With the much-anticipated return of the Arty Awards drawing closer with each passing day, On Stage Vacaville President Lisa Hilas finds herself with one overwhelming feeling.
“Terrified.”
The Arty Awards, a celebration of community theater in Solano and Napa counties since in 1984, return from a COVID hiatus on Oct. 20 with 46 award categories and a series of performances from nominated productions, in addition to the traditional opening number.
The return marks the first time the Artys will be hosted by On Stage Vacaville. In the early days of planning, Hilas met with longtime show producer Robert Ponce, whom she deemed “The Godfather of the Arty Awards.” Hilas says if it wasn’t for the help of Arty Award veterans like Solano College Theatre artistic director and Arty veteran Christine Mani, this year could not have happened, she says.
“I’ve always loved the Arty Awards,” says Mani, who will be performing in the Gala’s opening number this year. “My job is very busy so I don’t get to be in as many shows. Just a tiny hint of getting back on stage sometimes is really lovely.”
Mani has been a part of the Artys for just under a decade. Leading up to this year’s gala, she has emphasized to her students “It’s not about whether you were nominated, it’s not whether you win or lose. It’s a time for us to come together and share in the community of theater in general.”
The Artys are an event for theater lovers as much as for theater performers. Just take a look at the long list of judges this year, posted on the On Stage Vacaville website.
Beth Ellen Ethridge, the lead judge of this year’s Artys, has had an off-again, on-again relationship with the stage.
“I spent all my young life acting and waiting tables,” said Ethridge, who after living and working in North Hollywood for several years after college, decided to go into the health insurance industry instead.
In 2019, she hit the stage once again. “I got a little bit older and realized waiting until I retired to start acting again would be unbearable,” she says.
As a judge for the Arty Awards, Ethridge attended local shows over the past year, making sure to avoid a conflict of interest with her own involvement in stage productions.
“That was definitely one of the biggest draws,” says Ethridge. Giving back to the theater community and getting to see so many local productions would essentially “kill two birds with one stone,” she says.
With any award nominations announcement, there’s going to be both positive and negative reactions, but when On Stage Vacaville announced it was bringing the Artys back, the response “was overwhelmingly positive,” said Hilas.
From the actors’ perspective, “awards themselves are motivating factors,” says Ethridge, who also hopes the Artys will be more community-based than competitive.
Hilas says the best thing to do is “leave the drama on the stage.”
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