In its 31st year of acknowledging excellence in the performing arts on the Melbourne stage, the Green Room Awards Association is proud to announce the nominations for the 2013 Awards.
Established in 1982 by Blair Edgar and Steven Tandy, the first awards were made in 1984 in the foyer of what is now Hamer Hall. This year, the ceremony returns to the Comedy Theatre thanks to the generous support of the Marriner Group, the Ambassador Theatre Group and the Gordon Frost Organisation.
“The third Tuesday of February is, as proclaimed by the City of Melbourne, Theatre Day and it has been our tradition for many years to mark the day by announcing our nominations,” said Chris Thompson, President of the Green Room Awards Association.
“These 214 nominations for 50 Green Room awards represent the tip of the iceberg in terms of the many hundreds of performances that the Alternative & Hybrid Theatre, Cabaret, Dance, Independent Theatre, Music Theatre Opera and Theatre Companies panels see each year.”
“The commitment and integrity with which the members of those seven panels narrow down this enormous field to the list of nominations we have today is, I believe, a hallmark of the Green Room Awards and a tribute to the professionalism of the many directors, playwrights, choreographers, critics, designers, technicians, composers, performers and other industry individuals who are responsible for the nomination process.”
This year sees the introduction of a new award honouring the achievements of Shirley McKechnie OAM whose work as a choreographer, educator and researcher has been a driving force in the development of Australian choreography, especially here in Melbourne where she has always lived and worked.
The Shirley McKechnie Award for Choreography will be presented annually by the Dance Panel and complements the Betty Pounder Award for choreography which, in previous years has been shared between Dance and Music Theatre. From this year, the Betty Pounder Award will be presented exclusively by the Music Theatre Panel.
In addition to the nominations announced today, a number of individual achievement awards will be made at the ceremony including the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Technical Achievement Award. The Association will also host the announcement of the biennial Kristian Fredrikson Travel Scholarship for an Australian designer. Information about these additional awards will be announced at the end of March.
2014 also sees an increase in industry support for The Green Room Awards with many new industry partners responding to the invitation to sponsors the awards including Theatre Network Victoria, the MTC, ACAPTA, the Fringe Festival, Auspicious Arts, The Tripolino Family, the Dobell Foundation and Association Patron, Julia Zemiro.
“I want to see the Green Room Awards continue and flourish,” said Zemiro, “Getting behind the sponsorship campaign is a part of that. It’s a wonderful event that aims to celebrate our work, and has done so on a less than a shoe string budget so far.”
“We continue to make this night happen because it’s important to recognise live performance that’s exploding out there in the face of so much online and screen entertainment.”
The 2013 Awards represent performances presented between 1 January and 31 December 2013. The recipients of these awards will be announced at a ceremony to be held on Monday 28 April 2014 at the Comedy Theatre, Melbourne.
For more information and the complete list of nominees, visit: www.greenroom.org.au for details.
Image: The Book of Everything – Melbourne Theatre Company presents A Belvoir and Kim Carpenter’s Theatre of Image co-production