Local community theater was supposed to celebrate at the Washington Area Theater Community Honors (WATCH) on Sunday night at The Bichmere in Alexandria, Virginia.
However, this year the winners had to be announced online due to the coronavirus.
“It’s our big drama prom,” WATCH Awards production coordinator Jenna Ballard told WTOP. “It’s our night to all get together and see people we haven’t worked with in years and celebrate their community theater achievements and hand out some trophies.”
However, the 20th anniversary celebration was quickly thwarted by shelter-in-place orders, which postponed the initial March 23 ceremony, then canceled the April 19 rain date.
“When things started to shut down, The Birchmere contacted us as we were starting to talk about what should we do?” Ballard said. “As things ramped up and were clearly getting worse, I reached out to The Birchmere and said, ‘We’re just going to cancel. It doesn’t make sense for us to postpone.’ I didn’t want to put off announcing the winners.”
At that point, Ballard considered doing a Facebook Live presentation.
“I was going to have just a few people, maybe a few of the lead actors, come to my house and set up a camera,” Ballard said. “I was just starting to reach out to actors to see if they were interested when the governor of Maryland said no more non-essential travel. So, we had to give up that idea as well, and at that point, we just published the announcement.”
Outstanding Musical went to “The Producers” by Little Theatre of Alexandria, defeating “Crazy for You” by Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre, “Guys and Dolls” by Port Tobacco Players, “Hairspray” by Rockville Musical Theatre and “Cabaret” by Silhouette Stages.
“LTA [Little Theatre of Alexandria] has a long history,” Ballard said. “They’re one of the founding members of WATCH. They’ve got a really big subscription base and a really great facility to work in. They’ve got the ability to put on the big shows like ‘The Producers.'”
Outstanding Play went to “Time Stands Still” by Reston Community Players, defeating “Arsenic and Old Lace” by Colonial Players of Annapolis, “Last Summer at Bluefish Cove” by Dominion Stage, “Leaving Iowa” by Providence Players of Fairfax, “Appropriate” by Silver Spring Stage and “The Importance of Being Earnest” by Silver Spring Stage.
“Reston is again a founding member of WATCH,” Ballard said. “‘Time Stands Still’ had a very small cast, I believe only four people in the cast and all four of them were nominated. … The set was just really stunning for that show, the technical elements, the lighting.”
Dominion Stage won the most with seven for “Last Summer at Bluefish Cove.” Reston Community Players and Silver Spring Stage tied for the most nominations with 25.
“Sometimes we have what we call runaway winners where the judges are just so excited about a show that they kind of obscure things and that one particular show ends up sweeping a lot of the categories,” Ballard said. “This year it went really well where there was not a runaway winner. We had a lot of spread of shows getting nominations.”
To qualify, shows must be produced from January through December in a calendar year.
“Each member company provides four volunteer judges,” Ballard said. “We have this amazing technical guru who … puts it all into a randomized matrix … to assign 10 judges for each show. This past year there were 101 shows produced, 60 plays and 41 musicals, so each judge gets assigned to 10 shows over the course of the calendar year.”
Unlike the Helen Hayes Awards, which honors professional theater companies, the WATCH Awards specifically honors the unpaid volunteers of community theater.
“These are folks who don’t ever get paid, basically,” Ballard said. “You’re literally working your day job from 9 to 5 or whatever, then driving straight to the theater and rehearsing until maybe midnight, then going back to your 9 to 5 the next day. It’s pretty tough.”
Thus, the coronavirus shutdown has thrown off their entire routine.
“It’s a very interesting time for all of us,” Ballard said. “It’ll be harder for theater companies that have facilities that they have to pay rent on. If they’re trying to maintain a space that has utilities, rent and taxes, there is going to be an issue with them not having income.”
For now, they can at least enjoy their recognition by the WATCH Awards.
“WATCH’s mission is to raise awareness of community theater,” Ballard said. “We’re not at the professional level, but we’re still contributing to our communities. It’s an opportunity for people who want to participate in theater. … Hopefully, all of our companies will be able to come back and produce great theater when we’re able to gather again.”
See the full list of winners on the WATCH Awards website.
