The Board of Directors of the Gabriola Arts Council is pleased to announce that Gabriola Players will receive the 2019 ARTY Award

The ARTY AWARD is presented each year to a living person or arts-focussed group that has made a significant contribution in the previous year to the arts on Gabriola Island. Previous winners include artists, performers, administrators, and volunteers. All have done their part to build or support the creative vibe on Gabriola Island.

Here is some of what Gabriola Players’ nomination submissions said:

“Since 2004, Gabriola Players has worked hard to present to the community thought-provoking, topical, comical, and historical plays, from The Vagina Monologues, to Inherit the Wind, and even Shakespeare. Critical praise has been given for the risks they’ve taken by producing readings of The Laramie Project,a play about tolerance and gender equality, and Forget About Tomorrow, about the scourge of Alzheimer’s disease, written by B.C. writer JIll Daum. Many of the productions have featured Canadian playwrights, and in the last few years, Gabriola writers have been creating entertaining and evocative new plays, including this year’s delightful pantomime Pirates of Nursery Rhyme Island by Lesley Hazeldine; Miranda Holmes’ one act play, An Unhelpful Complication was a finalist in Theatre BC’s National Playwriting Competition.

Members of the group have contributed their art to painting sets and designing lights and soundscapes, glorious costumes for historical dramas and western farces, and members continue to strive to improve their efforts by studying with professional actors, directors, and technicians.

Always cognizant of their role in contributing to the community, the group has created The Don Whitton Memorial Bursary which has been awarded several times to a Gabriola student pursuing a career in the performing arts, and the group has mandated that 50 percent of the proceeds from The Summer Shakespeare Project be donated to People for a Healthy Community. Recently general auditions were held and more than 25 people turned out, including many people who are new to Gabriola and eager to join in the creativity. Gabriola Players, with more than 70 members, has been an integral and important contributor to the vibrancy of life on our island.”

and:

“The variety of shows they present is clearly designed to appeal to a wide audience, from hard-hitting, emotional shows like The Laramie Project and Vagina Monologues; to rollicking entertainment like Living in Paradise and the Pantos; to classics from the likes of Norman Foster, Alan Bennett, and Will Shakespeare himself.

Entirely volunteer run by a dedicated group of actors and a hardworking tech and backstage crew, and deeply supported by the community, the Gabriola Players deserve the Arty Award in recognition of all they bring to the stage, and everything they offer to Gabriola Island theatre lovers.”