The theatre is all about humanity, and the thank you speeches at this year’s Jessie Awards reflected that. The tone was grateful, reflective, and honoured absent friends and those whom the community lost over the past year.
Théâtre la Seizième’s À toi, pour toujours, ta Marie-Lou deservedly took home six out of the 11 awards in the large theatre category, including Outstanding Production, Craig Holzschuh for Outstanding Direction, and Joey Lespérance and France Perras for their lead roles. Julie Trépanier also won for her supporting role, and Drew Facey for his set design.
The Arts Club Theatre Company and Bard on the Beach usually win a fair number of awards, but this year Arts Club picked up only two for Saint Joan (Dean Paul Gibson’s supporting role and Alessandro Juliani’s Outstanding Sound Design), and Bard on the Beach didn’t take home any. Surprisingly, Carousel Theatre who usually also do well didn’t take home any awards for their five James and the Giant Peach nominations.
I was so glad to see one of my favourite plays of last season, Osimous Theatre’s beautiful production of Our Town, win Outstanding Production of a Play and Significant Artistic Achievement. Another one of my favourite shows of the year, STATIONARY: a recession-era musical by Delinquent Theatre, won Outstanding Musical and Outstanding Sound Design (Mishelle Cuttler).
In between the presentation of the awards, the sobering sentiments of many speakers were contrasted by the fun musical numbers and skits produced by Vancouver Theatresports. The Jessies are always full of these hilarious interludes, but some of this year’s could have been livelier.
For example, the Artistic Directors’ Den segment with Bill Millard of the Arts Club, Christopher Gaze of Bard on the Beach, Carole Higgins of Carousel Theatre for Young People, and Richard Wolfe of Pi Theatre elicited bland reactions from the directors, although the pitches were quite funny.
I personally enjoyed the proposal for a Bard2Go app that would allow audience members to pop in and out of the theatre and only pay for the portion of the show they watch. With this app, you could pop out for a coffee or have a nap and be back in time to see Hamlet stab Polonius to death.
JR and the Thirty-Somethings provided their version of “Shake it Off” rewritten about bad reviews and an “Uptown Funk” where they promised to “Jessie funk you up.” Two opposing video segments describing which summer production was most authentically tragic, King Lear or Les Misérables, perpetuated the longstanding friendly rivalry between Bard on the Beach and the Arts Club.
The night saw an abundance of respect for fellow artists, talk of leaving ego at the stage door, and a desire to work towards more diversity on stage. But the night clearly belonged to Théâtre la Seizième, and they basked in their well-deserved glory.
Additional special awards presented were:
- Patron of the Arts Award – Stan Hamilton
- Mary Phillips Prize for Behind-the-Scenes Achievement – Scott Ashton Swan
- Sam Payne Award for the Most Promising Newcomer – Sarah Mobberly
- John Moffat & Larry Lillo Prize – Jill Daum
- GVPTA Career Achievement Award – Jerry Wasserman
- Sydney Risk Prize– Christine Quintana
- Colin Campbell Award for Excellence in Technical Theatre – Lorraine West
- Ray Michal Prize for Most Promising New Director – Cameron Mackenzie
For more information and a complete list of winners, visit jessies.ca.
