years, but is just now standing down. (Congratulations & thanks, Kerri, and welcome Jenni Cohen!) (other judges included Ron Banks, Ivan King, and Geoff Gibbs).

My understanding is that all the companies were invited to make submissions from their year's program to make up the nominations. The judges made all effort to send at least one of their number to see the production, but failing that, nominations could be included and voted on based on written submissions, including reviews etc.

Being an Equity award, I believe any company (including independent or co-op) could be included as a nomination, with the proviso that the performers involved are Equity members.




Looking forward to joining you in Leonora next week. As if I wasn't sweating enough doing the show in Perth!



Cheers,
Craig

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