BCT nominated for 9 area theatre awards

By DAVID EMANUEL

Editor

Bowie Community Theatre has always been a group to watch, and they just might receive even more awards to prove it.

The Washington Area Theatre Community Honors (WATCH), an organization founded for the adjudication and presentation of annual awards recognizing artistic and technical excellence in community theatre throughout Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., recently nominated BCT for an unprecedented nine awards in two different shows.

"Grace & Glorie" received four nominations: Outstanding Direction of a Play, Estelle Miller; Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play, Jo Black Sullivan as "Glorie"; Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play, Sandra Cox True as "Grace" and Outstanding Play.

"Sordid Lives" received five nominations: Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play, Scott Beadle as "Earl ‘Brother Boy’ Ingram"; Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play, Bernadette Arvidson as "Juanita"; Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play, Joanne Bauer as "Sissy Hickey"; Outstanding Hair Design in a Play, Scott Ross and Kaeti Bradley and Outstanding Makeup Design in a Play, Scott Beadle.

The Blade-News even hailed both shows as masterpieces, some of the best work ever done in local theatre.

The "Sordid Lives" review proclaimed, " ... has to be one of the funniest and inspired — and risky and risque — pieces of theatre ever done on a community stage. An amazing story of unconditional love and acceptance ... Rarely does a show have more than one or two actors who are scene-stealers, but in this show, each actor brings such heart and believability to their character, that you look forward to each moment every one of them is on stage."

And for "Grace & Glorie," the Blade-News hailed it as "one of the most beautifully done, brilliantly acted, personal shows ever seen." The show involves only two women, on stage for nearly two and a half hours. The story of a 40-year-old hospice worker caring for a 90-year-old woman grips the audience by its "poignancy and sheer, raw emotion in some of the scenes which are, and I don’t think this is a stretch to say — transcendent."

"I am proud of the hard work and dedication of all involved in these productions. Bowie Community Theatre is honored and humbled by these nominations and we look forward to bringing award-winning theatre to Bowie for years to come," said John Nunemaker, director of "Sordid Lives."

" ‘Sordid Lives’ is/was more than just a play, it was a family affair. The cast has become and will remain a real family," said Bauer, one of the WATCH nominees. This is her second nomination in five years (her other nomination was for her role in the comedy "Dearly Departed").

"After every production in community theatre, the cast always says, ‘Oh, honey, let’s stay in touch,’ and, even though the actors mean well, it never happens. Not with ‘Sordid Lives.’ We have gone out to dinners together, to other shows together, and we continue to email, call and get together whenever the whim hits us. We’ve even talked about doing a reprise of the show because so many of our fans are still talking about it a year later."

"Grace & Glorie" also clearly moved audiences — as well as critics and WATCH judges.

" ‘Grace & Glorie’ was a shining hour for me and for BCT," said director Estelle Miller. "The two women who agreed to play these two parts knowing they had to learn about 87 pages of lines were true professionals in every sense of the word. They dedicated their time so completely. They took stage direction and characterization direction without argument, questioned ideas they did not understand and made good observations and suggestions. They both truly deserve this award."

As a director, Miller said she’s been "honing her craft for many years and hopes all her directing efforts have been the best she could achieve."

"Having been nominated for this particular play makes me swell with pride because I have been a part of something so splendidly special," she said.

The awards ceremony will be held at the Birchmere in March.