Several top women in theatre were celebrated and recognised at this year’s Sydney Theatre Awards, including Heather Mitchell who took home Best Performer in a Leading Role in a Main Stage Production for her role as former Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Sydney Theatre Company’s RBG: Of Many, One.
The play was written by Australian playwright Suzie Miller, who also wrote Prima Facie – the explosive one woman show that depicted the harrowing ordeal of a barrister after she is sexually assaulted.
Best Performance awards were also given to Jane Phegan, who was named Best Performer in a Leading Role in an Independent Production for her role in Siren Theatre Co.’s production of Noëlle Janaczewska’s performance essay, The End of Winter — a fifty minute play directed by Kate Gaul that examines the totality and consequences of climate change.
Former Play School presenter and author Merridy Eastman took home Best Performer in a Supporting Role in an Independent Production for her role as Margery in the Tony award-nominated play Hand to God, written by Robert Askins, in a Red Line production at The Old Fitz that was directed by its Co-Artistic Director, Alexander Berlage.
The Herald described the play as a “devilish puppet show for adults only”.
Best Direction of an Independent Production went to founder and Artistic Director of Perth-based New Ghosts Theatre Company, Lucy Clements for directing Mike Bartlett’s Albion, a joint production by Secret House, New Ghosts Theatre Company and The Seymour Centre.
Three crew members of Belvoir’s Moon Rabbit Rising – which was directed by the young multidisciplinary artist, theatre maker and actor, Nicole Pingon, took home prizes in the Independent Production categories; Esther Zhong for Best Costume Design, Christine Pan for Best Sound Design & Composition and Tyler Fitzpatrick for Best Lighting Design.
The all-Asian cast production is a re-imagination of the ancient Chinese legend of Cháng’é, and developed through the Shopfront Arts Co-op’s Open Shop program, a Sydney based cross-art form organisation that funds youth-led artistic projects.
Award winning set designer Mel Page nabbed Best Stage Design of a Main Stage Production for her “honest rendering of the family’s shabby, rat-infested apartment” and “ultra-realist box set” in Sydney Theatre Company’s production of Lorraine Hansberry’s American classic, A Raisin in the Sun.
Hansberry, who tragically died at the age of 35, wrote A Raisin in the Sun when she was still in her twenties. She became the first African American woman to have a play on Broadway, when the show debuted in 1959. Two years later, Hollywood adapted it onto the big screen, with Sidney Poitier playing the lead.
Destroy, She Said, a play based on Marguerite Duras’ book of the same name, won its two designers Best Stage Design of an Independent Production. Grace Deacon and Kelsey Lee shared the award for their “contemporary sensibility that is both sensual and ironic,” according to theatre critic, Suzy Wrong.
The play was directed by Sydney-based director and theatre-maker, Claudia Osborne and garnered universal praise from critics.
Romance Was Born, the Australian fashion house founded by Anna Plunkett and Luke Sales, collaborated with award-winning set, costume and exhibition designer Anna Cordingley in the Sydney Opera House production of Amadeus, taking home Best Costume Design of a Main Stage Production.
Musical theatre extraordinaire Stefanie Jones won the Judith Johnson Award for Best Performance in a Leading Role in a Musical in her role as the titular character in Mary Poppins, which just finished its Brisbane season last week.
Finally, the award for Best Newcomer went to 25-year old Sydney-based actor, Masego Pitso, for her role as 14-year old Tracey Gordon in Redline Productions’ Chewing Gum Dreams at the Old Fitz.
The play was written in 2013 by I May Destroy You star, Michaela Coel, who took on the role of Tracey at the National Theatre in London in 2014 to positive reviews.