New talent and experienced direction resulted in awards for Canmore’s Pine Tree Players at the Alberta Drama Festival Association’s One Act Play Festival in Okotoks last weekend (March 21-22).
PTP entered five plays in the festival and claimed five of the eight Foothills regional awards.
The Daughters of Edward D. Boit by Don Nigro and based on a painting by John Singer Sargent done in 1882 and displayed today in a Boston gallery, captured three of the PTP awards. Newcomer Jessica Caldwell, a theatre school graduate and new arrival, took the best actress award for her portrayal of one of four sisters speculating on the mystery at sea, and life outside the painting in which they are trapped.
PTP past president Elizabeth Green brought home best director honours for finding the “innocence of the age” to guide both the actors and the audience on the daughters’ journey of self-discovery in this period piece.
Announcing the runner-up award for best play, also for Daughters, adjudicator Karen Johnson-Diamond praised the actors for creating strong, well-defined relationships and using posture and poise to draw audience focus where it should be.
“Putting the painting on stage was brilliant,” Johnson-Diamond said. “An awareness of the painter or onlooker was there throughout the play. Having seen your performance, I don’t think I will ever look at art in the same way.”
Two of the awards were for PTP’s production of Norm Foster’s play The Death of Me. Last-minute casting was a breakthrough for Canmore’s Wade Graham, whose interpretation of a man bargaining with the Angel of Death for a second chance at life landed him with the runner-up award for best actor. Johnson-Diamond cited Graham’s honest, straightforward portrayal which built audience empathy.
PTP audience favourite Pamela Milthorp received runner-up for best director. “This is comedy done through honesty,” the adjudicator said. “It’s a clever play which you did great service.”
Another One of Louella’s Killer Ideas, also directed by Green, The Tarantino Variation directed by Candice McMullin and Crossing the Bar directed by Gerry McAuley completed the PTP roster. The five plays were presented to Canmore audiences March 6-8.
A contingent of 24 Bow Valley locals, including actors, directors, producers, crew and supporters were hosted by Okotoks’ Dewdney Players for the Foothills Zone festival. PTP extends huge thanks to its hometown supporters and sponsors for making its participation possible.
