Community Theatre Coalition
C/O 1803 Lilac Drive White Rock, B.C. V4A 6C7 604-531-0742
VOTING: DEFINITIONS & GUIDELINES
- There must be a minimum of seven nominees in any category for an award to be given.
- The club reps vote for their top five choices in each category in mid-June. The nomination ballots go directly to the accountant.
- The top five in each category are announced publicly, usually one week after the voting. Each finalist receives a certificate of nomination.
- If there are less than 10 nominees in any category, only the top three will be announced and receive certificates.
- A second ballot will be prepared with only the names of the finalists. Club reps complete this ballot on their own and mail it to the accountant as directed.
- The winner in each category is announced at the Gala in September.
How you vote is secret, but it is suggested that in your decision you ask yourself the following question, “How well has the (performer, set, costumes, etc.) advanced the aim of the production?” Any aspect of what you see on stage can be interesting in its own right; however, that does not necessarily mean it was right for the production. For example, beautiful new costumes might be wonderful on their own, but inappropriate for a play about very poor people. Or, a simple chair on a bare stage, under the right circumstances, might be better design that an elaborate box set for another play. A depressing performance, excellently executed in a somber drama, may advance the play better than a very enjoyable but moderately well executed performance in a comedy.
Do not worry about this. You will know which is which when you see the ballots in June. Most commonly, the leads have the bulk of the lines and carry most of the play, though this is not always the case. What and who the play is about determine a lead role. This is why deciding who is a lead and who is supporting is often an area of extensive debate and is left to the club producer and president to decide, hopefully in consultation with the director. You need only make note of all notable performances, without consideration of whether they are leads or supports. Leads and supports will be separated for you on the ballots.
How well do the costumes suit the aims of the play? If they fit the play perfectly the design is good, no matter how elaborate or simple the costumes are. Sometimes excellent costume designs do not jump out at you because the designer has done such a good job of making the clothes fit the characters.
Graphic Design (Poster or Programme)
This is the artwork on the poster and/or the programme. The artwork should say something about the production as well as being a work of art on its own.
This is the way light is used to advance the play. Creative use of light should be rewarded. Again, an excellently executed subtle lighting scheme in a play that does not call for a lot of special effects may be worthy of more recognition than splashy lights in a play that does call for a lot of special effects. The key is how effectively the lighting complimented the mood of the play.
The soundscape is an area that is often neglected in theatre. It can create moods and effects that greatly enhance a production. Ask yourself what the goals of the play are, and how well the sound supports these goals. Because musicals and pantos come with music as part of the production, it can be difficult to sort out what was sound design, and what was simply provided with the scripts. It is recommended that you look at how well the music is executed, and whether there are any other design aspects (such as special sound effects).
The set design is the layout of the set (stairs, risers, windows, walls, large furniture, etc.). The set should be evaluated first for how well it serves the play (more is not necessarily better), and secondly how it serves as sculpture in its own right. The latter point is particularly relevant in abstract or representational sets.
Set decoration flavours the set design. It can include colour schemes, painting effects, draperies, pictures, knickknacks, and small and large furniture. A good set decoration design will give the set a personality suited to the play.
Timing - Do all the people start and stop at the same time and is their performance crisp?
Clarity - Are you able to understand the words of the song?
Unity - How are the choral numbers? Is the cast in sync with one another AND with the orchestra or band?
Focus - Are the cast members just going through the motions or are they caught up in the songs?
Transitions - Are the transitions into and out of the song quick and in keeping with the pace of the show?
Musicians: Are they playing well together and in tune? Are they overpowering the singers? Does the musical director have control of the actors and musicians?
Dancers - Are they trained dancers or not? How experienced are the dancers? Trained dancers are easier to move than non-dancers. Can you tell the non-dancers from the dancers?
Style of show - Does the choreography fit the style – comedy, review, western, international, fantasy, etc.?
Era - Past, present or future. Did certain dances exist during the time period of the musical? Or does it matter for certain pieces?
Music - Does the dance suit the music and vice versa?
Flow - Does the show flow from scene to musical number and back into the scene? Are the stage and set used effectively? Is there good energy? How well rehearsed is the cast?
Costume/dance connection - Can they move in what they are wearing either by design or practice?
This is the hardest category to evaluate. It is particularly difficult to separate out acting from direction. Look for harmony and logic in the movement of the actors over the stage, and in the use of the set, props, costumes and music. The director dictates who stands where, who goes where and when, when the music starts and stops, how the props are used, etc. If the play has a sense of wholeness, it is probably a result of coordination by the director. The more seamlessly the production moves along, the better the direction. Alternately, actors can be up on stage acting their hearts out and doing a really good job with their lines and yet something may seem a little out of place – this can be the sign of a lack of vision on the part of the director. When this happens, as an audience member you may find you are more aware that you are watching actors in a play. Whereas if a play has been directed very well you are more likely to get caught up in the world of the play, and find that you forget you are watching actors on stage. It is the job of the director to provide the vision for the play. In a play that has had excellent direction the director’s hand cannot be seen because the actors all appear comfortable and natural in their movements.
If all of the above elements have come together to produce a whole that seems like it was meant to be as you see it, then you have seen a good production. If parts seem out of place, or some elements were not as well executed as they could have been, the production is weakened. Once again, a show that you find sad or depressing may still be an overall tighter production than the comedy that you enjoyed so much. At the same time, a show that is heavy is not necessarily a better production than a light-hearted comedy. Perhaps it can best be summed up by saying that a good production is when the whole team has pulled together to produce a show that goes beyond the script and has elevated the production to something the individual elements could never have accomplished on their own. Ask yourself: to what extent does the production seem to have been more than the sum of its parts?
- A story where good triumphs over evil.
- Jokes (most of them very old!) and slapstick comedy.
- Song and dance.
- A pantomime dame usually a middle-aged man dressed in a ridiculous woman’s costume.
- A principal boy, the hero of the pantomime, usually played by a woman.
- A very nasty villain.
- Some local references.
- Audience participation.
Pantomime is a curious entertainment – a form of ritual theatre staged around the winter solstice. Originally silent (a form of mime), it is now anything but, with extensive vocalisation from both the performers and the audience. The stories are generally well-known (drawn from popular folk tales and similar sources), populated with stock characters, including a principal boy, generally played a young lady with shapely legs, the heroine, also played by a young lady (which gives an added edge to the inevitable romance) and a dame, played by a man as an exaggeration of a lewd middle-aged lady. Scripts change from year to year, but generally contain four strands of humour: visual, topical, corny and downright rude. In the UK this is considered to be family entertainment.