Urinetown pisses all over the Betty Mitchell Awards
On Monday August 27 the Calgary theatre community gathered at Stage West for the Betty Mitchell Awards stuffing leftover buffet buns under their fedoras and dropping names in acceptance speeches and comedy sketches. The presenters spliced scripted words with improvisation keeping the mood varied and the audience engaged. Most recipients peppered their short speeches with self-deprecating remarks and digs garnering titters and the occasional guffaw. Familial accolades ranged from Sage Theatre’s sound designer Brendan McGuigan’s heartfelt declaration to his mother (“she’s like the best mom ever”) to best supporting actor recipient Trevor Leigh thanking his young son for inspiring his performance as a psychopath in The Pillowman . Leigh’s blue striped suit and outstanding actress recipient Jennie Esdale’s black hot pants with tube top vied for most vibrant costume but Jennifer Darbellay took home that Betty for Alberta Theatre Projects’s Age of Arousal . This year the category of Performance in a Comedy or Musical was split into actor and actress categories. This is Cancer!’s Bruce Horak tied with Urinetown’s Carson Nattrass as recipients for Outstanding Actor but Victoria Lamond’s actress award joined three others to grant Urinetown five Bettys in total. With The Pillowman’s dual dramatic acting awards Ground Zero Theatre/Hit & Myth Productions came out on top with a total of seven out of the 20 awards. ATP’s Age of Arousal and Ghost River Theatre’s Confessions of a Paperboy grabbed two Bettys each and the rest of the awards were divided between a smattering of productions and theatre companies. Fast Forward’s Readers’ Choice Award was puzzlingly awarded to ATP’s/Rink-a-Dink-Inc’s 10 Days on Earth a production unmentioned in any of the other principal categories. As for special awards Terri Gillis accepted the Dean Ott/Debbie Boult Award with grace and a succinct speech but it all slid down hill from there. The introduction to The Greg Bond Memorial Award’s recipient David Rhymer and the tribute to Rick McNair seeped with melodrama and references to “musical theatre incarnate” and “the music of the soul” tested the tolerance of even the most dramatic patrons. And what’s an award show without a little self-aggrandizement? The Betty Mitchell Outstanding Achievement Award given to an individual in recognition of contributions to the theatre community went to the founders of the Betty Mitchell Awards themselves. “Why would you willingly put a group of artists in a room and single one out for excellence?” demanded an actor in the award ceremony’s opening skit. In the words of Betty Mitchell’s reincarnated fairy godmother: so they can pat each other on the back and name one as the most “popular” of course.
