| The Best Performances in Hampton Roads | | Print | |
| Written by PJ Freebourn | |
| Friday, 09 June 2006 | |
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Recently a new discussion has popped up on our forum. People want some recognition to be given for all the great performances they have seen this year. Go check out who others are viewing as the best performances in the area and then throw your two cents in. Also, there has been talk of wanting Hampton Roads theatre awards: The "PJ's" ... I like it. Ok, so we will probably not call it that officially. But tell me what you think of onhamptonroads.com picking up where Portfolio left off. Admittedly, we have discussed doing an area theatre awards since the inception of onhamptonroads.com. But, there is a basic problem with giving out awards for the "best". How do you decide who is the best, in a fair manner? The answer is that you can not. This weekend many of us are going to watch the Tony's. And we all know that it is imperfect in its declarations of who is, in fact, the best. Popularity and politics will always win out in the end. But no matter how imperfect the results are, we all watch. The reason we watch is because these awards ceremonies are our way of celebrating the art of theatre. And our way to learn more about the theatre we haven't seen. For that reason, I personally would love to see an area theatre awards ceremony again. I do believe it is going to be difficult to come up with a reasonbly fair method to give awards, but in the end, no matter what the method or accuracy therein, I still think that it is something that is beneficial to our community.
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It is a chance for us to gather and celebrate our art and celebrate each other. 
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Okay. ok, officially... Yes we are pursuing having awards. It will not happen for this season. (note: onhamptonroads.com was not even fully active for the entire season) But we will be taking this summer to hash out the details on how this can be done in credible manner. As has been stated, we do not want to rush into this thoughtlessly, so alot of time and effort is and will be put into making the onhamptonroads.com awards a reality. We still have a long way to go, and we are still looking for good ideas on how to make this happen. So in the meantime, please continue to post your favorites of the past year, and also continue to throw in your suggestions and comments. pj freebourn Hi guys, I know it's a hard deal to get off the ground, but a small request. Could you (OHR people) give us periodic progress/lack of progress/general feelings reports? It's a small thing, and I know you've responded a few times, but I/we feel kind of in Limbo. Maybe a definite no, or yes, or maybe or who the heck knows? PS--we love you guys and what you're all about and trying to do, OK?-- Robin Check the forum, Jimmy. Hey, I guess by the thundrous silence from OLHR admid, this issue of awards is dead in the water. O well, back to reading Portfolio for me. Sayonara. OK a couple of suggestions. Gypsy (PCT) as Best Musical. It Noises OFF (LTN) as Best Comedy. Portal (Generic) as Best Drama. PCT for Best Season Let's face it, the people who don't like this idea will never be pleased with any system proposed. I don't see any harm in having an awards site. Everyone will be happy: the people who want it will revel in the process and recognition, and the the ones who don't will have something to rail about. A win-win situation. I say, just do it--Ed Guys and Gals, I have been nominated once for a Portfolio award, didn't win, but you know, it was still an honor. Of course, I've heard all the usual rumors, that you had to be In with the In Crowd and all that to win, but still. The whole machine of nominations and waiting for the list of nominations and (in my case) not winning was just bully! Incidentally, I heard that Bob had some serious health issues at the time, and didn't give it up--as Mr Diana alluded--because no viable answer could be found. The simple truth, doing an award takes a lot of dedicated people to do the work of tallying, conferring, meeting, and researching the local theatrical body of work. Hope you can make it work, I guarantee this site will become a major player in the local scene, as you people have envisioned. Awards, Recognition of ouselves between ourselves, will render this site an institution. Sorry, I usually never talk this much. MM PJ and all: to the best of my knowlege, the Portfolio Awards were the baby of Robert Arthur, a TCC professor and frequent reviewer for portfolio. Again, to the best of my knowlege, he gave it up because he had done it for so long, and no one wanted to take the reins. Nominations were made by popular vote, both e-mail and snail mail. They were then posted in Portfolio. Now, Bob had an 'advisory panel' consisting of critcs like Montague Gammon and various theatre people like Bruno Koch (formerly of CNU) and the late Gerry Rowe. The final determination was, I understand, made by him. Face it, nothing is completely fair and unsubjective, but it was a nice process and event. While I respect Mr. Diana's opinion and formidable talent (I probably would nominate him for best director for PCT's 1776), I don't agree that thunderous applause is the only goal. Recognition and feedback by fans, and especially peers, is vital. This isn't about money, as is professional theatre, this is simply appreciation of 'art for art's sake.'Maybe the simplest route would be to copy Mr Arthur's method to start, and 'tweak' the bad parts as time goes by. Just a thought--Joe |