It was a wonderful evening of celebration, dancing and camraderie as members of community theatre across Central Ontario gathered at the annual ACT-CO Gala on Saturday night to recognize the outstanding talent and theatrical performances of the festival season.

Since 1932 the Association of Community Theatres – Central Ontario (ACT-CO) has been dedicated to supporting, encouraging and promoting community theatre. Annually, the organization holds a festival celebrating theatrical performances in the categories of Comedy, Drama and Musical. During festival season, theatres from across the region are eligible to enter a production into one of the three categories. An ACT-CO adjudicator will attend one night of each entered production and provide adjudication on all of the areas of the performance: the acting, the direction, sound design, stage design, stage management and the use of props. Praise, constructive criticism, and useful techniques are all provided to assist the group with future productions.

At the end of the festival, each adjudicator chooses nominees and recipients of awards, called “Theas”, presented in categories recognizing a variety of artistic achievements, including Best Production. These awards are announced and presented at the annual ACT-CO Gala. One of the three “Best Productions” is then chosen by the adjudicators to represent ACT- CO at the Theatre Ontario Festival in May.

<a href=”http://www.actco.ca/adjudicators/20122013.html”>ACT-CO Adjudicator Thom Currie</a> attended KCP’s productions of <a href=”https://www.kempenfeltplayers.com/shows/2012/honk-jr”>Honk! Jr.</a> and <a href=”https://www.kempenfeltplayers.com/shows/2013/spamalot”>Spamalot</a>. The adjudication evening is a valuable learning experience for the entire cast and crew; an interactive and encouraging process that we look forward to each year.

<h5>And what a huge night it was for Kempenfelt Community Players! We came away with 7 nominations and 3 wins!</h5>

<h6>Nominations!</h6>
Honk! Jr.: Entire Cast for Musical Adjudicator’s Award for Most Impressive Ensemble/Chorus
Spamalot: Rick Johnson for Best Sound Design of a Musical
Spamalot: Nancy Proctor for Best Choreography
Spamalot.: Jennifer Day for Musical Adjudicator’s Award – Props
Spamalot: Pam Sparrow for Best Performance by a Female in a Leading Role in a Musical
Spamalot: Stephen Bainborough for Best Performance by a Male in a Leading Role in a Musical
Spamalot: Andree Day for Best Production of a Musical

<h6>Wins!</h6>
Honk! Jr.: Entire Cast for Musical Adjudicator’s Award for Most Impressive Ensemble/Chorus
Spamalot: Rick Johnson for Best Sound Design of a Musical
Spamalot: Pam Sparrow for Best Performance by a Female in a Leading Role in a Musical
KCP congratulates all winners from this year’s gala; it was a magical celebration of community theatre across the region.
Kempenfelt Community Players is very pleased to produce memorable musicals and bring the excitement of Broadway to Barrie. We boast loudly and proudly, we provide amazing high quality productions and work with the largest and most talented multigenerational cast and crew in this region!! Our membership is filled with enthusiastic, talented people who share a love for the thrill of bringing live musical theatre to the community. We are also extremely lucky to have an abundance of lively and dedicated volunteers who put endless amounts of time and energy into every aspect of each season. These ingredients are the key to our success; the reason we have produced award winning musical theatre productions since 1977!
KCP productions are made possible through strong community partnerships and key sponsorships. Key sponsors include: Rhubarb Media, the Barrie Examiner, B101, FM93, Kwik Kopy, Rogers TV, The City of Barrie and The Ontario Trillium Foundation.