‘Re’Ashored’ tops Actor Boy Awards with 15 nominations

IT WAS a moment for Jamaica’s theatre community to rejoice. Saturday, in a live broadcast on the Actor Boy Awards (ABA) Facebook page, administrator Maurice Bryan announced the list of nominees for the 2019 theatre season.

But while the top five nominees, Re’Ashored, Straight Jacket, Isaiah, Shango-Tales of the Orishas and Case of the Ex, will have to wait until the awards ceremony to know their fate, that will not be the case for the cast and crew of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. As the sole nominee in the Best Ensemble Category, they were declared the winner by Bryan.

The administrator also described the adjudication process as a “difficult task”. He apologised for shifting the announcement “date down” and thanked the adjudicators, led by Cecile Clayton. The approximately 17-minute-long presentation was concluded with the announcement that “the awards are temporarily slated for early May. [However] if Miss Rona decides to stick around, and we have to still entertain ourselves via social media, we won’t leave you out. We will bring you the awards live,” via the social platforms.

Quilt’s Re’Ashored received the most nominations - 15 in total - among them, Best Production, Best Director, Best Actor in a Lead Role, Best Drama, Best Musical and Best Choreography. There were also two nominations in the Best Supporting Actors and Best Original Song categories, as well as in all five technical categories: set, sound, special effects, lightning and costume.

JamBiz’s Straight Jacket received 11 nominations, Best Production, Best Director, Best Actor and Actress in a Lead Role, Best Actor and Actress in a Supporting Role, Best Drama, Best Comedy, Best New Play, and the five technical categories: set, sound, special effects, lightning and costume.

Father Ho Lung and Friends’ Isaiah also received the nod in all five technical categories, as well as for Best Production, Best Director and Best Musical.

Edna Manley College School of Drama’s Shango-Tales of the Orishas and DMH Productions’ Case of the Ex received seven nominations each. However, both will only compete for the Best Director and Best Drama awards. Shango’s other nominations were Best Production, and Best Set, Lighting and Costume Designs.

Other productions with multiple nominations were Ananda Alert with five; C ommon Sense and Windscream Posse with four; Seville and the Bone Tribunal, 56 East Avenue, Annie and A Midsummer Night’s Dream with three each.

The intriguing Best Children’s category will see Edith Dalton James High School’s A Child’s Cry challenging Ananda Alert, No Good Deed Goes Unpunished, Annie and Force Ripe. Oliver Samuels, Glen Campbell, Brian Johnson, Desmond Dennis and Earl Brown will vie for Best Actor in a Lead Role. The nominees on the female side are Rosie Murray, Audrey Reid, Dahlia Harris and Faithy Lynch. Interestingly, Murray and Harris were nominated twice for different roles.