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2014
CONDA AWARDS
36TH ANNUAL PRESENTATION OF THE
CITY OF NEWCASTLE DRAMA AWARDS
WESTS NEW LAMBTON
NOVEMBER 29 2014
EMBARGOED UNTIL 6PM, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2014
More info: Ken Longworth, 0402 356 399
MUSICALS SET ON THE STREETS AND UNDER THE SEA
LEAD THE JOURNEY TO CONDA AWARDS
TWO very different musicals, Hairspray and The Little Mermaid Jr, have topped the
nominations in this year’s City of Newcastle Drama Awards.
Hairspray, staged by Metropolitan Players, has 17 nominations, and Hunter Region
Drama School’s production of The Little Mermaid Jr has 12, with the pair vying for
the 2014 Best Musical Production CONDA.
Hairspray, set in the United States city of Baltimore in the 1960s, has an overweight
teenage girl gaining confidence in herself as she leads a protest against racial
prejudice.
The Little Mermaid Jr is adapted from a Disney animated film musical about a
mermaid falling in love with a prince she saves from drowning. It was performed by a
predominantly teenage cast.
The CONDA judges – Shane Bransdon, Michelle Gosper, Sue Leask, Ken Longworth
and Pamela Whalan – said the two musicals stood out in their production category in a
year notable for the quality of theatre works staged in and around Newcastle.
A total of 60 productions were eligible for CONDA consideration in the judging year
from November 1, 2013, to October 31, 2014, and 44 of them received nominations,
with 21 staging groups represented.
The 169 nominations in 22 categories was a record in the 36-year history of the
CONDA Awards.
Significant changes to award categories were made at the beginning of the 2014
judging year, as well as the awards coverage being extended beyond the Newcastle
local government area boundaries.
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CONDA Inc, the non-profit company drawn from theatre groups and supporters that
organises the awards, surveyed theatre participants in 2012-13 about the award
categories and area covered.
The responses led to the division between professional and non-professional
categories being dropped, new award categories introduced, the awards’ area
extended to a 50km radius from the Newcastle CBD, and schools invited to enter
major productions for consideration.
The new categories have put more focus on the technical work associated with theatre
productions.
The wide range of works staged is reflected in the nominations for Best Dramatic
Production, with eight shows included: DAPA Theatre’s The Odd Couple, Footlice
Theatre Company’s Pyjamas in the Daytime, the Grainery Theatre Company’s The
Three Musketeers, Newcastle Theatre Company’s Calendar Girls, Stooged Theatre’s
Checklist for an Armed Robber, The Merchant of Venice, and The Removalists, and
Tantrum Youth Arts’ The Chosen.
The Odd Couple is a Neil Simon comedy about two very different men sharing an
apartment; Pyjamas in the Daytime, by Novocastrian Grahame Cooper, looks at the
relationship between an aged care worker and one of his female charges; The Three
Musketeers is a lively tongue-in-cheek musical version of Alexandre Dumas’s novel;
Calendar Girls, based on a true story, has women in an English country town posing
with discreet nudity for a calendar to raise money for a hospital; Checklist for an
Armed Robber, by Newcastle playwright Vanessa Bates, looks at the parallels
between an attempted robbery in Newcastle and a hostage drama in a Moscow theatre
on the same day; The Merchant of Venice was Shakespeare’s comedy set in
contemporary business and legal environments; The Removalists is a David
Williamson comedy-drama about a police investigation of a wife-battering incident;
and The Chosen looks at a teenage girl’s obsession with space aliens after her father’s
disappearance when she was a child.
While the CONDA categories generally have between three and 21 nominations, the
judges decided to put just one nomination forward for the category Excellence by a
Female Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical.
That sole candidate, and hence winner, is Kiani Sansom, who played the overweight
teenage girl, Tracy Turnblad, in Hairspray.
The judges said that while there were other good leading female performances in
musicals, Kiani Sansom’s work was outstanding as she brought out through acting,
song, and dance the difficulties facing Tracy at home, school and in social situations,
and her determination to overcome them and to help others as well.
This is the first time in the CONDA’s history that a single candidate for an award has
been put forward, though there have been years where no award has been presented in
a category because of a lack of sufficiently high standard nominees.
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The 2014 CONDA Awards will be presented in the Starlight Room auditorium at
Wests New Lambton on Saturday, November 29, in a show that will include song and
dance numbers from popular musicals staged by Newcastle performers.
As well as the presentation of awards in a broad range of categories (see the attached
nominations list), a new CONDA Youth Theatre Encouragement Award will be
presented to a young person nominated by a youth theatre group. The award includes
a $500 grant for use by the recipient in seeking further training.
The three nominees are:
* Kimberley Dingle (Pantseat Productions)
* Bonnie McPeak (Hunter Region Drama School)
* India Wilson (Tantrum Youth Arts)
Information on the nominees is attached.
The Awards night will climax with the presentation of the CONDA Inc Award for
Outstanding Achievement and Contribution to Theatre. There are no nominations for
this award. It will go to the person or group the CONDA judges believe made the
most outstanding contribution to Newcastle theatre in 2014.
The CONDA Awards show, which is open to the public, begins at 7.30pm on
Saturday, November 29. Audience members will be seated at tables with 10 seats.
Show tickets are $25, but there is also a $60 show-and-cocktails package, with drinks
and canapés for an hour from 6pm. Tickets can be bought at Wests, or by phone, 4935
1287, or online: www.proticket.com.au. The pre-show cocktail package tickets must
be bought by Wednesday, November 26.
A souvenir program, available on the night, will feature photographs showing scenes
from the shows staged in the past year.
This year’s Awards ceremony will mark the farewell of two long-serving judges, Sue
Leask and Pamela Whalan, who are retiring from the role. Sue Leask has been a judge
since 1998 and Pamela Whalan since 2002.
Two new judges, Michael Cooper and Carl Gregory, have joined the 2015 judging
team, which also includes Shane Bransdon, Michelle Gosper and Ken Longworth.
Michael Cooper has appeared in many Newcastle and Maitland musicals in the past
20 years, and was most recently seen as the Beast in Maitland Gilbert and Sullivan
and Musical Society’s Beauty and the Beast. He has qualifications in skills including
lighting, sound and staging, and is director of performing arts at St Philip’s Christian
College, Waratah, managing the school’s 470-seat theatre, training young people in
performance and technical skills, and staging musicals in venues including
Newcastle’s Civic Theatre.
Carl Gregory was a student at Hunter School of the Performing Arts where he
received the inaugural Samantha Booth Memorial Award for Drama in 2006. He
graduated from the University of Newcastle in 2010 with a Bachelor of
Communications degree, majoring in journalism, and has reviewed local theatre
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productions for the past two years on a Tumblr blog, Curtain Call. He appeared in
productions at the University of Newcastle and Tantrum in his university years, and
recently in shows staged by Newcastle Theatre Company and Theatre on Brunker
(and is currently in the latter’s Nuncrackers).
A full list of the 2014 CONDA nominations follows.
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Best Dramatic Production
Calendar Girls, Newcastle Theatre Company
Checklist for an Armed Robber, Stooged Theatre
The Chosen, Tantrum Youth Arts
The Merchant of Venice, Stooged Theatre
The Odd Couple, DAPA Theatre
Pyjamas in the Daytime, Footlice Theatre Company
The Removalists, Stooged Theatre
The Three Musketeers, The Grainery Theatre Company
Best Musical Production
Hairspray, Metropolitan Players
The Little Mermaid Jr, Hunter Region Drama School
Best Special Theatrical Event
Diving Off the Edge of the World, Tantrum Youth Arts
Love, Life and Opera, Hunter Opera
Mix Tape: Remixed, Pantseat Productions
A Night in The Forest, Aspire
On My Way, Pantseat Productions
Panic, Open Cage Ensemble
Spent, Paper Cut
Up In the Air - A Zeus Tale, Circus Avalon
Best New Play Written for a Newcastle Company
The Anatomy of Buzz, by Carl Caulfield (Stray Dogs Theatre)
Mr Bennet's Bride, by Emma Wood (Newcastle Theatre Company)
Pyjamas in the Daytime, by Grahame Cooper (Footlice Theatre Company)
Spent, by Sarah Coffee, Tamara Gazzard, Lucy Shepherd (Paper Cut)
Undertow, by Thomas Gorton (from Savoury Eats, the Regional Institute of
Performing Arts)
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Excellence by a Male Actor in a Leading Role in a Drama or Comedy
Dean Blackford, Mr Bennet's Bride (Newcastle Theatre Company)
Timothy Blundell, The Merchant of Venice (Stooged Theatre)
Michael Byrne, The Boys (Newcastle Theatre Company)
Michael Byrne, God of Carnage (Newcastle Theatre Company)
Michael Byrne, Withnail and I (Pencil Case Productions)
Lindsay Carr, The Odd Couple (DAPA Theatre)
James Chapman, Sleuth (Newcastle Theatre Company)
Mitchell Cox, Checklist for an Armed Robber (Stooged Theatre)
Jared Mainey, The Three Musketeers (The Grainery Theatre Company)
Philip McGrath, The Odd Couple (DAPA Theatre)
Richard Murray, God of Carnage (Newcastle Theatre Company)
Harold Phipps, Macbeth (Young People’s Theatre)
Callan Purcell, Checklist for an Armed Robber (Stooged Theatre)
Callan Purcell, The Removalists (Stooged Theatre)
Dez Robertson, The Anatomy of Buzz (Stray Dogs Theatre)
Theo Rule, The Three Musketeers (The Grainery Theatre Company)
Barry Shepherd, The Weir (Stooged Theatre)
Mark Spencer, The Amorous Ambassador (DAPA Theatre)
Brian Wark, It's My Party (And I'll Die If I Want To) (Theatre on Brunker)
Glen Waterhouse, The Merchant of Venice (Stooged Theatre)
Glen Waterhouse, The Removalists (Stooged Theatre)
Excellence by a Female Actor in a Leading Role in a Drama or Comedy
Rosemary Dartnell, God of Carnage (Newcastle Theatre Company)
Angie Diaz, Checklist for an Armed Robber (Stooged Theatre)
Janet Gillam, Calendar Girls (Newcastle Theatre Company)
Janet Gillam, Checklist for an Armed Robber (Stooged Theatre)
Jan Hunt, Calendar Girls (Newcastle Theatre Company)
Jan Hunt, A Knight to Remember (Footlice Theatre Company)
Giverny Lewis, The Merchant of Venice (Stooged Theatre)
Fiona Mundie, Pyjamas in the Daytime (Footlice Theatre Company)
Linda Read, God of Carnage (Newcastle Theatre Company)
Precila Selui, Ofa (from Savoury Eats, the Regional Institute of Performing Arts)
Nola Wallace, Lost In Yonkers (Newcastle Theatre Company)
Amy Wilde, The Boys (Newcastle Theatre Company)
Excellence by a Male Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Luke Power, Footrot Flats: The Musical (Theatre on Brunker)
Callan Purcell, Hairspray (Metropolitan Players)
Malcolm Young, Hairspray (Metropolitan Players)
Excellence by a Female Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Kiani Sansom, Hairspray (Metropolitan Players)
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Excellence by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Ian Barton, The Amorous Ambassador (DAPA Theatre)
Andrew Black, The Amorous Ambassador (DAPA Theatre)
Carl Caulfield, The Weir (Stooged Theatre)
Ian Crouch, Hairspray (Metropolitan Players)
Scott Eveleigh, The Merchant of Venice (Stooged Theatre)
Philip McGrath, The Weir (Stooged Theatre)
Guilherme Noronha, Beauty and the Beast (Maitland Gilbert and Sullivan and
Musical Society)
Theo Rule, The Anatomy of Buzz (Stray Dogs Theatre)
Excellence by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Marjorie Butcher, The Chosen (Tantrum Youth Arts)
Alison Cox, Mr Bennet’s Bride (Newcastle Theatre Company)
Annie Devine, Hairspray (Metropolitan Players)
Charlotte De Wit, The Little Mermaid Jr (Hunter Region Drama School)
Chloe Forster, The Merchant of Venice (Stooged Theatre)
Tracey Gordon, Mr Bennet’s Bride (Newcastle Theatre Company)
Jan Hunt, The Amorous Ambassador (DAPA Theatre)
Rachel Jackett, The Removalists (Stooged Theatre)
Jane Martin, Beauty and The Beast (Maitland Gilbert and Sullivan and Musical
Society)
Angela McKeown, The Anatomy of Buzz (Stray Dogs Theatre)
Stephanie Priest, Company (Newcastle Theatre Company)
Arlene Richards, Calendar Girls (Newcastle Theatre Company)
Alana Silcock, Hairspray (Metropolitan Players)
Emma Wood, The Removalists (Stooged Theatre)
Katie Wright, It’s My Party (And I’ll Die If I Want To) Theatre on Brunker
Excellence by a Male Actor Under 18
Nicholas Hamilton, The Little Mermaid Jr (Hunter Region Drama School)
Hadrian Le Goff, Macbeth (Young People’s Theatre)
Jerry Ray, Romeo and Juliet (Hunter Region Drama School Actors’ Company)
Thomas Rodgers, The Little Mermaid Jr (Hunter Region Drama School)
Nicholas Thoroughgood, Lost In Yonkers (Newcastle Theatre Company)
Alex Waye, Lost In Yonkers (Newcastle Theatre Company)
Excellence by a Female Actor Under 18
Phoebe Clark, The Three Musketeers (The Grainery Theatre Company)
Juliette Coates, Hairspray (Metropolitan Players)
Jasmine Hunt-Gordon, Legend of the Golden Sands (Footlice Theatre Company)
Cassie Osborne, Romeo and Juliet (Hunter Region Drama School Actors’ Company)
Jordan Warner, Annie (Maitland Gilbert and Sullivan and Musical Society)
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Best Ensemble Acting
Aftershocks, DAPA Theatre
The Amorous Ambassador, DAPA Theatre
Annie, Maitland Gilbert and Sullivan and Musical Society
Checklist for an Armed Robber, Stooged Theatre
The Chosen, Tantrum Youth Arts
Company, Newcastle Theatre Company
God of Carnage, Newcastle Theatre Company
Hairspray, Metropolitan Players
The Little Mermaid Jr, Hunter Region Drama School
Macbeth, Young People’s Theatre
The Merchant of Venice, Stooged Theatre
Mr Bennet's Bride, Newcastle Theatre Company
A Night in The Forest, Aspire
The Wizard of Oz, Hunter School of the Performing Arts
Excellence by a Director (Drama or Comedy)
Rod Ansell, Macbeth (Young People’s Theatre)
Julie Black, Mr Bennet's Bride (Newcastle Theatre Company)
Julie Black, The Odd Couple (DAPA Theatre)
Meri Bird, It’s My Party (And I’ll Die If I Want To) (Theatre on Brunker)
Isobel Denholm, Calendar Girls (Newcastle Theatre Company)
Thomas Gorton, Undertow (from Savoury Eats, the Regional Institute of Performing
Arts)
Amy Hardingham, The Chosen (Tantrum Youth Arts)
Amy Hardingham and Lucy Shepherd, Diving Off the Edge of the World (Tantrum
Youth Arts)
Merilyn Hey, Pyjamas in the Daytime (Footlice Theatre Company)
Susan Irwin, The Three Musketeers (The Grainery Theatre Company)
Chloe Perrett, Checklist for an Armed Robber (Stooged Theatre)
Callan Purcell, Aftershocks (DAPA Theatre)
Margaret Spencer, The Amorous Ambassador (DAPA Theatre)
John Wood, God of Carnage (Newcastle Theatre Company)
Carl Young, The Merchant of Venice (Stooged Theatre)
Carl Young, The Removalists (Stooged Theatre)
Excellence by a Director (Musical)
Julie Black, Hairspray (Metropolitan Players)
Katy Booth and Emily Taylor, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
(Young People’s Theatre)
Daniel Stoddart, The Little Mermaid Jr (Hunter Region Drama School)
Excellence by a Musical Director
Kieran Norman, Company (Newcastle Theatre Company)
Bruce Rowlatt, The Wizard of Oz (Hunter School of the Performing Arts)
Chris Vidler, Hairspray (Metropolitan Players)
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Excellence by a Choreographer
Kirby-Leigh Coker and Lauren Handsaker, Hairspray (Metropolitan Players)
Annabel Fleming, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Young People’s
Theatre)
Jo Ford, The Little Mermaid Jr (Hunter Region Drama School)
Lauren Wheatley, A Night in The Forest (Aspire)
Excellence in Costume Design
Jennifer Ellicott and Kerrie Fischer, The Little Mermaid Jr (Hunter Region Drama
School)
Bev Fewins, Hairspray (Metropolitan Players)
Fiona Mundie, Janet Mundie and Sonja Davis, Legend of the Golden Sands (Footlice
Theatre Company)
Bianca Posavec, Elena Morris-Britten, Alison Byrne, Lee Wells and Brianna Thomas,
The Wizard of Oz (Hunter School of the Performing Arts)
Lauren Wheatley, A Night in The Forest (Aspire)
Excellence in Make-up and Hair Design
Hannah Buck, make-up design, The Aristocats Kids (Opera Hunter)
Sonja Davis, make-up design, Legend of the Golden Sands (Footlice Theatre
Company)
Valmai Drury and George Francis, hair and wigs design, Hairspray (Metropolitan
Players)
George Francis, hair and wigs design, The Little Mermaid Jr (Hunter Region Drama
School)
Kim Houston, make-up design, Hairspray (Metropolitan Players)
Stephanie Mills, make-up design, The Little Mermaid Jr (Hunter Region Drama
School)
Excellence in Set and Props Design
Rod Ansell, Greg Shearer, Stephen Hill and Kevin Rogers, set design, Macbeth
(Young People’s Theatre)
Felicity Biggins and Robyn Greenwell, set design, The Anatomy of Buzz (Stray Dogs
Theatre)
Chris Bird and Brian Lowe, set design, Footrot Flats: The Musical (Theatre on
Brunker)
Chris Bird and Brian Lowe, set design, It’s My Party (And I’ll Die If I Want To)
(Theatre on Brunker)
Graeme Black and Donna Nipperess, set design, Hairspray (Metropolitan Players)
John Deacon, puppet design and creation, Jack and The Beanstalk (Young People’s
Theatre)
John Grogan and Daniel Stoddart, set design, The Little Mermaid (Hunter Region
Drama School)
Wendy Leis, set design, Snow White (Young People’s Theatre)
Joel Yager, set design, Checklist for an Armed Robber (Stooged Theatre)
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Excellence in Lighting Design
Joshua Broadbent, Macbeth (Young People’s Theatre)
Lyndon Buckley, The Chosen (Tantrum Youth Arts)
Lyndon Buckley, Spent (Paper Cut)
Jacob Harwood, Hairspray (Metropolitan Players)
Jacob Harwood, The Little Mermaid Jr (Hunter Region Drama School)
Sarah Jane Judge, Calendar Girls (Newcastle Theatre Company)
Elese Murray, Checklist for an Armed Robber (Stooged Theatre)
Alex Waye, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Young People’s
Theatre)
Alex Waye, Lost in Yonkers (Newcastle Theatre Company)
Gererd Wilson, Diving Off the Edge of the World (Tantrum Youth Arts)
Excellence in Sound Design
Rod Ansell and Tom Lovat, Macbeth (Young People’s Theatre)
Ryan Burrett, Undertow (from Savoury Eats, the Regional Institute of Performing
Arts)
Christopher Harley, The Merchant of Venice (Stooged Theatre)
Huw Jones, Spent (Paper Cut)
Zackari Watt, Diving Off the Edge of the World (Tantrum Youth Arts)
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CONDA YOUTH THEATRE ENCOURAGEMENT GRANT NOMINEES
Kimberley Dingle (Pantseat Productions)
Kimberley, 16, attends Merewether High School and has been a member of Pantseat
Productions since 2011. During her time at Pantseat she has been involved in many
productions, most recently in the cabaret show On Our Way. A music theatre, drama
and soloist student, she has been involved as stage manager, production manager, cast
manager, make-up and hair artist and front-of-house attendant, and was a member of
the Pantseat Carollers who were employed to work in Newcastle and Hunter Valley
Stockland shopping centres in 2013. She is an active member of the Pantseat student
fund-raising committee, helping to raise funds for the company’s student scholarships.
She won the Pantseat All-Rounder Award in 2012 and its Drama Ensemble Award in
2013. Her calm, mature and organised demeanour helps things to run smoothly when
she is engaged in support roles including stage and cast management.
Bonnie McPeak (Hunter Region Drama School)
Bonnie, 13, has been a student at Hunter Region Drama School for six years. She has
appeared in all the company’s productions in that time, including Alice in Wonderland
and Bugsy Malone. Her most recent show was Disney’s Little Mermaid Jr at the Civic
Theatre, playing the title character, Ariel, a role that demanded a high level of
professionalism and dedication to give the character the needed individual spirit. As
well as singing, acting and dancing around the stage, Bonnie had to wear special
shoes with wheels in them that gave the illusion of floating through water. And she
had to do this while wearing a mermaid tail just under two metres long attached to her
back. Bonnie is a passionate, energetic and humble young performer who is a role
model for all the younger actors at Hunter Region Drama School.
India Wilson (Tantrum Youth Arts)
India, 17, has attended Tantrum workshops for the past five years, and performed in
eight of Tantrum’s end-of-semester productions. As the youngest member of
Tantrum’s 2012 major production, Alana Valentine’s Grounded, she toured to
Sydney, performed at the Australian Theatre for Young People, and met professional
actors. And through Open Cage, an extension of the Tantrum community, she was
involved in the devising and development of Panic, a story about young people
experiencing mental problems. This year, she was a key cast member of Tantrum’s
The Chosen, which toured to Sydney. She overcame hesitations about her ability to
sing on stage in the show, and showed her singing ability in promotions at
Charlestown Square and the Condabalooza fund-raising event. India notes that she
was a clumsy, sporty outdoor kid before taking lessons at Tantrum and discovering
her love of performance. She is hopeful of becoming involved in directing and
teaching other young people.
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