32nd Annual Green Room Awards Announced

In its 32nd year of acknowledging excellence in the performing arts on the Melbourne stage during 2014, the Green Room Awards Association have announced the recipients of 60 Awards at a star-studded ceremony at Melbourne’s Comedy Theatre on Monday 20 April.

In a ceremony that included live performances from VCA Music Theatre students and cabaret star, Ali McGregor, the night held a number of standout moments including the presentation of the inaugural Geoffrey Milne Award for Contribution to the Development of Contemporary & Experimental Performance or Independent Theatre which was presented posthumously to writer, director, dramaturge, performer and teacher Margaret Cameron who passed away in 2014.

Once was the big winner of the night, receiving 8 awards including Direction, Musical Direction, Production, Ensemble, Sound Design, Lighting Design, Best Actress in a Leading Role (Madeleine Jones) and Best Actor in a Leading Role (Tom Parsons – sharing with Hayden Tee from Les Miserables).

Shaun Parker received the Shirley McKechnie Award for Outstanding Choreography for his show Am I and the Betty Pounder Award for Outstanding Music Theatre Choreography went to Jerome Robbins and Susan Kikuchi for The King and I.

This year’s Industry Contribution Award acknowledged Chunky Move for its Next Move project and after singing up a storm at the start of the second half of the show, Ali McGregor was honoured with the Outstanding Contribution to Cabaret Award.

The night’s Outstanding Production awards went to Reach Out Touch Faith (Contemporary & Experimental Performance), Eurosmash (Cabaret), The Trouble with Harry (Independent Theatre), Once (Music Theatre), Eugene Onegin (Opera), Hello, Goodbye and Happy Birthday (Theatre Companies) and in Dance, the result was a tie between James Batchelor for Island and Lilian Steiner for Noise Quartet Meditation.

The ceremony rounded out with renowned costume maker, Maruska Blyszczak receiving the Technical Achievement Award and the 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award being presented to opera singer and teacher, Nance Grant.

A complete list of Award Recipients is listed below. For more information, visit: www.greenroom.org.au for details.

Image: Cast of Once – photo by Jeff Busby

Cabaret:

Production: Eurosmash – Die Roten Punkte

Artiste: Geraldine Quinn – All Out Of Pride & MDMA: Modern Day Maiden Aunt

Writing: Ash Flanders – Special Victim

Musical Direction: Jane Patterson – Ginger & Tonic’s Desperate & Dateless

Original Songs: Andrew Strano and Loclan Mackenzie-Spencer – Nailed It!

Outstanding Contribution to Cabaret: Ali McGregor – Ali McGregor’s Late-Nite Variety-Nite Night

Contemporary & Experimental Performance

Outstanding Work by an Emerging Artist: Fluvial – Matthias Schack-Arnott, Next Wave Festival, Speak Percussion

Outstanding Contemporary Circus: A Simple Space – Gravity and Other Myths (Darebin Arts’ Speakeasy)

Curatorial Contribution to Contemporary Performance: Going Nowhere – Arts House

Outstanding Contemporary and Experimental Performance: Reach Out Touch Faith – Sarah Rodigari in collaboration with Joshua Sofaer (Going Nowhere – Arts House)

Geoffrey Milne Memorial Award: Margaret Cameron

Dance

Shirley McKechnie Award for Choreography: Shaun Parker – Am I (Shaun Parker & Company)

Concept & Realisation: Lilian Steiner – Noise Quartet Meditation (Lilian Steiner) / James Batchelor – Island (James Batchelor)

Ensemble: Cast of Patyegarang – Bangarra Dance Theatre

Female Dancer: Lauren Langlois – Complexity of Belonging (Melbourne Theatre Company & Chunky Move)

Male Dancer: Waangenga Blanco – Patyegarang (Bangarra Dance Theatre)

Music, Sound Design & Performance: Alisdair Macindoe – Princess (Benjamin Hancock/Chunky Move)

Visual Design: Jack Hancock (Costume) & Bosco Shaw (Lighting) – Princess (Benjamin Hancock/Chunky Move)

Independent Theatre

Production: The Trouble With Harry – MKA, Darebin Arts’ Speakeasy, Melbourne Festival

Costume Design: Chloe Greaves – Body of Work

Director: Alyson Campbell – The Trouble With Harry (MKA, Darebin Arts’ Speakeasy, Melbourne Festival)

Ensemble: Cast of I Heart John McEnroe – Clare Watson, Uninvited Guests, Theatre Works

Female Performer: Maria Mercedes – Master Class (Left Bauer Productions, fortyfivedownstairs)

Male Performer: Angus Cerini – Resplendence (Angus Cerini/Doubltap, Neon Festival of Independent Theatre)

Lighting Design: Lisa Mibus – My Lovers’ Bones (Brown Cab Productions, Footscray Community Arts Centre, Melbourne Festival)

Sound Design & Composition: Jesse Cox, Luke Mynott & Joff Bush – Wael Zuaiter: Unknown (Theatre Works, Next Wave Festival)

Writing: Marcel Dorney – Prehistoric (Elbow Room Productions, Darebin Arts’ Speakeasy, Melbourne Fringe)

Music Theatre

Actor In A Leading Role: Hayden Tee – Les Misérables (Cameron Mackintosh) / Tom Parsons – Once (Barbara Broccoli, John N. Hart Jr, Patrick Milling Smith, Frederick Zollo, Brian Carmody, Michael G. Wilson, Orin Wolf, John Frost, New York Theatre Workshop, Melbourne Theatre Company)

Actress In A Leading Role: Madeleine Jones – Once (Barbara Broccoli, John N. Hart Jr, Patrick Milling Smith, Frederick Zollo, Brian Carmody, Michael G. Wilson, Orin Wolf, John Frost, New York Theatre Workshop, Melbourne Theatre Company)

Actor In A Supporting Role: Adrian Li Donni – Pacific Overtures (Watch This, Auspicious Projects, Theatre Works)

Actress In A Supporting Role: Yong Ying Woo – The King And I (John Frost, Opera Australia)

Ensemble: Cast of Once (Barbara Broccoli, John N. Hart Jr, Patrick Milling Smith, Frederick Zollo, Brian Carmody, Michael G. Wilson, Orin Wolf, John Frost, New York Theatre Workshop, Melbourne Theatre Company)

Direction: John Tiffany – Once (Barbara Broccoli, John N. Hart Jr, Patrick Milling Smith, Frederick Zollo, Brian Carmody, Michael G. Wilson, Orin Wolf, John Frost, New York Theatre Workshop, Melbourne Theatre Company)

Betty Pounder Award for Choreography: Jerome Robbins & Susan Kikuchi – The King And I (John Frost, Opera Australia)

Musical Direction: Martin Lowe & Kellie Dickerson – Once (Barbara Broccoli, John N. Hart Jr, Patrick Milling Smith, Frederick Zollo, Brian Carmody, Michael G. Wilson, Orin Wolf, John Frost, New York Theatre Workshop, Melbourne Theatre Company)

Sound Design: Clive Goodwin – Once (Barbara Broccoli, John N. Hart Jr, Patrick Milling Smith, Frederick Zollo, Brian Carmody, Michael G. Wilson, Orin Wolf, John Frost, New York Theatre Workshop, Melbourne Theatre Company)

Costume & Set Design: Roger Kirk (Costume) & Brian Thomson (Set) – The King And I (John Frost, Opera Australia)

Lighting Design: Natasha Katz – Once (Barbara Broccoli, John N. Hart Jr, Patrick Milling Smith, Frederick Zollo, Brian Carmody, Michael G. Wilson, Orin Wolf, John Frost, New York Theatre Workshop, Melbourne Theatre Company)

Production: Once (Barbara Broccoli, John N. Hart Jr, Patrick Milling Smith, Frederick Zollo, Brian Carmody, Michael G. Wilson, Orin Wolf, John Frost, New York Theatre Workshop, Melbourne Theatre Company)

Opera

Direction: Kasper Holten – Eugene Onegin (Opera Australia)

Production: Eugene Onegin (Opera Australia)

Conductor: Guillaume Tourniaire – Eugene Onegin (Opera Australia)

Female Lead: Nicole Car – ‘Tatyana’ – Eugene Onegin (Opera Australia)

Female In A Supporting Role: Dominica Matthews – ‘Madame Larina’ – Eugene Onegin (Opera Australia)

Male Lead: Barry Ryan – ‘Scully’ – The Riders (Victorian Opera, Malthouse Theatre)

Male In A Supporting Role: Daniel Sumegi – ‘Sparafucile’ – Rigoletto (Opera Australia)

Design: Mia Stensgaard (Set), Katrina Lindsay (Costume), Wolfgang Goebbel (Lighting) – Eugene Onegin (Opera Australia)

New Australian Opera: The Riders (Victorian Opera, Malthouse Theatre)

Theatre Companies

Writing/Adaptation for the Australian Stage: Roslyn Oades & Collaborators – Hello, Goodbye & Happy Birthday (Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne Festival)

Female Actor: Melita Jurisic – ‘Miriam Sword’ – Night On Bald Mountain (Malthouse Theatre)

Male Actor: Andre de Vanny – ‘Ray’ – Glory Dazed (Red Stitch Actors Theatre)

Ensemble: Cast of Henry V (Bell Shakespeare)

Lighting Design: Paul Jackson – Body of Work

Audio Visual Design & Animation: Matthew Gingold (Audio Visual Design) & Matt Greenwood (Animation) – Calpurnia Descending (Sisters Grimm, Malthouse Theatre, Sydney Theatre Company)

Set and Costume Design: Dale Ferguson – Night On Bald Mountain (Malthouse Theatre)

Sound Design and Composition: Pete Goodwin (The Sweats) – Yellow Moon (Melbourne Theatre Company)

Direction: Kirsten Von Bibra – Grounded (Red Stitch Actors Theatre)

Production: Henry V (Bell Shakespeare)