This year’s NH Theatre Awards will likely been the last awards show I will be attending. Matt&I discussed it recently and decided that the tickets are too expensive and it is not that worth it to spend so much money on tickets if we have to sit through an awards show where mostly tge same companies win everyone. I have also not been very happy with tge recognition the PTA plays have gotten over the past couple years… I was very happy to find out a few weeks ago that clearly I was not alone in feeling that way. I was originally planning to write a letter to the NHTA Board of Directors but I won’t have to worry about that.
Wondering why? Here’s the reaason.
Through a recent telephone conversation I discovered PTA plays were not getting the respect they deserved from the theatre awards. I especially felt angry after last year’s awards show that Seussical did not get the recognition it deserved aside from Sophie’s best actress win for playing Gertrude. She told me that the Board of Directors of the PTA felt it is not in the mission statement of the PTA to participate in the theatre awards as the main purpose of the PTA plays is to raise money for the Amherst Schools.
That being said I am happy and relieved that after CATS the PTA plays are not going to be adjudicated anymore.
Are you still left wondering why? Here is my reasoning.
I always felt that the NHTAs were way too political and that there was way too much favoristism. Sure groups like Peacock Players and the New London Barn Playhouse have amazingly talented people in their companies. I have no disrespect for either company at all. I go to their shows often and the work they do consistantly impresses me.
However awards shows get very anticlimactic and also quite dull if the same people win time and time again. That is where I feel the system is flawed and there is too much favoritism and politics involved.
To me winning awards should not be what being involved in theatre is or should be about. It should be about working together toward the goal of putting on a show that audiences will enjoy and that the actors enjoy putting the show on have a good time doing it. The awareness that the adjudicators are in the audience for me sucked the fun out of being in the show for the past couple years. We are sometimes already stressed out enough as performers and knowing that we are being judged adds extra stress that we don’t need.
Through this conversation I recently had and realizing the PTA Board Of Directors is on the same page made me feel a lot better. Because in th end they are right what the NHTA stands for and what the PTA stands for as a company do not jive..at all whatsoever.
I have many things to be thankful for this Thankgiving and this piece of mind is certainly one of them. I can also not state enough how thankful I am to be part of this company of actors who have become like a family to me over the past four years…each person who I continue to learn things from as time goes along. Thank you all for everything you do for me. I love all of you immensely you have absolutely no idea.
This the picture from the finale of Mary Poppins. Many of my PTA co-stars were in this show and one of my co-stars Kevin Linkroum directed it. The opportunity to get to work with the people I love during the off season is truly fantastic. What a truly wonderful new tradition for the Amato Center to have.
I hope everyone has a safe and happy Thanksgivig. Enjoy all the turkey!
This has been edited as references to specific people were removed.
j9thetheatregeek 
The last NH theatre awards I was angry at myself for getting lost on my way to the show when I took Janine and Sonya Walcott……But I know even though 2016 may be the last one, I think it’s at a better location where I know where to go more easily.
The things you say about politics, favoritism, etc. can’t be denied. It’s actually pretty much human nature when you put a bunch of simians together. I would also agree that the NHCTA should revisit what it considers community theater.
That said, there are some other things that reinforce the pattern of winners. I would say stress on the actors because of adjudication is a shelf inflicted stress.
Another point: many of the recurring winners have a vast pool of volunteers and reasonably deep pockets. Now, you could say those factors might be a good excuse for directors and production crews to be even more creative to more with less. That might help with the lack of funds, but you still need bodies to make it happen. Many of the shows you’ve been in at the Amato happened because of the work of a very few parents and a couple notable directors, the same few over and over again. And of course, there’s bias by the adjudicators. Much of that is unconscious and in some cases just lack of experience in a given topic being judged. The NHCTA attempts to minimize this with training and using the mid results in each category.
It has also been noted that there is a rather small pool of actors, dircetors, etc. In addition, there are a lot of troupes drawing on that pool and competing for a limited number of audience members.
Such is the way of awards shows and the state of amateur theater.
Very valid points Mac. Thank you!💚