We had such a fun night at the inaugural HRACT Awards!  Thank you to everyone who showed out, looked amazing, and had a fun time!  Although we didn’t let anyone give acceptance speeches, we still have a whole list of people we just have to thank:

1. Thank you to the Ferguson Center at CNU for giving us a venue, providing guidance, and professional production, all free of charge! 
2. Thank you to Tara Wheeler of Wavy TV 10 for volunteering her time and talent to host the show! 
3. Thank you to Josh Stubbs of J. Stubbs Photography for volunteering his time and talent to photograph and document our event!
4. Thank you to Lori Yankoski for providing us with musical accompaniment throughout the night!
5. Thank you to Paul Mulherin for being our “voice behind the curtain”!
6. Thank you to our whole team of wonderful volunteers who made the night happen! 
7. Thank you to our five musical performances who came out to give encore performances of their songs from throughout the year – you all were even more amazing than we remember from your original performances! 
8. Thank you to our eight award presenters, including the Mayor Phillip Jones of Newport News, Bruce Bronstein of CNU, and six participating theaters (in no particular order: Generic, Downing-Gross, LTN, LTVB, PCT, and SLT)!
9. Thank you to those same six theaters for being willing to take this journey with us, and providing your support, coordinating with us and spending time getting tickets to their nominees and other interested parties!
10. And of course, thank you to all the winners, nominees, and everyone else who has read our reviews, interacted with us, and have otherwise created or supported community theater in our Hampton Roads area this year!  We have enjoyed every moment, and can’t wait to continue as a part of this community!

Oh yeah, there is that little thing about the winners!  If you missed the show – well, we hope you will be able to come out next year!  But in the meantime, here is the complete list of winners of 2023-2024 HRACT Awards!

*Note: The theaters’ names have been shortened –

Downing-Gross Cultural Arts Center = DG

Generic Theater = Generic

Little Theatre of Norfolk = LTN

Little Theatre of Virginia Beach = LTVB

Peninsula Community Theatre = PCT

Smithfield Little Theatre = SLT

Williamsburg Players = WP

BEST PLAY

Indecent at Generic

BEST MUSICAL

The Sound of Music at SLT

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY

Garret Roberts for Little Shop of Horrors at WP

BEST SCENIC DESIGN

Mike Hilton & George Horvath for The Play That Goes Wrong at LTVB

BEST COSTUME/HAIR/MAKEUP DESIGN

Kathy Hinson & Corey Jay Hinson for Radium Girls at LTN

BEST LIGHTING

John Wilt for The Prom at PCT

BEST SOUND DESIGN

Serenity Jones, Ben Blanchard & Mike Hallberg for Indecent at Generic

BEST DIRECTOR

Terrance Afer-Anderson for Flyin’ West at Generic

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A LEADING FEMALE ROLE (MUSICAL)

Jessi DiPette as Sibella Hallward in A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder at LTVB & LTN

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A LEADING MALE ROLE (MUSICAL)

Andreas Zollos as Captain Georg von Trapp in The Sound of Music at SLT

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A SUPPORTING MALE ROLE (MUSICAL)

Lu Chambers as Mister in The Color Purple at DG

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A SUPPORTING FEMALE ROLE (MUSICAL)

Hope Swindler as Liesl von Trapp in The Sound of Music at SLT

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A LEADING FEMALE ROLE (NON-MUSICAL)

Jennifer Kelly-Cooper as Sophie Washington in Flyin’ West at Generic

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A LEADING MALE ROLE (NON-MUSICAL)

Clifford Clark as Walter Lee Younger in A Raisin in the Sun at LTVB

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A SUPPORTING MALE ROLE (NON-MUSICAL)

Ed Palmer as The Stage Manager, Lemml in Indecent at Generic

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A SUPPORTING FEMALE ROLE (NON-MUSICAL)

Salem Rogers as Beneatha Younger in A Raisin in the Sun at LTVB

BEST PERFORMANCE OF A SONG (SOLO/SMALL GROUP)

Chasida Taylor’s performance of “I’m Here” in The Color Purple at DG

BEST PERFORMANCE OF A SONG (ENSEMBLE)

The Company’s performance of “Do-Re-Mi” in The Sound of Music at SLT

BEST COMEDIC ACTING

Rhondée Caldwell as Louise “Lulu” Peakes in The Outsider at LTVB

BEST SEASON SERIES

Little Theatre of Virginia Beach