Theatre Award 20142014 was so much fun for us at My Theatre (Toronto). We hosted our first-ever My Theatre Award Party on April 7th, hired a handful of new part-time reviewers, and saw upwards of 200 productions between January 1st and December 31st (literally, the last one was at 8pm on New Years Eve). We started the My Theatre Favourites advertising discount program and dove head-first into tons of festival coverage (even braving the Fringe Tent more than once). We travelled to Stratford and Niagara-on-the-Lake, saw more summer Shakespeare than we ever could have imagined, and finally fell in love with opera. We accidentally got in a Twitter fight with the Factory (but, really, who hasn’t done that?). We attended staged readings and classic ballets and puppet shows and magic acts and cabarets and site-specific, interactive, avant-garde “physical performances” nowhere near our comfort zone. We ate pie baked live onstage and drank beer served by characters and joined in a Brazilian drumming circle because “it’s what you do at SummerWorks; for god’s sake, Kelly, stop being such a spoilsport!”. There were sketch shows and stand-up and improv, both the on-purpose kind and the a-prop-broke-so-the-actors-had-to-think-fast kind. There were great performances everywhere from the basement of a pizza parlour to the biggest tour at the Ed Mirvish Theatre. But I have to stop there. There’s less than a week left before our first scheduled performance of 2015 (at the Next Stage Festival) and we need to celebrate what’s been before we can think about what’s next.

So, some business before we get to this year’s Toronto nominees:

Who Qualifies?
Any production one of our Toronto writers saw between January 1st and December 31st was considered for nomination, unless it was a remount of something we’d already seen (ie: Soulpepper’s Christmas Carol). If the remount has a new cast member, however, that cast member is eligible even if the production as a whole isn’t.

Who Picks the Winners?
Our Editors and Staff Writers all get a say but we use your votes for tie breakers and to choose a Fan Favourite so be sure to share your thoughts in the comments section, on Facebook and Twitter.

Is there Going to be Another Party?
ABSOLUTELY. The 2nd Annual My Theatre Award Ceremony & Party will be at The Great Hall (Queen & Dovercourt) on March 30, 2015.
More details and official invites to come.

And, of course, don’t forget about our annual Nominee Interview Series. Please email kelly@myentertainmentworld.ca to sign up. 

Okay, here they are:

Best New Work
Stencilboy & Other Portraits by Susanna Fournier (Paradigm Productions/NSTF)
Cockfight by Kat Sandler (Theatre Brouhaha/Red One Theatre Collective)
Potosi by Alexander Offord (Good Old Neon/Fringe)
Myth of the Ostrich by Matt Murray (Offside Productions/Fringe)
A Quiet Sip of Coffee by Anthony Johnston & Nathan Schwartz (AnimalParts/SummerWorks)
Sex and This by Wesley J. Colford (Aim for the Tangent/Circle Jerk)
Maypole Rose by Brandon Crone (safeword/Circle Jerk)

Best Ballet Performance: Leading
Xiao Nan Yu in Onegin (National Ballet of Canada)
McGee Maddox in Onegin (National Ballet of Canada)
Evan McKie in Swan Lake (National Ballet of Canada)
Elena Lobsanova in Romeo & Juliet (National Ballet of Canada)
Jillian Vanstone in Manon (National Ballet of Canada)
Skylar Campbell in Nijinksy (National Ballet of Canada)

Best Ballet Performance: Supporting or Short Program
Tanya Howard in Cinderella (National Ballet of Canada)
Sonia Rodriquez in Watch Her (National Ballet of Canada)
James Whiteside in Manon (National Ballet of Canada)
Greta Hodgkinson in Being & Nothingness (National Ballet of Canada- Gala)
Guillaume Côté in Body of Work (National Ballet of Canada-Gala)
Dylan Tedaldi in Dance Me to the End of Love (National Ballet of Canada-Gala)

Best Opera Performance
Dimitri Pittas in A Masked Ball (Canadian Opera Company)
Adrianne Pieczonka in A Masked Ball (Canadian Opera Company)
Lucy Crowe in Hercules (Canadian Opera Company)
Sondra Radvanovsky in Roberto Devereux (Canadian Opera Company)
Ferruccio Furlanetto in Don Quichotte (Canadian Opera Company)
Gerald Finley in Falstaff (Canadian Opera Company)

Best Solo Performance
Mark Shyzer in Great Battles in History (Fringe)
Graham Clark in I Think Therefore I’m Graham (Laugh Gallery/Fringe)
Katie Hartman in The Legend of White Woman Creek (The Coldharts/Fringe)
Melanie Hrymak in Licking Knives (Headstrong Collective/Fringe)
Jeff Ho in Unknown Soldier (lemonTree creations/Architect Theatre/SummerWorks)
Denise Mader in This One (First Root)

NATIONAL/PROFESSIONAL

Best Ensemble
London Road (Canadian Stage)
Cineastas (Luminato Festival)
Company (Theatre 20)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Stratford Festival)
Tartuffe (Soulpepper)
Sextet (Tarragon Theatre)

Best Supporting Actor
Jacob James in Trudeau & The FLQ (VideoCabaret)
Jeff Lillico in Of Human Bondage (Soulpepper)
Patrick Galligan in The Sea (Shaw Festival)
Antoine Yared in Mother Courage and her Children (Stratford Festival)
Oliver Dennis in Tartuffe (Soulpepper)
Ted Dykstra in The Motherfucker with the Hat (Bob Kills Theatre/Coal Mine Theatre)

Best Supporting Actress
Maev Beaty in King Lear (Stratford Festival)
Jennifer Dzialoszynski in When We Are Married (Shaw Festival)
Marla McLean in Juno & the Paycock (Shaw Festival)
Jan Alexandra Smith in As You Like It (Canadian Stage/Shakespeare in High Park)
Hailey Gillis in The Crucible (Soulpepper)
Oyin Oladejo in Tartuffe (Soulpepper)

Best Actor in a Musical
Ramin Karimloo in Les Misérables (Mirvish Productions)
Andrew Love in Les Misérables (Mirvish Productions)
Joel Gomez in Elegies (Acting Up Stage Company)
Dan Chameroy in Company (Theatre 20)
Tom Rooney in Man of La Mancha (Stratford Festival)
Stewart Adam McKensy in James & the Giant Peach (Young People’s Theatre)

Best Actress in a Musical
Melissa O’Neil in Les Misérables (Mirvish Productions)
Deborah Hay in London Road (Canadian Stage)
Louise Pitre in Company (Theatre 20)
Natalie Daradich in Crazy for You (Stratford Festival)
Alyssa Fox in Wicked (Mirvish Productions/National Tour)
Danielle Wade in Cinderella (Ross Petty Productions)

Best Actor in a Play
Brendan Gall in Lungs (Tarragon Theatre)
Gregory Prest in Of Human Bondage (Soulpepper)
Gord Rand in The Philanderer (Shaw Festival)
Kevin Hanchard in The Mountaintop (Shaw Festival)
Dion Johnstone in Chamber Dream (Stratford Festival)
Sergio di Zio in The Motherfucker with the Hat (Bob Kills Theatre/Coal Mine Theatre)

Best Actress in a Play
Shannon Taylor in The Road to Mecca (Soulpepper)
Lesley Faulkner in Lungs (Tarragon Theatre)
Kate Hennig in A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur (Shaw Festival)
Alana Hibbert in The Mountaintop (Shaw Festival)
Seana McKenna in Mother Courage and her Children (Stratford Festival)
Maev Beaty in The De Chardin Project (Theatre Passe Muraille)

Best Design
Lorenzo Savoini for Of Human Bondage (Soulpepper)
Beth Kates for The Road to Mecca (Soulpepper)
Michael Gianfrancesco for Cabaret (Shaw Festival)
Julie Fox for A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Stratford Festival)
Bretta Gerecke for Alice Through the Looking Glass (Stratford Festival)
Michelle Tracey for Enemy of the People (Tarragon Theatre)

Best Design: Lighting/Sound
Andrew Smith, Freddy Gabrsek & Kevin Lamotte for The Mountaintop (Shaw Festival)
Michael Walton & Thomas Ryder Payne for King Lear (Stratford Festival)
Michael Walton & Thomas Ryder Payne for A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Stratford Festival)
James F. Ingalls & Tareke Ortiz for Chamber Dream (Stratford Festival)
André du Toit for The Bakelite Masterpiece (Tarragon Theatre)
Lorenzo Savoini & Thomas Ryder Payne for The De Chardin Project (Theatre Passe Muraille)

Best Director
Philip Akin for The Mountaintop (Shaw Festival)
Eda Holmes for The Sea (Shaw Festival)
Chris Abraham for A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Stratford Festival)
Albert Schultz for Of Human Bondage (Soulpepper)
László Marton for Tartuffe (Soulpepper)
Weyni Mengesha for Lungs (Tarragon Theatre)

Best Production
London Road (Canadian Stage)
Lungs (Tarragon Theatre)
Of Human Bondage (Soulpepper)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Stratford Festival)
The Mountaintop (Shaw Festival)
The Motherfucker with the Hat (Bob Kills Theatre/Coal Mine)

REGIONAL/INDEPENDENT

Best Ensemble
As You Like It (Rarely Pure Theatre)
Dark Matter (Circlesnake Productions)
Love’s Labours’ Lost (Shakespeare Bash’d)
No Chance in Hell (High C Productions/Cassidy Productions/Fringe)
The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen (SummerWorks/Musical Works in Concert)
Assassins (StageWorks Toronto)
Romeo and (her) Juliet (Headstrong Collective/Urban Bard)

Best Supporting Actor
Brenhan Mc Kibben in Cockfight (Theatre Brouhaha/Red One Theatre Collective)
Jakob Ehman in Cockfight (Theatre Brouhaha/Red One Theatre Collective)
Colin Munch in Punch Up (Theatre Brouhaha/Fringe)
Adriano Sobretodo Jr. in The Container (The Container Collective/SummerWorks)
Scott Dermody in Much Ado About Nothing (Single Thread Theatre Company)
Mishka Thébaud in Mercury Fur (Seven Siblings Theatre Co.)
Justin Goodhand in Retreat (Theatre Brouhaha)

Best Supporting Actress
Mikaela Dyke in Dark Matter (Circlesnake Productions)
Erin Eldershaw in Julius Caesar Project (Spur-of-the-Moment Shakespeare Collective/Fringe)
Jennifer Walls in Hugh and I (Bad Neighbour Prod/Fringe)
Miranda Edwards in Tragedy: a tragedy (Nightfall Theatrics/SummerWorks)
Nicole Buscema in Retreat (Theatre Brouhaha)
Eve Wylden in Birth (Pandemic Theatre)
Claire Armstrong in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Red One Theatre Collective)

Best Actor
Aris Athanasopoulos in New Jerusalem (Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company)
Michael Harvey in Elizabeth Rex (East Side Players)
Benjamin Blais in Cockfight (Theatre Brouhaha/Red One Theatre Collective)
Michael Eisner in Red Bill (Red Bill Productions/Fringe)
Tim Walker in Punch Up (Theatre Brouhaha/Fringe)
Alexander Plouffe in Maypole Rose (safeword/Circle Jerk)
David Ferry in Blackbird (independent)

Best Actress
Christina Bryson in As You Like It (Rarely Pure Theatre)
Amy Rutherford in A Beautiful View (Volcano/BeMe Theatre)
Kat Letwin in Dark Matter (Circlesnake Productions)
Lydia Kiselyk in Elizabeth Rex (East Side Players)
Nicole Wilson in Potosi (Good Old Neon/Fringe)
Astrid van Wieren in Myth of the Ostrich (Offside Productions/Fringe)
Leslie McBay in Romeo and (her) Juliet (Headstrong Collective/Urban Bard)

Best Design
Nick Blais for New Jerusalem (Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company)
Claire Hill for Cockfight (Theatre Brouhaha/Red One Theatre Collective)
Reid Thompson for Antigonick (Guilty by Association/Suitcase in Point/SummerWorks)
Claire Hill & Kat Sandler for Retreat (Theatre Brouhaha)
Vladimir Kovalchuk & Montgomery C Martin for Richard III, The Pleasures of Violence (Kadazuke Kollektif/Bad New Days)

Best Director
Rosanna Saracino for As You Like It (Rarely Pure Theatre)
Ross Manson for A Beautiful View (Volcano/BeMe Theatre)
Mitchell Cushman for New Jerusalem (Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company)
Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster & Paolo Santalucia for 52 Pick-Up (The Howland Company/Fringe)
Cole Lewis for Antigonick (Guilty by Association/Suitcase in Point/SummerWorks)
Scott Emerson Moyle for Romeo and (her) Juliet (Headstrong Collective/Urban Bard)
David Ferry for Blackbird (independent)

Best Production
As You Like It (Rarely Pure Theatre)
A Beautiful View (Volcano/BeMe Theatre)
Dark Matter (Circlesnake Productions)
Cockfight (Theatre Brouhaha/Red One Theatre Collective)
Potosi (Good Old Neon/Fringe)
Romeo and (her) Juliet (Headstrong Collective/Urban Bard)
Blackbird (independent)