FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
TheatreBC¹s Fraser Valley Zone held its annual drama festival in this week
(May 21-27) in Langley with 8 shows in 7 days! Eight clubs from the Fraser
Valley participated in all Langley Players, Stage 43, Gallery 7 Theatre
Company, Emerald Pig Theatrical Society, Theatrix Youtheatre Society, Surrey
Little Theatre, Langley Footlight Players and Millennium Players.
Congratulations to everyone who shared this wonderful week of theatrical
celebration! The adjudicator, Suzie Payne, was impressed with the high
quality of work from all the clubs involved and honored everyone¹s
commitment and dedication to telling each story with clarity through light,
sound, costume, set, dialogue and staging. Chair of the festival, Mary
Renvall, thanked Suzie in front of the capacity crowd at the Langley
Playhouse on Saturday night for her knowledge and skills, providing a great
learning experience for everyone!
The beautiful trophies, by Excel Engraving and Awards of Langley, were
distributed as follows:
Backstage Cooperation Award (sponsored by Langley Players):
Millennium Players Treasure Party
Best Costume Design (sponsored by John Stuart and Sharon Malone):
Sharon Malone, Emerald Pig Theatrical Society Thirteen Hands
Best Technical Design (sponsored by Langley Players):
The Sunshine Boys, Surrey Little Theatre
Best Supporting Actress (sponsored by Riders Pub):
Marcy Green, The Shadow Box, Theatrix Youtheatre
Best Supporting Actor (sponsored by Riders Pub):
Todd McGillvray, Stage 43 (On Golden Pond)
Best Set Design (sponsored by Surrey Little Theatre):
Brigitte Seib, Surrey Little Theatre, The Sunshine Boys
Best Actor (sponsored by Township of Langley):
Allan J. Thain, Surrey Little Theatre (The Sunshine Boys by Neil Simon)
Best Actress (sponsored by Kate Neudorf, Brookswood Therapeutic Massage
Studio):
Susan Cox, Millennium Players, Treasure Party
Best Ensemble (sponsored by Township of Langley):
Thirteen Hands (Kathleen Hatley, Lorene Stuart, Christine Day and Rina
Varley), Emerald Pig Theatrical Society
Best Director (sponsored by Stage 43):
Sharon Malone, Emerald Pig Theatrical Society (Thirteen Hands by Carol
Shields)
Best Production (sponsored by Emerald Pig Theatrical Society):
The Sunshine Boys by Neil Simon, Surrey Little Theatre
Adjudicator¹s Special Awards (sponsored by Fraser Valley Zone):
1. Excellence in Scene Change Design: Langley Players, Footprints on the
Moon
2. Lighting Design: Ken Hildebrand, Gallery 7 Theatre and Performing Arts
Society, Damien
3. Special Certificate for ³Working Without a Crew², Langley Footlight
Players, Ghost of a Chance
The People¹s Choice award was presented to Langley Players for Footprints on
The Moon
Thirteen Hands was also confirmed as a Mainstage Workshop Play. The cast and
crew will perform the play at the Studio Theatre at the ACT during the week
of Mainstage. They will then work for the next day and a half with Garry
Davey, a professional director and last year¹s Mainstage adjudicator, and
then perform the play in its reworked form.
A special Zone Recognition award was presented to Don and Judy Moody from
Stage 43. Don and Judy joined Stage 43 in the early to mid 90's when the
club was down to a just a few members and was facing insolvency. They worked
hard putting on Melodramas and plays at just about any venues they could
find in the Tri-Cities -- especially at The Old Orchard Hall and Kyle Centre
in Port Moody, and at the Valley View Auditorium on the Riverview Hospital
Grounds. After the Evergreen Cultural Centre was built, Judy pushed hard to
get Stage 43 to play there. The season subscription ticket was her idea and
now there are more than 400 subscription ticket holders! Judy has been
president, vice-president, club publicist and secretary of Stage 43. She has
directed several plays -- the most memorable being Sylvia, which won the
zone festival in 1999 and went to Mainstage in Nanaimo. Always open to new
ideas and sharing the true spirit of community theatre, Judy contacted
Emerald Pig Theatrical Society to collaborate on an evening of one acts. The
Turn of the Screw and Something Unspoken shared the stage in Maple Ridge and
went on to festival in Mission in 2004. Judy was almost single-handly
responsible for Stage 43 hosting Zone festival in Port Moody last year - at
a time when her husband was in his end-state cancer. Don was a great actor
and director in his own right; some of his best roles were the one-armed
abusive Mr. Klemper in the Boys Next Door and his supporting roles in
Sylvia; some of his best directorial work was Steel Magnolias, Barefoot in
the Park, and Moonlight & Valentino, which was recognized as Best Ensemble
at the 2005 zone festival. Don passed away on May 25th, 2005, one year ago
to the night that Stage 43 performed On Golden Pond in Langley. Judy arrived
at the gala just in time to accept the award and thanked everyone for the
honour. She is currently living in Red Deer and will be directing a play
there in the fall.
Hosted by Langley Players and billed as the ³Ultimate Reality Show², and the
awards night gala on Saturday celebrated with a tongue-in-cheek Fraser
Valley Idol competition, hosted by Ryanna Seacrest (aka Jennifer McDowell)
with guest celebrity judges Paula Abdula Oblongotta, Randy Jacks-Are-Wild,
and Simon Cow-well. Kicking off the festivities were Candy Floss & the
Supremes with their ³sweet² rendition of Sugar Shack. Randy said ³check
it out² and wanted to take one of the ³girls² home, Paula said they all
looked ³marvelous² and Simon said ³dreadful². Geriatric Boogie Down
(otherwise known as Millennium Players) performed When I'm 64, and in the
end 3 trophies were awarded: Broadway Joe Slicker for I've Got You Under My
Skin, Naughty Angel (aka Angela Bell) for Let Me Entertain You, and the Gold
Plated Oinks for California Dreamin¹. Unfortunately Kenny & Dolly were
unable to make it due to a freak boob-related mishap that resulted in Kenny
fracturing a hip.
Al in all it was a highly successful and entertaining festival experience
for one and all. See you all at Mainstage in Maple Ridge, June 30 July8!
Sharno
Sharon Malone, Vice Chair
TBC, Fraser Valley Zone
12046 234th St.
Maple Ridge, BC
V2X 9K6
Phone: 604-476-1984
Fax: 604-476-1985