NAC production Stuff Happens leads Capital Critics nods
Diversity defines the nomination roster for the 16th annual Capital Critics Circle theatre awards. A celebration of professional and community English-language theatre in the National Capital Region, the nominations cover the 2014-2015 season.
Leading the charge among professional shows is the NAC English Theatre’s finely wrought production of Stuff Happens, David Hare’s drama about events leading up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. It’s being considered for prizes in four categories: best production, best director (David Ferry), best actor (Andrew Moodie as Colin Powell) and best design/technical excellence (Jamie Nesbitt for sound and video).
Competitors in the production category include the politically charged Re: Union, a Horseshoes & Hand Grenades Theatre show rooted in protests over the Vietnam War, and Up to Low, a rollicking snapshot of people and places in western Quebec circa 1950. Up to Low was adapted for the stage and directed by Janet Irwin based on Brian Doyle’s book of the same name.
Also in the running among professional productions is Pomme and ’Restes: Shipwrecked! On the Tempestuous Lost Island of Never, a hilarious Company of Fools and Great Canadian Theatre Company co-production. It’s nominated for director (AL Connors) and set (John Doucet).
Evolution Theatre’s mysterious The Young Lady in White by Dominick Parenteau-LeBeuf, translated by Maureen LeBonté, also has two nods: Catriona Leger for best actress and Patricia Ann Forbes for set design.
Other nominees include Margo MacDonald (best actress) for her riveting solo show, The Elephant Girls, about early 20th century female gang crime in London, England and John P. Kelly for his even-handed direction of Molière’s School for Wives, a Plosive Productions/SevenThirty Productions co-production.
On the community theatre side, Kanata Theatre’s Dr. Jekyll and My Hyde is nominated for best production, director (Wendy Wagner), actress (Emily Walsh as Elizabeth) and design/technical excellence (Karl Wagner for set and lighting). The play was adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher from Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Ottawa Little Theatre’s production of Bruce Norris’ Clybourne Park, a kind of sequel to Lorraine Hansberry’s 1959 play, A Raisin in the Sun, is also up in four categories: best production, director (Chantale Plante), actor (Lawrence Evenchick), and design/technical excellence (Robin Riddihough for set).
Other shows with multiple nominations include Toto Too Theatre’s gloriously irreverent Avenue Q and Orpheus Musical Theatre Society’s Fiddler on the Roof. Both were directed by Michael Gareau, who’s been nominated best director.
Iyono Ede is nominated as best actress for her role as Gary Coleman in Avenue Q while Fiddler is in the running for best production and design/technical excellence (choreographer Debbie Guilbeault).
Also on this year’s community nominee list: Shaun Toohey for his brilliant portrayal of Second World War cryptanalyst Alan Turing in Breaking the Code by Hugh Whitemore at Ottawa Little Theatre.
Winners will be announced Nov. 23 at the awards ceremony in the Salon of the National Arts Centre. New this year are the Tartan Awards for technical excellence, made possible by Tartan Homes.
The members of the selection committee for the 2014-2015 season English theatre awards were: Alvina Ruprecht, Patrick Langston, Jamie Portman, Connie Meng, Barbara Gray, Maja Stefanovska, Rajka Stefanovska, Kat Fournier and Iris Winston.
A complete list of nominees is available at ottawacitizen.com
For more on the awards, visit capitalcriticscircle.com.
The Audrey Ashley Award for a body of work, as well as the Tartan Awards for technical excellence and two special jury awards, will also be announced Nov. 23.