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Theatre Calgary took home five of the 18 awards at this year’s Betty Mitchell Awards ceremony held Monday night at the Jubilee Auditorium, with Vertigo Theatre collecting four. The Bettys, as they are known, celebrate excellence in professional theatre in Calgary.
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Theatre Calgary’s world premiere production of Forgiveness, Hiro Kanagawa’s harrowing account of Japanese internment camps in Canada during the Second World War, won three Bettys including outstanding production of a play. Forgiveness also won Kanagawa an award for his script based on Mark Sakamoto’s non-fiction novel Forgiveness: A Gift From My Grandparents. Forgiveness, a co-production with Vancouver’s Arts Club Theatre, will have a revival at the National Arts Centre. TC’s artistic director Stafford Arima received a Betty for his staging of Forgiveness.
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Emily Howard won the Betty for outstanding performance in a comedy in TC’s lavish production of Oscar Wilde’s comedic farce The Importance of Being Earnest which also saw Valerie Planche take home the Betty for outstanding supporting performance in a comedy.
Lunchbox Theatre’s holiday musical, Home for the Holidays, written by Calgarians Alixandra Cowman and Cayley Wreggitt, won the Betty for outstanding production of a musical, and Cowman took home the Betty for outstanding composition for her score.
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Bruce Horak was named outstanding actor in a drama for his performance in the Shakespeare Company’s production of Richard III with Stafford Perry lauded for his supporting dramatic performance in Making Treaty 7’s The Ministry of Grace, written and directed by Tara Beagan.
Elena Belyea won the Betty for outstanding lead performance in a musical for her tour de force solo turn in Verb Theatre’s We’re Gonna Die, with Elinor Holt nabbing the Betty for outstanding supporting performance in a musical in Stage West’s 9 to 5 The Musical.
The touring production of Edmonton’s Catalyst Theatre’s Nevermore: The Imaginary Life and Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe, presented by Vertigo Theatre, won Bettys for outstanding musical direction for Ruth Alexander, and outstanding choreography for Laura Krewski. Nevermore also won the Betty for outstanding performance by an ensemble.
Ghost River Theatre won technical awards for its production of Eric Rose’s new semi-autobiographical play STRUCK for Wladimiro A. Woyno R.’s projection and video designs and Kerem Cetinel’s lighting designs.
Heather Moore’s costumes for Calgary Opera’s Macbeth won her a Betty, and Scott Reid won the Betty for outstanding set design for his ingenious revolving house in Vertigo’s thriller Misery.
