By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca

Here are some things I learned at the sold-out 35th annual Sterling Awards bash Monday night, celebrating the season just past in Edmonton theatre. Written by April Banigan with co-hosts Matt Schuurman and Sue Goberdhan, directed by Kate Ryan, it was the first to be live and in-person since COVID. And the refrain I heard all night from smiling theatre people: “I can’t believe we’re here!”

The venue, the Fringe’s Westbury theatre and lobby (with bar), was new, after decades at the Mayfield Dinner Theatre. Even the awards themselves were new. Tessa Stamp’s design used wood reclaimed from theatre sets. And the co-hosts, both ace improvisers, were welcoming, user-friendly and droll.

•The Westbury, said Schuurman, “has big balls.” So true. They were enormous, and celebratory, floating lightly over the cabaret tables and raked seating. Every other live Sterling gala has involved a buffet, prime rib, and booze. This one had charcuterie boxes from Partake … and booze.

•“No one’s ever applauded a quick change before,” said Deanna Finnman, the Sterling winner for costume design. who decked out the cast of the Citadel’s high-speed Pride and Prejudice in witty fashion. Lady Catherine de Bourgh’s hat; in fact all the millinery, got laughs too.

Dayna Lea Hoffmann in All The Little Animals I Have Eaten, Shadow Theatre. Photo by Ian Jackson.

•You can’t out-cool Dayna Lea Hoffmann, star of Northern Light Theatre’s A Hundred Words For Snow and Shadow Theatre’s All The Little Animals I Have Eaten. In accepting his Sterling for multi-media design of the NLT show, Schuurman explained that he’d show up at rehearsals on a vintage motorcycle. Hoffmann invariably out-cooled him, he said, by arriving by skateboard.

Schuurman, the artistic director of Rapid Fire Theatre who’s married to Fringe executive director Megan Dart, also paid tribute to the ingenuity of “theatre parents,” couples, who juggle parenting with the demands of professional theatre careers, assisted by the theatre community. “It takes a village,” he said, pointing at the audience. “And that village is you …. She’s gonna be weird,” he said of his daughter, laughing.

•Matthew Skopyk’s breezy video homage to Mel Geary, recipient of the Ross Hill Sterling for Outstanding Achievement in Production, was a highly entertaining and revealing assortment of photos, droll captions, and captures of the innovative spirit of its subject. For 40 years Geary, whose production career includes theatres of every size, the U of A drama department ,and the Fringe, has been a fearless and curious explorer of digital technology.

•Margaret Mooney, octogenarian theatre veteran who was a private student” of theatre pioneer Elizabeth Sterling Haynes back in the day, has an unrivalled deadpan and an exquisite sense of comic timing — revealed once more in her introduction of the Sterling named after her, for outstanding achievement in administration. It wouldn’t be a Sterling night without her.

The recipient Coralie Cairns, a rare combination of actor and administrator, was introduced by another Cairns, Eva (former general manager of Catalyst Theatre). Friends they are, but not (“so far as we know”) sisters. “Coralie believes collective success is the best kind of success,” said Eva of the collaborative spirit of her “soul sister.”

The Pansy Cabaret, starring Zachary Parsons-Lozinski and Daniel Belland. Photo supplied.

•“It’s a very scary time to be queer in this world,” said Zachary Parsons-Lozinski aka Lilith Fair, accepting their Sterling award for individual performance in a Fringe show, for a stellar performance in The Pansy Cabaret. “To my fellow queers (in the audience,’never stop celebrating your joy. Queer joy is a revolutionary act’.”

•It’s a thought echoed by playwright Elena Eli Belyea in receiving her Sterling for best indie production, Smoke. “It’s a really scary moment to be an LGBTQ+ person…. But we’re in a room of people who can do something about this!”

Braden Butler and Sheldon Stockdale in Fags in Space, Low Hanging Fruits. Photo supplied.

•Playwright Liam Salmon, accepting their Sterling for their new Fringe play, the romantic comedy Fags in Space, had similar thoughts. It is, they said, important to reclaim a persistent term of abuse, “and use that in an empowering way. Especially right now.” As we know from their play Subscribe or Like, Salmon is something of a philosopher. “If (your work) inspires someone, that’s the dream,” they said, with a smile. “If it doesn’t … well that happens too.”

•Accessibility was a keynote of the evening. Carly Neis, who uses a wheelchair, arrived onstage with her dog to accept the new play Sterling for her solo cabaret In My Own Little Corner. Access, both physical and creative, was crucial to her award, as she explained. Her friendship with the late composer/ musical director/ theatre artist Randy Mueller and his empowering advice to “stop letting people tell me No,” was a decisive inspiration, she said.

•Heartfelt acceptance speeches (mostly in absentia and delivered by the Citadel’s Daryl Cloran) from the creative forces of Prison Dancer, which won five Sterlings including best musical,  paid tribute to the Citadel’s attention to forging a connection with the Filipino community and talent pool.      

For the first time, Grindstone Theatre, one of Edmonton theatre’s great little success stories, was part of the Sterlings, with eight nominations for their original musical comedy satire Jason Kenney’s Hot Boy Summer. Act II began with a rousing rendition of the audience fave from the show, Fuck Kenney.

•Edmonton theatre has a lot of great (and empathetic and creative) piano players/ musical directors/ composers, among them, on display on Sterling night, Erik Mortimer, Daniel Belland, Simon Abbott, Steven Greenfield.

Gordon’s Big Bald Head (Mark Meer, Ron Pederson, Jacob Banigan) in Clusterflick at the Mayfield Dinner Theatre. Photo by Ian Jackson, Epic Photography

•Gordon’s Big Bald Head and their expert DJ Ashley Ball were on hand, their night off from the Mayfield run of their very funny improvised movie show Clusterflick, to present the Fringe Sterlings. Quite right since the Fringe is where they do a sold-out run of a show where they improvise any show in the Fringe program, picked randomly by the audience.

*Speaking of the Fringe, people were discussing their show plans (look for a Davina Stewart Fringe production of Bathsheba and the Books, for example). So stay tuned. Meanwhile, here’s the full list of Sterling winners.