Standing ovations were just the start of the accolades for an Okotoks acting group’s successful season.
Dewdney Players Group Theatre drew in its largest audiences yet and received standing ovations for Calendar Girls, The 39 Steps and Cinderella Pantomime. Now the three plays have also been nominated for 17 Community Theatre (CAT) Awards.
“I was blown away by the number of awards we were nominated for,” said Ed Sands, president of Dewdney Players Group Theatre last week. “I think people are seeing quality productions and are rewarding us with the nominations.”
The winners for each of the 23 categories, which range from outstanding production to outstanding direction, will be announced at a ceremony in the University of Calgary’s Rozsa Centre Aug. 27 at 7:30 p.m.
Dewdney Players joined Calgary’s Alliance of Community Theatres in 2008 and has had up to 11 nominations a year since.
This is the first time all three of Dewdney’s plays have been represented at the awards, said Sands.
“It makes me very proud,” he said. “I wish I could say I was responsible for it.
“You create the framework for them and give them the opportunity and the confidence that they can proceed and let the creativity begin.”
Dewdney, which is among 11 theatre groups to be nominated, received the third highest number of nominations.
Calgary’s Front Row Centre Players received 37 and Morpheus Theatre received 19.
“I’m very pleased,” said Sands. “As president you pick the people, give them the tools and support them and it’s great to see that they are able to achieve that.”
Sands, who is also an adjudicator for the CAT Awards, said he attended 16 plays last season to get a cross section of area’s talent and spread out his own nominations between plays he saw in Calgary and Okotoks.
“I’ve seen some incredible talent in Calgary and it raises the bar,” he said. “We go to shows and say, ‘Did you see that? How can we do that?’”
Sands said he was impressed by his own theatre group, which he said exceeded his expectations for all three performances last season.
“We had Sherene Schmidtler, who is a drama teacher, direct Calendar Girls,” he said. “She had a good vision for it. She inspired a really good cast.”
Sands said everyone involved in the play formed a solid team.
“They ended up getting a nomination as an ensemble because of the cohesiveness they had,” she said. “She was able to make that an incredible team.”
The Dewdney Players just completed Cinderella when the board decided last minute to take on a third play.
“With the pantomime Cinderella in January we didn’t book a spring play and said we are working everybody too hard, let’s just give it break,” said Sands. “With the success of Calendar Girls, the board started to think we’ve got to do something in May. Because it was in January we knew we had enough time to get something going.”
Sands said they reviewed several plays before deciding on The 39 Steps.
“Tracy (Wyman, director) said, ‘We can do this’,” said Sands. “She got the script and came up with this vision. She added the characterization of the two shadows that was not part of the script. That added such a dimension and landed her a best director nomination.”
Sands said he is looking forward to another successful season with the upcoming performances It’s a Wonderful Life Radio Show and a reprise of Lafferty’s Wake.
For the play The 39 Steps, Dewdney Players Group Theatre was nominated in the following categories:
Outstanding Production
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble
Brad Snowdon for Outstanding Performance by a Leading Actor
Brad Fowler for Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actor
Christine Rose for Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actress
Tracy Wyman (with Dan Bascombe, Logan Coutts, Elly Platt and Ed Sands) for Outstanding Soundscape
Tracy Wyman for Outstanding Direction
Nominations for Calendar Girls include:
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble
Outstanding Production
Christine Rose (with Trish Babkirk) for Outstanding Costume Design
Dale Fea for Outstanding Scenic Design
Matt Seders for Outstanding Lighting Design
Matt Seders and Ed Sands for Outstanding Soundscape
Sherene Schmidtler for Outstanding Direction
Nominations for Cinderella Pantomime include:
Outstanding Performance by a Chorus
Nicola Payton for Outstanding Direction of a Musical
Nicola Payton for Outstanding Original Script or Adaptation
