Nominees for the 31st annual Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Awards were announced Monday, June 4 at the ATB Financial Arts Building.
The awards acknowledge the past year's artistic and technical merit in Edmonton’s theatre community.
Presentations take place June 25 at the Mayfield Dinner Theatre. St. Albert Children’s Theatre musical director Rachel Bowron and actor/improviser Hunter Cardinal will co-host.
In the musical categories, the Citadel Theatre received eight nominations for Hadestown, Anaïs Mitchell’s song cycle based on the Greek legend of Orpheus, and another two nominations for Mamma Mia!.
The Silver Arrow: The Untold Story of Robin Hood, another Citadel premiere, was the second most nominated production with seven nods.
Two other blue-chip premieres that opened in smaller theatres received six nominations. They are Brian Dooley’s Workshop West production of Pretty Goblins, and Edmonton Actor’s Theatre production of Collin Doyle’s Terry and the Dog.
Each of the three actors in Terry and the Dog, including St. Albert Children’s Theatre founding artistic director Maralyn Ryan in a supporting role, were nominated for outstanding performances.
Plain Jane Theatre Company’s Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, directed by St. Albert Children’s Theatre alumna Kate Ryan, had an excellent showing with three nods.
Luc Tellier, also a children’s theatre actor, has racked up a robust season. In the Outstanding Independent Production category, he starred in two nominated productions: Tiny Bear Jaws Cleave and Kill Your Television Theatre’s Shakespeare’s R & J.
As for 2017 Fringe shows, Blarney Productions Legoland earned three nods. Tellier is up for best director, Bowron is nominated as Outstanding Actress and the comedy received a nod for Outstanding Production.
Former Paul Kane graduate Louise Casemore, founder of Defiance Theatre, is nominated for Gemini, an Outstanding New Work Award recognizing playwrights.
Casemore wrote Gemini and starred in it opposite Vern Thiessen, also nominated for his performance as an actor.
Rapid Fire Theatre general manager Karen Fournell will receive the Margaret Mooney Award for Outstanding Achievement in Administration. The Ross Hill Award for Outstanding Achievement in Production is awarded to Citadel Head of Electrics Sheila Cleasby. And The Sterling Award for Most Valuable Contribution to Theatre in Edmonton goes to acclaimed University of Alberta drama instructor Jan Henderson.
The ceremonies start with dinner at 5 p.m. and the show begins at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $65 plus GST.
