The Windsor Plywood 2011 NIZ Drama Festival Awards Banquet on Saturday night, May 28 was a sold-out event, complete with a fantastic meal by Dave’s Catering and live entertainment from Denis and Dennis. Festival chair Peter Wienold gave heartfelt thanks to his entire team for creating another successful event, hosted by Portal Players Dramatic Society.

NIZ Executive awarded the prestigious Donna Lamb award to a founding member of Portal Players, Pam Aspinall. Pam was involved for a long time and devoted herself in a deep way to many aspects of theatre and the performing arts. Also, she was particularly committed to the children and youth: “It's just so good for them,” says Pam with warmth and humour. Working in a dedicated and collaborative manner, recognizing and celebrating the importance of people of all ages in the arts, Pam Aspinall has been a trailblazer in community theatre. Donna Lamb was a member of Campbell River’s Rivercity Players for many years, and it is in her honour this annual award is presented to a deserving individual.

The home team is especially pleased at awards received for Best Actor, Elliot Drew in “The Importance of Being Earnest”, and for Best Costumes to Barb Kevis in the same production. Congratulations also to our honourable mention recipients for “Earnest”: Ensemble Acting, Graphic Design (Megan Cathers), and Yvette Deveau in the Supporting Female Actor category.

Portal Players sincerely thanks all of the Festival Sponsors:

• Windsor Plywood
• Hummingbird Guesthouse
• Naesgaard's Farm Market
• Solda's Restaurant
• Solda's Promotions
• The Graphics Factory
• Harbourview Collision
• Quality Foods
• Smitty's Restaurant
• Dave's Catering
• North Douglas Sysco
• Pro Pacific Heating
• B&C Meats
• Le Cut Hairstyling
• Circle Dairy
• Michelle Gagnon
• Dimitri's Pizza
• RHM Subs
• Serious Coffee
• Little Valley Deli
• William Beeds
• Panago
• Salmonberry's Emporium
• BB's Beauty Salon
• Boston Pizza
• Pat & Gerry Hickey

For the attendees, the main event was the announcement of award recipients following the week of plays at The Capitol Theatre, which is celebrating its 75th Anniversary this year. Adjudicator Leon Potter made the award presentations, along with NIZ Chair Cindy Solda and Awards Coordinator Mary Ann Naesgaard. Here is the complete list of winners at this year’s Festival.

Extra Awards:
• Most Outrageous Prop Award – Nanaimo Theatre Group, The Fishbowl.
• Best Pre-Show First Impression – Rivercity Players, “Veronica’s Room”

Main Awards:
Ensemble Acting:
• Honourable Mention – “Veronica’s Room”, Rivercity Players, Campbell RIver
• Honourable Mention – “The Importance of Being Earnest”, Portal Players, Port Alberni
• Award – “Over The River & Through The Woods”, Nanaimo Theatre Group

Sound Design: “Veronica’s Room”, Rivercity Players, Campbell River

Lighting Design: “Half Life”, Courtenay Little Theatre

Set Design: “Half Life”, Courtenay Little Theatre

Costume Design: “The Importance of Being Earnest”, Portal Players, Port Alberni

Graphic Design:
• Honourable Mention – “The Importance of Being Earnest”, Portal Players, Port Alberni
• Award – “Veronica’s Room”, Rivercity Players, Campbell River

Female Actor in a Supporting Role:
• Honourable Mention – Yvette Deveau, “The Importance of Being Earnest”, Portal Players, Port Alberni
• Honourable Mention – Jana MacFarlane “Veronica’s Room”, Rivercity Players, Campbell River
• Award – Kathy Harper, “Lettice & Lovage”, ECHO Players, Qualicum

Male Actor in a Supporting Role:
• Honourable Mention – Tim Myerscough, “Veronica’s Room”, Rivercity Players
• Honourable Mention – Gordon May, ‘The Petition”, Thin Ice Theatre, Parksville
• Award – Jack Alouf, “Over The River & Through The Woods”, Nanaimo Theatre Group

Female Actor in a Lead Role:
• Honourable Mention – Heidi Ridgway, “Veronica’s Room”, Rivercity Players
• Award – Maureen Cusack, “The Petition”, Thin Ice Theatre, Parksville

Male Actor in a Lead Role:
• Honourable Mention – Devon Cathers, “Over The River and Through The Woods”
• Honourable Mention – Sidney Pickard, “Half Life”, Courtenay Little Theatre
• Award – Elliot Drew, “The Importance of Being Earnest”, Portal Players, Port Alberni

Best Director:
• Honourable Mention – Mort Paul, “Over The River and Through The Woods”
• Award – Ann Gates, “The Petition”, Thin Ice Theatre, Parksville

Best Production:
• Honourable Mention – “The Petition”, Thin Ice Theatre
• Honourable Mention – “Veronica’s Room”, Rivercity Players
• Award – “Over The River & Through The Woods”, Nanaimo Theatre Group

Backstage Award, (awarded by Festival Technical Director and Stage Managers Dave McGarry & Nick Barrett, and FOH Manager Elliot Drew)
• Awarded to ECHO Players, “Lettice & Lovage”, Qualicum

The Best Production Winner, Nanaimo Theatre Group’s “Over The River And Through The Woods” advances to the provincial Mainstage Festival, where all the Best Production winners from Theatre BC’s zones converge from July 1 - 9. Mainstage 2011 is being held in Kamloops, with all productions playing at the Sagebrush Theatre. Check the Mainstage website for more information. Note that early bird registration has been extended to June 5.

Courtenay Little Theatre will host the next NIZ Drama Festival, being held May 12 - 18, 2012 at The Sid Williams Theatre in downtown Courtenay.

Tags: Awards

Portal Players Dramatic Society is pleased to present Oscar Wilde’s "The Importance of Being Earnest". This classic comedy opens Thursday, May 5th at the Capitol Theatre and runs select dates till Sunday May 22nd, when it will open the North Island Zone Drama Festival.

“The Importance of Being Earnest”, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People was first performed on February 14, 1895 at St. James' Theatre in London. It is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae in order to escape burdensome obligations. Working within the social conventions of late Victorian London, the play's major themes are the triviality with which it treats institutions as serious as marriage, and the resulting satire of Victorian ways. Contemporary reviews all praised the play's humour, though some were cautious about its explicit lack of social messages, while others foresaw the modern consensus that it was the culmination of Wilde's artistic career so far. Its high farce and witty dialogue have helped make The Importance of Being Earnest Wilde's most enduringly popular play.

Two special nights will help kick off this great production. First, Friday May 6th will be a “Ladies Night Out”, sponsored by Walk the Coast Footwear and Apparel, Urban Design Hair Studio and Van Isle Ford. This evening will include a Fashion Show, Silent Auction, and a chance for one lucky patron to experience a night of spa pampering and a complete make over to be revealed after the show. There is no up charge for this great evening, but entries for the makeover are $5 each.

Secondly, on Sunday, May 8th, (the only matinee performance for Earnest), we are offering a "Pay What You Can" Event. This means that all door sales that day are by donation and 50% of the proceeds go to Relay for Life by way of Portal Players Relay Team "The Capitol Thespians".

Tickets for "The Importance of Being Earnest" are on sale now at the Capitol Box Office, Tues - Fri 1:00 pm till 5:30 pm. Tickets are $15 for Adults, $13 for Senior and Students. The show runs May 5-8, 12-14, 19-21. Curtain rises at 7:30 for all performance except the Sunday May 8th show, which starts at 2 pm.

Tags: Comedy, Drama

Portal Players Dramatic Society will host the 2011 Theatre BC North Island Zone Drama Festival at The Capitol Theatre from May 22 until May 27 as part of the theatre’s 75th Anniversary year celebrations.

Theatre groups from Port Alberni, Parksville, Courtenay, Nanaimo, Qualicum and Campbell River will gather to present some of their best work of the season to Alberni Valley & visiting theatre goers.  It also gives the theatre companies the opportunity to bring their productions to a new audience and to gather feedback from a Theatre BC adjudicator.  Leon Potter, an instructor in drama at the Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo will provide the daily critiques to the clubs. The festival wraps with the Windsor Plywood Gala Awards Banquet for the groups.

On Sunday, May 22, Portal Players opens the festival with Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest”, a period comedy and Wilde’s most enduringly popular play. 

Monday, May 23, Parksville’s Thin Ice Theatre presents Brian Clark’s “The Petition”, a drama exploring the events around a marriage when an elderly woman tells her elderly husband an unbearably sad secret. 

Tuesday, May 24 brings Courtenay Little Theatre’s production of John Mighton’s “Half Life” to the stage.  This Canadian play won a Governor General’s Literary Award and is an exploration of the love story of two nursing home residents, rekindling what might have been a wartime romance. 

Wednesday, May 25, Nanaimo Theatre Group stages “Over the River and Through the Woods”.  Joe DiPietro’s warm-hearted comedy about an Italian family in New Jersey. 

Thursday, May 26 we welcome Qualicum’s ECHO Players and their production of “Lettice and Lovage”, Peter Schaffer’s comedic play originally written specifically for Dame Maggie Smith.

Finally, the festival closes on Friday, May 27 with Campbell River’s Rivercity Player’s production of “Veronica’s Room”.  This thriller from playwright Ira Levin will be a frightfully brilliant way to finish this tremendous week of theatre spotlighting the best of Vancouver Island theatre.

Portal Players President, Brent Ronning, notes that “this festival is a wonderful way to bring live theatre to the Alberni Valley and showcase the talents that exist in the communities of the North Island.  We are so excited to be hosting this in Port Alberni again this year, and are always so pleased to see the tremendous response and support we receive from our community.”

Full Festival Passes are available for all six shows for $60, or you may “Pick 3 Plays” for $40.  Individual tickets are $15 for each show (Theatre BC members with current club cards can buy individual show tickets for only $13.00 each). Tickets are available at the Capitol Theatre Box Office - call 250-723-1195.

Tags: Drama, Mystery, Awards