The Montreal English Theatre Awards Committee is proud to announce the recipients of the 2018-19 METAs, Montreal English theatre’s largest and most important peer-juried awards. The 7th Annual METAs Ceremony was held on this Sunday evening of November 3rd in one of the city’s most beautiful and historic theatres, the Ludger-Duvernay, for the 2nd year in a row.
Over the course of the 2018-19 theatre season, a jury of over 20 theatre professionals from varied backgrounds and disciplines assessed 31 professional theatre productions across 17 categories, including the newly added category for Outstanding Choreography and / or Movement Direction. An additional 10 community theatre productions were evaluated by a separate community theatre jury for the Community Theatre Award, for a total of 41 productions overall.
The Ceremony was directed by Cristina Cugliandro, written by Willow Cioppa, and hosted by Patrick Émmanuel Abellard (this year’s Outstanding Supporting Performance – Actor recipient) and Kate Hammer. The creative team included production designer Diana Uribe (this year’s Outstanding Costume Design recipient), sound designer Rob Denton (2-time Outstanding Sound Design nominee), lighting designer Andrew Scriver and production stage manager / technical director Danna-Rae Evasiuk.
This year, the METAs Committee awarded the Unsung Hero of the Theatre Award (UHOT) to Lesley Bramhill. Lesley is a staunch advocate for Montreal’s English Theatre on a provincial and national level. Her dedication inspires those of her peers who know of her contribution to keep connecting with others, keep celebrating our strengths and keep finding new ways to encourage investment in our activities; thereby bringing new energy, support and resources into our community.
The second honorary award, the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Award (EDI), was awarded to Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal. PWM has established many programs that address specific areas of inclusion: youth (Young Creators Unit), LGBTQ (the Queer Reading Series, and support of the Rose Festival), feminist writing (EsterELLE Retreat), and neurodiverse artists (New Stories Project). Over its 50+ year history, PWM has evolved from an hoc group with homogeneous representation to a national organization that actively seeks to shift the makeup of the Canadian playwriting canon by reflecting the wide range of cultural identities that make up our artistic communities.
The METAs jury determined recipients by way of secret ballot. The ballot was tabulated by an independent auditor, Amelia Facciola of Ponzo, Facciola, Quaglieri CA CPA.
