The 2015 Elly Awards

Green Valley Theatre Company brought home seven awards at the 33rd Annual Elly Awards Sunday night, including the award for Overall Production of a musical for In the Heights.

Green Valley was followed closely by Big Idea Theatre, whose production of The Language Archive garnered six awards, and San Joaquin Delta College, which took home five awards for its production of Death of a Salesman.

Named in honor of Eleanor McClatchy — late publisher of The Sacramento Bee and renowned arts lover — the Elly Awards are the Sacramento area equivalent to the Tony Awards. The Elly Awards recognize all aspects of theatrical production, from the actors on the stage to the designers and technicians behind the scenes.

SARTA is an alliance of non-professional, community-level theaters, artists, technicians and administrators who foster and promote high-quality theater in the Sacramento region, according to its website. It keeps community theater calendars, sends out audition and performance notices, and recognizes theatrical excellence with the annual Elly Awards Ceremony.

The productions receiving the most Elly Awards were:
In The Heights – Green Valley Theatre Company (7)
Language Archives – Big Idea Theatre (6)
Death of a Salesman – San Joaquin Delta College (5)
Anon(ymous) – Falcon’s Eye Theatre at Folsom Lake College (3)
The Sound of Music – Stockton Civic Theatre (2)

Elly Awards for Overall Production in individual categories in the Adult Division went to:
Comedy – Language Archives – Big Idea Theatre
Drama – Death of a Salesman – San Joaquin Delta College
Musical – In the Heights – Green Valley Theatre
Original Works: Original Script – Frankenstein – Jes Gonzales – Resurrection Theatre
Original Works: Original Adaptation- Little Women – Deanne Eldridge – Free Fall

Two individuals received two Elly awards apiece – Benjamin T. Ismail for Direction and Sound Design for Language Archives and Harvey T. Jordan for Direction and Leading Male for Death of a Salesman. Both shows also won in their respective Overall Production category.

This year’s lifetime achievement awards went to Rodger McDonald and Janis Stevens. McDonald is a veteran director and actor in the Sacramento community, and recently completed his 250th production at Woodland Opera House. Stevens is been an adjunct professor at American River College, as well as an accomplished actor and director, and has touched the lives of countless numbers of students.

A full list of the 2015 Elly Award Recipients (Adult Division) can be found HERE.

A full list of the 2015 Elly Award Recipients (Youth Division) can be found HERE.

A full list of the 2015 Elly Nominees (Adult and Youth Divisions) can be found HERE.

The 2015 Elly Nominations

Theatremakers from all over Sacramento gathered for the announcement of the 436 nominations for the Sacramento Area Regional Theatre Alliance’s Elly Awards Saturday night at the West Sacramento Community Center.

SARTA’s Elly’s are the Sacramento area equivalent of the Tony Awards, with recognition for all aspects of production from lead and supporting actor and actress to costume, lighting, sound and set design to music direction and choreography to overall production in a seven different categories.

Sacramento’s Summer Shows

Here in Sacramento, we are incredibly lucky to have a huge variety of summer productions from our region’s fantastic community and professional theaters. Here’s a peek at what’s coming up.

City Theatre Wins Big at Elly Awards

City Theatre took home five awards at the Sacramento Area Regional Theatre Alliance’s Elly Award Ceremony on Sunday, including the award for Best Overall Production in a Comedy for Scapino!

While California Stage Company earned bragging rights as the most-awarded theater of the year with six wins, City Theatre was right behind, tied for the second-most with Green Valley Theatre Company. Both companies took home five awards.

The 2014 Elly Nomination Party

An anticipatory buzz filled the West Sacramento Community Center on Sunday night as theatremakers from all over Sacramento gathered to hear the announcement of the 438 nominations for the Sacramento Area Regional Theatre Alliance’s Elly Awards.

Pitman’s Children’s Book due out in May

LGBT Pride Parade takes Spotlight in Professor’s New Story

The shelves in Gayle Pitman’s narrow office are stuffed with books. The City College psychology professor’s wall features titles such as “Anorexia and Bulimia” and “The Complete Grimm’s Fairy Tales,” nestled next to each other on the top shelf, right above her copy of “The Ethical Slut” and “The Polyamorists Next Door.”

“My ‘Intro to Psych’ students come in and they’re like ‘whoa,’” says Pitman with a laugh., “This reflects a lot of my interests. I’m interested in gender issues. I’m interested in sexuality. I also just love to read, and I have a sort of eclectic set of tastes in my reading material.”

Army Officer-turned-Peace Advocate set to Speak at City College

Photo courtesy of http://www.chelseamanning.org

A U.S. army colonel turned peace activist is set to speak at City College on Feb. 27 on drones and women in the military.

Colonel Ann Wright (ret.) served in the military for nearly thirty years, and went into the US Foreign Service in 1987.  She has served as U.S. Deputy Ambassador in Sierra Leone, Micronesia, Afghanistan, and Mongolia, and eventually resigned from her position in protest of the invasion of Iraq in 2003.  Wright wrote a book with co-author Susan Dixon, titled “Dissent: Voices of Conscience,” which was released in 2008.

Wright will be speaking at City College on Feb. 27 at noon in BUS 223.  Her talk is set to cover her experience in diplomacy, women in the military, and the use of drones.

Students requiring accommodation, please call DSPS 916-558-2087.

For more information on this event, please email Professor Riad Bahhur at bahhurr@scc.losrios.edu.

(Written for the Sacramento City College Express Online Edition.  http://saccityexpress.com/)