November 19, 2016 Theatre Awards Dinner

Just as I’ve shared articles written by others throughout this year, for today’s Snippet I asked those who knew the topic to write this one. Thank you Nicole Nelson and Tina Coville-Bauder for writing this Snippet.

Theatre has a long and varied history. From the Greek choruses to Shakespeare’s ornate stage to the modern musical. There was a time when all communities had a performance space of some kind, from elaborate and many storied in the cities to small and compact in the smaller towns. It was a place to go to see and be seen. With the advent of television and movies live theatre doesn’t have quite the prominence that it used to. The good news is that it hasn’t disappeared.

There is still a prevalence of community theatre and summer stock theatres across the country. Schools are also getting the younger generations interested in all aspects of the theatre world. In our community there is a strong theatre program at South Seneca High School. Over the years they have done shows from a variety of genres and styles. They have been involved in different programs and organizations that would come in and give the cast and crew feedback about the performance including Stars of Tomorrow through the Rochester Broadway Theatre League and TANYS, or the Theatre Association of New York State.

In March 2016 the South Seneca Falcons Players presented Guys and Dolls. At that time the Falcon Players belonged to TANYS and as a member of this organization we had the opportunity to have an adjudicator come to one of the performances and give us feedback. They also have the chance to give awards for the production; the awards come in three different categories:

Meritorious Achievement = Some advanced theatrical skill noted

Excellence = Theatrical skill base not routinely noted in non-professional theatre

Outstanding Achievement = Theatrical skill base rarely seen in non-professional theatre

For their production of Guys and Dolls the Falcon Players were presented with the following awards:

Excellence in Direction and Production Design and Execution to Tina Coville-Bauder and her Production Staff

Excellence in Vocal Direction to Kyla Quinn

Meritorious Achievement in Performance to Nathaniel Bauder for his portrayal of Nathan Detroit

Excellence in Performance to Gemini Zajac for her portrayal of Miss Adelaide

Meritorious Achievement in Ensemble Performance to the Cast  

TANYS covers the entire state and every November they have a festival with performance showcases and an awards banquet, we have been lucky enough that it has taken place in Auburn the last few years making it easy to attend. On November 19, 2016, a group was able to attend the banquet and received the awards.

In March of 2017 the Falcon Players produced The Wiz. Again we had a TANYS adjudicator come see the show and we will be receiving the following awards at the TANYS banquet on November 18th:

Excellence in Lighting Design to Mark Sinkiewicz

Excellence in Vocal and Orchestral Direction to Mark Brown and Rebecca DeGrave

Excellence in Direction and Production Concept and Execution to Tina Coville-Bauder

Excellence in Choreography and Make Up Design to Chad Eastman

Meritorious Achievement in Ensemble Performance to the Cast

Meritorious Achievement in Performance to Aden VanCleef for his portrayal of Tinman

Many of those involved with the school productions can also be found participating both onstage and behind the scenes during the summer productions with the Between the Lakes Community Service Players. The Between the Lakes group is also a member of TANYS and has been fortunate enough to have an adjudication for their past few shows. In July 2015 they produced Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and received the following awards:

Excellence in Performance to Chad Eastman for his portrayal of Caractacus Potts

Excellence in Ensemble Acting to the Cast

Excellence in Direction and Overall Production Value to Tina Bauder and Her Production Team

Excellence in Scenic Design and Technical Direction to Mark Sinkiewicz

Excellence in Musical Direction to Charity Gillotti

This past summer Between the Lakes players produced Godspell and will be receiving the following awards at this year’s banquet:

Excellence in Orchestral Conduction to S. Shade Zajac

Excellence in Ensemble Performance to the Cast

Excellence in Production Concept and Execution to Tina Coville-Bauder, Mark Sinkiewicz and Nicole Nelson

Excellence in Choreography to Chad Eastman  

When you’re looking for an enjoyable evening out locally consider going to the theatre and seeing what our youth and community members are presenting. There are two opportunities to see the Falcon Players in action yet this year: Dec 1-3, 2017 for ‘Tis the Seasons Charlie Brown, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 pm and Sunday at 2pm. And mark your calendars for the musical, performance dates will be March 16-18, 2018, the show has not yet been determined.

Editor’s note: as part of the awards dinner there is a theme and groups are welcome to bring center pieces for their table which reflect that theme. The 2016 theme was “A Wonderful TANYS.”

To highlight both that theme, and the Guys and Dolls show, Nicole Nelson created a number of scenes for their table. And took the prize for best table decoration.

Dewitt’s Diary Saturday, November 19, 1955

Temperature 29, snowing and the ground is white this morning.

We are not ready for snow. Many acres of beans in field and corn to pick and the ground is soaked with water everywhere.

Three inches of snow tonight and snowing yet.

We drove down to Clint Pell’s this evening.

Wind from the northeast all day.

Husked out 6 shocks of corn we had in the barn.

Dewitt’s Diary, Wednesday, November 19, 1958

Temperature 50, cloudy and windy from the west and getting colder.

I picked two rows of field corn for another road across the field. 16 bushels. 
Leland getting ready to put the pullets in.

I am now all done picking corn by hand and hope to start picking by machine.

We put the pullets in tonight.

Temperature 42 tonight. The cold wave is fizzling out.

Looks like a good day for tomorrow.