This year’s Calgary Critics’ Awards were a huge success with almost 200 theatre-loving Calgarians in attendance to hear us announce our winners for the 2013/14 theatre season.  Truthfully though, all our nominees were winners as each and every one of them impressed us in one way or another gave us those wow moments in the theatre that we live for. So as difficult as it was to pick just one award-recipient in each category – that was our task. Therefore, without further ado, I give you the winners of the 2014 Critter Awards…….

 

Featured Actor in a Play:
Graham Percy – Twelfth Night (The Shakespeare Company)

Featured Actress in a Play:
Katey Hoffman – You Will Remember Me (Alberta Theatre Projects)

Featured Actress in a Musical:
Susan Gilmour – Mary Poppins (Theatre Calgary)

Featured Actor in a Musical:
Jack Forestier – Mary Poppins (Theatre Calgary)

Best Solo Performance:
Kyall Rakoz – Ludwig and Lohengrin

Best Set Design:
Anton de Groot – Travels with my Aunt (Vertigo Theatre)

Best Technical Design:
Matthew Waddell – Tomorrow’s Child (Ghost River Theatre)

Best Actor in a Musical: 
Christian Goutsis – Touch Me: Sings for a (dis)connected Age (Forte Musical Theatre Guild)

Best Actress in a Musical: 
Selina Wong – Touch Me: Songs for a (dis)connected Age (Forte Musical Theatre Guild)

Best Touring Production:
Kim’s Convenience (Soulpepper)

Best Actress in a Play:
Natascha Girgis – Around the World in 80 Days (Alberta Theatre Projects)

Best Actor in a Play: 
Duval Lang – You Will Remember Me (Alberta Theatre Projects)

Best New Script: 
The Basement Boys – Steven Owad (Theatre BSMT)

Best Creative Concept:
Of Fighting Age – Col Cseke and Christopher Duthie (Verb Theatre)

Best Director Musical: 

Michael Shamata – Mary Poppins (Theatre Calgary)

Best Director Play: 
Simon Mallett – Travels with my Aunt (Vertigo Theatre

Best Musical:

Touch Me: Songs for a (dis)connected Age, Forte Musical Theatre Guild

Best Play: 
My Family and Other Endangered Species, Downstag

Evans Award Winners:

ATP playRites Festival

Mount Royal University Theatre Arts Program

Now, no doubt some of you will start to tally up the award counts for this company or that play. Frankly, these stats don’t interest me all that much. What does float my boat is that our winners hail from companies large and small and represent some of our most beloved artists as well as those at the beginning of their careers. This to me is what is so wonderful about the theatre scene in Calgary – the way that established and new co-exist and equally blow our socks off.

As many of you know, this was my last Critter awards due to an imminent move to the USA. Three years ago when I first approached the other critics with the idea to hold these awards, I had no idea if they would bite or if the community would be interested at all. My hope was that the awards would bring us together as colleagues, enable us to laud those productions that spoke to us as critics and most importantly, give back to the Calgary theatre community that were all so privileged to work with. I’m thrilled to say that three years later, all my hopes about the awards have come true.  I’ve heard from so many of you what great fun the Critters are and I can assure you that we have just as much fun discussing the work and handing out the well-deserved kudos.

I feel terribly sad to be leaving Calgary’s theatre scene behind but I’m overjoyed at the thought that the Critters will live on. I’d like to thank my colleagues Stephen Hunt, Louis Hobson and Jenna Shummoogum for helping to make my last Critters my best and I wish them loads of luck with the awards and event for next year.

To the Calgary theatre community, thank you for all your talent and effort and risk. I’ve had many joyous moments watching your work and I feel honoured to have been able to think, write, broadcast and discuss what I’ve seen.  I leave here with a huge respect for the talent in this city and the hope that boundaries continue to get pushed and new ideas work their way onto the stage with even greater force. Now get out there and make the 2015 Critter decisions the hardest ever for the critics!