Boardmore festival awards handed out
Ed’s accepting submissions for third annual short story contest
The Elizabeth Boardmore One-Act Play Festival concluded last Sunday evening with performances of two award-winning productions.
The productions at the Boardmore Theatre on the Cape Breton University campus were followed by adjudication by Ron Jenkins and the awarding of the festival’s achievement awards.
This was Jenkins’ fourth visit as an adjudicator and as the East Bay native, who has a busy directing career based out of Calgary, re-acquainted himself with the local theatre community (he has directed several productions at the Highland Arts Theatre in downtown Sydney) he was able to give more frank and constructive criticism and advice useful to the novices and veterans alike.
Of course, although everyone involved does their work for the love of theatre, having a bit of hardware for a job well done is nice too.
“Ferris Wheel,” from a script by American playwright Mary Miller, won five awards including best production, best director for Jule Ann Hardy and a stage management nod for Emma Francis. Diana MacKinnon-Furlong and Harvey Pyke won awards, respectively, for best actress and best actor.
Jenkins also gave out additional best actress and actor awards to the two leads of “I Know I Love Him,” Julienne Cordy and Matthew Earhart. The writer and director of “I Know I Love Him,” Jonathan Lewis, won the Boardmore Trophy for best new play.
“Solstice,” written by Paul MacDougall and directed by Mike McPhee, won two acting awards for best supporting actor, Dave Petrie, and best supporting actress, Bridget Baldwin.
Jill Taylor and Rob Bowden, the cast of “The Time of The Lone Wolf,” written by Ronald Labelle and directed by myself, received the established ensemble achievement award. The young cast of writer/director Brittany Fagan-Steele’s “Tell me Where It Hurts” shared the emerging ensemble achievement award.
Receiving awards for their work in stage management were Ida Steeves, Calum McPhee and Rachel Murphy. Ken Heaton won for his lighting designs and Clayton MacNeil won for sound design, both well-deserved since they worked on all six festival productions.
Ed’s Used Books & More, on Sydney’s Charlotte Street, has begun to accept submissions for its third annual short story contest.
The first year saw 38 submissions and last year almost doubled that number to 64. This year, owner Ed Gillis is hoping to up that number by offering a second category wfor aspiring writers under 16
years of age.
Gillis was impressed by the entries from younger writers last year, especially Sebastian
LeForte and felt more writers in that age group would submit their fiction if they felt they weren’t competing against older, more experienced, and in some cases, published writers.
For both age categories, the rules remain the same: stories are to be no longer than 2,000 words; the entry fee is $10 per story; each entry must have one cover page with the author’s name and contact information along with three typed, doublespaced copies of their story. The submissions must be brought to Ed’s Used Books & More, 446 Charlotte St., Sydney. For more information, entrants can call the store at 902-5642665.
The stories can be from any genre of fiction from horror to
humour, fantasy to mystery. The deadline for entering the contest is close of business day, Thursday, May 31. A secret panel of judges will determine the winners.
All money contributed in entry fees will be distributed as prize money to contest winners. Last year, the firstplace winner, Whitney Pier writer Colleen Gillis, received $250, making it one of the richest prizes for a contest of this sort.
But, Gillis notes, along with the prize awards and the public recognition, “fun is the priority.”