Andrew Gillies (12/97 Stage Door Awards)
Excerpt from Stage Door 12/30/97: Andrew Gillies
1997 Stage Door Award winners announced
www.stage-door.org, Southwestern Ontario..."Stage Door on the Net announced today the winners of the second annual Stage Door Awards. The twenty awards, also called the Stage Door Johnnies, are made to recognize excellence in live professional theatre on the stages of Southwestern Ontario for the 1996/97 season for winter theatres, and 1997 season for summer festivals. It appeared to be a Stratford sweep this season, with 15 of the 20 awards going to productions on that Festival's three stages (compared to nine, last year). The Shaw Festival took three awards (compared to five last year), while the Drayton Festival and Theatre Aquarius each took one.
"There were several extremely difficult choices this year," according to Roger Kershaw, who, along with Jim Lingerfelt, created the Stage Door Johnnies in 1995 in the absence of any other regional recognition. "However, some productions clearly stood head and shoulders above the competition, marking some of the most brilliant contributions in Ontario stage history."
"While excellence is not a direct result of budget," commented Lingerfelt, "it is clear from the winners that having the financial resources to cast the best talents on stage and in technical assignments does have an undeniable benefit. And there is no doubt that some of the finest talents on the continent are available to the stages of Southwestern Ontario."
List of Nominees for 1997 Stage Door Awards
Best Comedic Actor:
Neil Barclay Will Any Gentleman? (Shaw)
James Blendick Juno and the Paycock (Stratford)
Peter Donaldson The Taming of the Shrew (Stratford)
Andrew Gillies In Good King Charles's Golden Days (Shaw)
Richard Monette Filumena (Stratford)
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