The Capital Critics Circle announced the winners of the nineteenth annual theatre awards for plays presented in English in the National Capital Region during the 2016-2017 season at an awards ceremony at the National Arts Centre last night, November 13. The winners are:
Best production community: Other Desert Cities by Jon Robin Baitz, directed by Geoff Gruson, Ottawa Little Theatre
Best actor community: J.T. Morris for his performance as Robert in Boeing-Boeing by Marc Camelotti, translated by Beverley Cross (1982) and Francis Evans (2007), directed by Shaun Toohey, Ottawa Little Theatre
Best actress community: Venetia Lawless for her performance as Brooke in Other Desert Cities, Ottawa Little Theatre
Tartan technical award community: Graham Price for the set and lighting for The Three Musketeers by Ken Ludwig, directed by Stavros Sakiadis, Ottawa Little Theatre
Best director community: Sarah Hearn for her direction of Torch Song Trilogy by Harvey Fierstein, TotoToo Theatre
Best professional production: Vigilante written, composed and directed by Jonathan Christenson, Catalyst Theatre, in association with NAC.
Best director professional: Esther Jun for her direction of The Last Wife
Best actor professional:Oliver Becker for his performance as King Henry in The Last Wife
Best actress professional: Jan Alexandra Smith for her performance as Johannah in Vigilante
Best designer professional: Marshall McMahen for the production design of Children of God
Best designer community: Lu-Anne Connell for her costumes for Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Tartan technical award professional
Roger Schultz for the set design of I’ll Be Back Before Midnight by Peter Colley, directed by Laurel Smith, Classic Theatre Festival.
Best new play: Finishing the Suit by Lawrence Aronovitch
The Audrey Ashley Award, given for a body of work, goes to Ted Chartrand for making TotoToo Theatre a force on the Ottawa arts scene.
The CCC instituted the awards in 2000 to honour the best in theatre on stages in the National Capital Region. The members of the selection committee for the 2016-2017 season English theatre awards were: Barbara Gray, Patrick Langston, Jim Murchison, Jamie Portman, Alvina Ruprecht, Maja Stefanovska, Rajka Stefanovska and Iris Winston. The CCC is affiliated with the Canadian Theatre Critics Association and the International Association of Theatre Critics.
The 2017 CCC awards are sponsored by Barbara Crook Greenberg, Alan Dean Photography, Nicholas Wojtas Photography, Coyle Publishing, the Cube Gallery, Executive Fitness Leaders and Tartan Homes. The NAC hosted the 2016-2017 awards.