ANTIGONISH: A local theatre company is being recognized for its hard work and talent after being nominated across four different categories in the Merritt Awards, the top honour for live theatre in Nova Scotia.
“It feels great,” Festival Antigonish Artistic Director Andrea Boyd told The Reporter. “It’s nice to be recognized by your peers and it’s a nice thing to celebrate. But we’re super excited about The Hobbit and of course our beautiful set for The Outside Inn.”
Three of Festival Antigonish Summer Theatre’s highly distinguished award nominations come on the heels of last summer’s outdoor adaption of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, which took place at Keppoch Mountain.
“It’s through Theatre Nova Scotia; there’s a jury of folks who go around through the year to see shows,” Boyd said. “And they go and see as much as they possibly can, and then they vote.”
Nominations have gone to Christian Murray for Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role, Marie France Labbé for Outstanding Costume Design and Boyd for Outstanding New Nova Scotia Adaptation.
“Christian is such a brilliant physical actor. This show had him doing lots of things in puppets, and with big masks, so it really played to his strengths, and he is just terrific at all of that,” Boyd said of his performance. “He played Smaug the Dragon, the Goblin King, where he got his head chopped off, and there were more, so it was a series of roles that he did.”
The artistic director advised Festival Antigonish wouldn’t have been able to pull off as a successful adaption of The Hobbit without Labbé.
“She was brilliant at creating 41 costumes, with a very low budget,” Boyd said. “She designed them, and we had a full-time wardrobe assistant as well, and a dresser. To be able to create that many beautiful costumes, with minimal budget, really takes a lot of creativity and commitment.”
Speaking on her nomination for Outstanding New Nova Scotia Adaptation, Boyd said it’s a lot of work to take a giant work like The Hobbit and try to adapt it for a two-hour show.
“It really is the icing on the cake to be nominated for an award,” she said. “Really, it’s my community that makes it all worthwhile, when 100 people want to come out and be involved in a show, or folks coming out and buying tickets, they say things like talking about the programming and how pleased they are with what they’re seeing.”
Festival Antigonish’s fourth nomination coincides with its full stage, world premiere production of The Outside Inn by Sharon Bajer and Elio Zarillo. Wes Babcock was recognized for Outstanding Scenic Design.
“When Sharon and Elio first sent me an early draft of this script, I was immediately drawn to the struggle of two people who clearly love each other but whose differences make it hard to connect,” Boyd said. “Many of us can relate to this, even if our specific circumstances are different. I love the combination of irreverence, humour, anger, and grief. Questions are asked with no easy answers, and truths are told that cause pain.”
The awards gala was held on March 27 at the Alderney Landing Theatre.
Additionally, Creignish-based Allister MacDonald, who graduated from Dr. J.H. Gillis in 2009, was nominated for Neptune Theatre’s The Rocky Horror Show for Outstanding Performance in a Leading Role for his character Frank N Furter.