|
|
|
FESTIVAL & GALA NEWS |
|
|
|
|
|
|
No Festival or Gala News Today |
|
|
|
|
|
|
About Festival |
|
ACT-CO is the Association of Community Theatres-Central Ontario. We are a not-for-profit umbrella organization for 34 theatre groups. Our region stretches from Oakville in the West, Bowmanville in the East, Muskoka in the North, and Lake Ontario in the South.
Our main focus is education, but we also provide various services to our member groups including input into Community Theatre at the provincial level through our membership in Theatre Ontario. We provide workshops in various aspects of theatre such as set design, producing, audition techniques, etc.
Our most visible educational activity however, is our Festival. Our festival usually has 40 to 45 productions entered as a Musical, a Drama or a Comedy. Each production entered in the festival receives an adjudication by a working theatre professional. The adjudicators attend one performance of each show in their category. Following the performance they will spend approximately twenty minutes with the general audience in a public adjudication to give a high level overview of the production and some of their observations and highlights. The adjudicator will then have an in-depth dialogue with the members of the production and the company about the performance they just viewed. This is meant to give the group ideas and suggestions on ways to move their performances forward, and continue producing top-notch theatre for both theirs and their audience's benefit.
The festival culminates each year in April at our Annual THEA Awards Gala when the adjudicators** are asked to select nominations and winners in a number of categories to recognize outstanding performances and achievements from the season. These awards, called THEAs, are presented at the Gala. A further job of our adjudicators is to select what they consider to be the best production of our Festival. The group selected will represent the ACT-CO region at the annual Theatre Ontario Festival in May.
** Neither the ACT-CO Festival Chair nor the ACT-CO Board of Directors are involved in the selection of nominations or winners. Adjudicators are hired for their theatre knowledge and expertise: the decision is theirs and theirs alone. The Adjudicators make their own decision regarding nominees and winners in their respective category. The Adjudicators then debate the merits of the best production in each category, and reach consensus in the order in which the productions will be approached to represent the region. The ACT-CO Festival Chair is present for the discussion but does not provide input. |
|
|
|
|
ACT-CO Theatre Ontario Festival Entries |
|
Each year, the ACT-CO Adjudicators, select a Best Production in each of the Comedy, Drama, and Musical categories. They then choose one of these to be ACT-CO's entry in the Theatre Ontario Festival. If none of the three Best Productions choose to take their show to the TO Festival, the Adjudicators, at their descretion, choose an alternate.
Click here for the chart of past TO Festival entries..
|
|
|
|
|
History of the THEA award |
|
At the Fourth Annual Theatre Arts Ball ("The Gala") on April 12, 1980 (at the Grand Ballroom of The Sheraton Centre in Toronto) the THEA award statuette was débuted. The THEA was designed by Michael Beatovich and was cast in aluminum by Dominion Regalia in Toronto (and has been cast and produced by them ever since).
Until the 2011/2012 Season, ACT-CO awarded 44 THEA's every year at the Gala. Beginning with the 2012/2013 Season, a Stage Management THEA was added, and an additional THEA was added to the Best Producton (one statue for the Group, and one for the Producer) in each of the three categories, bringing the total to 50.
Our cost to cast and produce each THEA:
1980: $15.00
1991: $32.20
2000: $47.00
2006: $51.47
2011: $65.82
2015: $78.93
The rising cost of each THEA is absorbed in the cost of producing the Festival and contributes to the fee charged for each adjudication.
We have no record of how much the original mold cost, but it is now showing quite a bit of wear (having been used to cast over 2040 THEA statuettes) and will have to be replaced sometime soon.
|
|
|
THEAs are awarded for Best in the following way: |
|
|
|
|
Comedy |
Drama |
Musical |
|
|
* Production |
|
xx |
xx |
xx |
|
|
Director |
|
x |
x |
x |
|
|
Musical Director |
|
|
|
x |
|
|
Choreographer |
|
|
|
x |
|
|
Stage Manager |
|
x |
x |
x |
|
|
Set Designer |
|
x |
x |
x |
|
|
Lighting Designer |
|
x |
x |
x |
|
|
Sound Designer |
|
x |
x |
x |
|
|
Costume Designer |
|
x |
x |
x |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Actor - Leading |
|
x |
x |
x |
|
|
Actor - Supporting |
|
x |
x |
x |
|
|
Actress - Leading |
|
x |
x |
x |
|
|
Actress - Supporting |
|
x |
x |
x |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Adjudicator Awards |
|
xxxx |
xxxx |
xxxx |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Awards Categories: 14 |
|
THEAs Awarded: 50 |
|
|
|
|
|
* For Best Production, one THEA is awarded to the Group, and one THEA is awarded to the Producer(s).
When more than one, but less than five, persons are NAMED as the award winners, up to three additional THEAs may be purchased by the Group. Click here for the rules.
[ Information correct as at July 2017 ] |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|