The finalists for the 2015 Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards, Vancouver’s answer to the Tony Awards, were announced at a party yesterday at the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»TheatreSports League Improv Centre on Granville Island.
The Jessies are split up into three categories -- Large Theatre, Small Theatre, and Theatre for Young Audiences – and also include a number of special awards. As usual, the Arts Club Theatre Company dominated the Large Theatre awards, this year picking up a total of 19 nominations with the Stanley Theatre’s fiery staging of Saint. Joan up for seven of them with Kim Collier for best director, , Dean Paul Gibson for supporting actor, Jon Webber for lighting, Pam Johnson for set design, and Alessandro Juliani for sound design.
The Arts Club’s production of earned three more performance nominations for lead actor (Andrew McNee), supporting actor (Andrew Cownden) and supporting actress (Lauren Bowler), while their recent hard-boiled collaboration with Calgary’s Vertigo Theatre for earned four nominations in the design category with Scott Reid earning one for both light and set, Jamie Nesbitt for production design and  Deitra Kalyn for costumes. The remaining Arts Club nominations were for the Monty Python comedy (best actress for Terra C. MacLeod and a second best actor nod for Cownden), (best actress for Nicola Cavendish) and for outstanding musical ensemble. Â
Fittingly, French theatre company Théâtre la Seizième earned 16 nominations in all, eight nominations for À toi, pour toujours, ta Marie-Lou in the Large Theatre category, and eight more for Selfie in Theatre for Young Audiences.
Despite only having 128-seats in their alley-style theatre beneath Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Pacific Theatre nonetheless picked up 11 nominations in the Large Theatre category, including outstanding production, direction (Anthony F. Ingram) and two for best actor (Carl Kennedy and Tom Pickett) for its productions of as well as two best supporting actor noms for Robert Salvador for his work in both Espresso and .
In the Small Theatre category, the most overall nods were earned by Pi Theatre’s ’s (eight nominations include best actor for Michael Kopsa, best actress for Cherise Clarke, best director for Richard Wolfe and outstanding production) and ITSAZOO’s (seven nominations include best actor for Chris Cochrane, best supporting actor for Andrew Wheeler, best director for Chelsea Haberlin and outstanding original script for Sebastien Archibald). Â
The 33rd annual Jessie Awards will be held at the Commodore Ballroom, on June 22. Click to see the complete list of nominees
