Renaissance Players hand out Jimmy Awards for ’02-03 theatre season
Release Date: 8/15/2003. Expired: 8/30/2003
The actors and actresses walked down the red carpet as camera flashes exploded and a television crew called their names in the hope of getting a brief interview. Inside the nominees nervously enjoyed the reception as they waited to see who would win the night’s awards.
It sounds like one of many annual events in New York or Hollywood, but this night actually took place in Dickson as The Renaissance Center hosted its first annual Jimmy Awards to celebrate the 2002-03 season of the Renaissance Players community theatre program.
The Renaissance Players is the community troupe formed last summer to encourage involvement in the community theatre program of The Renaissance Center. Membership is open to anyone who would like to work with community theatre, either on stage or behind the scenes.
The group celebrated the conclusion of the 2002-03 season Tuesday, Aug. 12, at The Renaissance Center with the second annual Renaissance Players Gala, including a catered reception in the rotunda and the first Jimmy Awards presentation in the Performance Hall. The Jimmy Awards are named in honor of Dr. Jimmy Jackson, a founder of The Renaissance Center and its first chairman of the board of trustees who died in October 2001 after a lengthy battle with cancer.
“Dr. Jimmy provided the vision that became The Renaissance Center, giving this area the opportunity to participate in community theatre on a level that is comparable with many professional theatre companies,” said Kim Leavitt, director of Theatre Education at The Renaissance Center and managing director of the Renaissance Players. “We wanted to celebrate his legacy of making the theatre experience available to so many people by naming our annual awards after him.”
The Renaissance Players’ 2002-03 season consisted of six productions: Harvey, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, A Christmas Story, The Sound of Music, Arsenic and Old Lace and Annie Get Your Gun.
Participants were nominated in several acting categories and ballots were sent to all members of the Renaissance Players as well as season tickets holders. The winners were announced at the gala, which was videotaped by The Renaissance Center’s Multimedia Department for broadcast on the Renaissance Channel.
Winners at the first annual Renaissance Players Jimmy Awards were:
Best Actor in a Musical: David Arnold of Fairview, Annie Get Your Gun;
Best Actress in a Musical: Beth Burch of Bellevue, Annie Get Your Gun;
Best Supporting Actor in a Musical: Tom Whiting of Charlotte, The Sound of Music;
Best Supporting Actress in a Musical: Amanda Kopischke of White Bluff, Annie Get Your Gun;
Best Featured Performer in a Musical: Mel Romine of Dickson, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum;
Best Young Performer in a Musical: Jackson Stewart of Clarksville, The Sound of Music;
Best Actor in a Play: Raymon Whitt of Nashville, Arsenic and Old Lace;
Best Actress in a Play: (tie) Rachel Gunn of Dickson, A Christmas Story, and Ty Bissell of Fairview, Arsenic and Old Lace;
Best Supporting Actor in a Play: Ralph Henley of Nashville, Arsenic and Old Lace;
Best Supporting Actress in a Play: Melissa Landry of Nashville, Harvey;
Best Featured Performer in a Play: Kim Cantu of Bon Aqua, Harvey;
Best Young Performer in a Play: Alex Kopischke of White Bluff, A Christmas Story;
Outstanding Technical Crew Member: Trudy Wallace Whiting of Charlotte, and;
Renaissance Players Spirit Award: Kim Cantu of Bon Aqua.
The program included entertainment by Elaine Sherrill, Marilyn Fair and Jeff Martin of The Renaissance Center’s Music Department as well as presentations by the directors of each production. Cantu and Pat Jurek were presented with personalized director’s chairs in recognition of their efforts as community directors (Arsenic and Old Lace and Harvey, respectively).
Presenters included Leavitt, who directed The Sound of Music, Pacer Harp, managing director of the Gaslight Dinner Theatre who directed A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Hal Partlow, managing director of the Renaissance Repertory Theatre Company who directed A Christmas Story and Annie Get Your Gun, and members of the new Repertory Theatre Company.
“Awards shows usually have the previous year’s winners presenting that year’s awards, but since this was our first program we couldn’t do that,” Leavitt said. “Next year, we will bring back this year’s winners for that honor.”
Caley Crisp of The Renaissance Center’s Multimedia Department conducted the red carpet interviews as guests arrived for the evening. The first annual Jimmy Awards Program will be broadcast on the Renaissance Channel (Dickson cable access channel 19).
The Renaissance Players is open to anyone who wants to be involved with community theatre, either acting, directing, working on sets, costumes or behind the scenes.
The 2003-04 Renaissance Players season consists of productions of The Mousetrap Oct. 10-25 (auditions 6 p.m. Aug. 25-26), Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella Dec. 5-20 (auditions 6 p.m. Sept. 29-30), The Miracle Worker March 19-April 3 (auditions 6 p.m. Jan. 19-20) and The Wizard of Oz July 9-24 (auditions 9 a.m. May 8 for children and Dorothy and 6 p.m. May 10-11 for all other roles).
To learn more about the Renaissance Players, contact Leavitt at (615)740-5551 or . The Renaissance Center is an arts and technology education and performing arts center at 855 Highway 46 South in Dickson, just 35 miles west of Nashville on Interstate 40 at exit 172.
Visit the Theatre page for more about community and professional theatre.
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