MEDIA RELEASE
Wednesday 11 November 2009
NOMINEES ANNOUNCED FOR 2009 ADELAIDE CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDS
The Adelaide Critics Circle has announced the finalists for its 2009 annual awards. The nominees for awards in the performing arts are:
Individual Award
• Paul Blackwell, actor, The Hypochondriac (Brink Productions)
• Chris Drummond, director, The Hypochondriac (Brink Productions)
• David Mealor, director, True West (Flying Penguin Productions)
Group Award
• Brink Productions, The Hypochondriac
• State Theatre Company; Arts Asia Pacific; Power Arts, Metro Street
• Windmill Performing Arts, The Wizard of Oz
Emerging Artist of the Year
• Joanne Hartstone, actor, Oleanna (Theatre Tours International; Guy Masterson)
• Robert Macfarlane, tenor (for a body of work throughout the year)
• Corey McMahon, director, Osama the Hero and The Under Room (five.point.one)
Independent Arts Foundation Award for Innovation
• Geoff Cobham, lighting designer, for G (Australian Dance Theatre)
• 3xperimentia: live cut (Felicity Arts: Amanda Phillips and Alexander Waite Mitchell)
• The Wizard of Oz (Windmill Performing Arts)
In recognition of the importance of amateur theatre in the community, the Adelaide Critics Circle continues its long-standing support of unpaid workers in the performing arts with the Awards for Amateur Theatre. The finalists in 2009 are:
Individual Award – Amateur Theatre
• Brant Eustace, actor, Oleanna (University of Adelaide Theatre Guild)
• Adam Tuominen, actor, The Glass Menagerie (Adelaide Repertory Theatre)
• Laraine Wheeler, lighting designer, The Glass Menagerie (Adelaide Repertory Theatre)
Group Award – Amateur Theatre
• Adelaide Repertory Theatre, The Glass Menagerie
• Gilbert & Sullivan Society, The Yeomen of the Guard
• Mixed Salad Productions, The History Boys
In addition to the awards mentioned above, two other awards will be announced, being the Award for Visual Arts (a single winner, decided by the Visual Arts critics) and the coveted Lifetime Achievement Award.
The 2009 Awards Ceremony, which is a free event open to the public, will be held at the Arts Theatre, 53 Angas Street, on Monday 7 December at 6 pm. This year’s guest presenter will be national and international arts identity Anthony Steel AM.
Award winners receive cash and a trophy featuring the ACC’s unique design. The ACColades are unique in Australia for including a cash prize. The main funding for the awards is from the Department for the Arts (ArtSA), and the Independent Arts Foundation funds a special Innovation award which recognises and encourages ground-breaking developments and exciting experimentation.
The ACColades, now in their 12th year, are the annual awards from the Adelaide Critics Circle, a group of around 20 Adelaide-based critics, writing for the mainstream and alternative print and electronic media