Actor Boy Awards re-enters the stage
Organisers aiming to host event in March 2024
Published:Monday | May 1, 2023 | 12:25 AMAaliyah Cunningham/Gleaner Writer
With the last staging of the Actor Boy Awards being held virtually in May 2020, come next month it will be three years since the theatre community has come together to celebrate their achievements and present awards to outstanding members and productions. Nevertheless, members can now breathe a sigh of relief as according to the now chief organiser of the awards show, Suzanne Beadle, things are on track for the return of the Actor Boy Awards in March of 2024.
The hiatus, she explained, is largely due to the impact that the pandemic had on the theatre in Jamaica.
“There has been no theatre happening because of the restrictions that came about because of COVID. The Actor Boy Awards is about adjudicating and rewarding people in the theatre community within the year so if there is no live theatre happening, there is nothing to adjudicate and reward,” she told The Gleaner.
She continued, “It was horrible. There are several production companies that, that is what they do. That is their 9-5. It is not just who you see onstage, it is the writers, producers, ushers, front-of-stage who lost their income overnight and not everybody had a 9-5, not everybody had a day job or side hustle. We had to sit and watch airports and airlines open up and be full to capacity and we were being told that we can’t open. Then when they opened we had to operate at 70 per cent capacity. People had closed down their businesses, people had migrated. We took a heavy hit. I don’t even think we have really realised the implications of the hit.”
CHANGES TO COMMITTEE
As the community picks up the pieces and gets back to the stage, the stakeholders in the Actor Boy Awards have begun to do the same. Former event organiser Maurice Bryan has officially stepped down and passed on the mantle to Beadle and several other changes have been made to the structure of the committee.
“The restrictions were lifted during the middle of last year and we just weren’t ready. We had to put some things in place and so we had to make a decision that we are going to work to get everything together for December 31, so January 1 we would be ready,” she shared.
They have now put in an interim committee and have commenced the adjudicating process for productions that are currently running.
“We have the judges in place, they have received training and they have been seeing the shows that have opened in 2023, so the adjudicating process is up and running. We are now in the process of putting together a new administrative team that will run the awards. So, we will be judging all of 2023 and then on or around World Theatre Day in March, we will have the Actor Boy Awards show,” Beadle said.
News of the show’s return has excited and invigorated the theatre community. Multi-award nominee and recipient, Rosemary Murray Tingling, said she could not be happier.
“I am so elated because we all were sort of in a bubble for a while. Nothing was happening so I am happy to see that theatre is back, although we have not got enough theatres to support the number of productions that are possible. I am happy to see that some sense of achievement can happen for those who have braved it since the pandemic and have productions staged. I am thrilled!” she expressed excitedly.
Her sentiments were shared by playwright Basil Dawkins.
“There is an understanding as to why we were not having it because COVID had put a dent on the whole industry. We all understand that, and we work with it. Most things have died and must be resuscitated, and I am happy that efforts are being made to revive and put some energy and life back into it. Hopefully something good or even better than we had before will emerge,” he said.
For Beadle, the Actor Boy Awards, which is customarily held on a Monday because that’s the one night that theatre is off, is far too important to have it die out.
“This is the one thing that we have that we do together. It is the one night we can come together and celebrate each other. It is hard – sweat-inducing, back-breaking, broke-pocketing work. It is our time to say look at what we did, look at what my friend did and to also showcase what we can and have done as a creative community. Jamaica is considered the theatre capital of the world. We cannot not have the Actor Boy Awards.”