The HRACT Awards
The Hampton Roads Achievement in Community Theater Awards
Recent posts
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Peninsula Community Theatre Takes Us to Almost, Maine
Upon sitting down at Peninsula Community Theatre, we were instantly transported to the titular town of Almost, Maine. The set included a “WELCOME TO…” sign and an incredibly cute log cabin, complete with a snowy roof (shout out to Director/Set Designer Linda Marley Smith and Set Decorators/Painters Ellen Eames and Pam Revill). As at least…
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Generic Theater Explores the Power of Storytelling in The Weir
On Friday night, we “put the head in” the Irish bar built onstage at the Generic Theater to see their production of The Weir. This play begins with Jack (played by Tom O’Reilly) walking into the bar, noticing Brendan (the barkeep, played by Lawrence Nichols) is not there, and proceeding to pour himself (and pay…
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You’d be “Foolish to Think” about missing LTVB’s rendition of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder
“Love AND murder? What could go wrong?” my wife asked as we pulled up to the Little Theatre of Virginia Beach on Friday, November 17 to see the opening night of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder. Our hopes only heightened as we flipped through the program and discovered that this was going to…
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Lights, Camera, Action! Mack & Mabel at Williamsburg Players tells the (sort of) true love story of two silent film giants
Being too excited to wait, on Friday afternoon, we moved our tickets up a day to see Williamsburg Players’ opening night performance of Mack & Mabel! This is a musical set at the time when movies were becoming talkies, and our leading man, movie director Mack Sennett, thinks the new-fangled talkies are just a fad. …
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LTN Illuminates The Moving Tale of the Radium Girls
On opening night, we arrived at Little Theatre of Norfolk to see Radium Girls. As a radiation control worker myself, this play hit especially hard and LTN did an incredible job of driving home this moving story. The play opens with Grace Fryer, Kathryn, and Irene working at the US Radium Corporation as dial painters.…
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PCT’s Dead Man’s Cell Phone Explores Death in a Digital Age
As a light rain fell in Newport News, we pulled up to Peninsula Community Theatre for their production of Dead Man’s Cell Phone – which turned out to be very apropos, as the entirety of the play seems to take place in a light rain – with umbrellas adorning the roof of the stage, and…
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Four Old Broads Visit the World’s Oldest Ham at Smithfield Little Theatre
On a Friday night in October, we made the trek past the oldest ham in the world and parked incredibly easily in the Smithfield Little Theatre parking lot (looking at you, Little Theatre of Virginia Beach), for their performance of Four Old Broads. It seems to be becoming a tradition at Smithfield Little Theatre to…
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Williamsburg Players Gives us a Taste of Brooklyn in Brighton Beach Memoirs
Upon walking into the James-York Playhouse for Williamsburg Players’ production of Brighton Beach Memoirs, all I could say was “wow”. The set design, led by Bill Velardi, was amazing. They made a whole functional second story on stage, such that they effectively had four separate rooms on stage (two upstairs, one large room downstairs, and…
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Generic Theater is Flyin’ High with Flyin’ West
Our very first time attending a play at the Generic Theater (underneath Chrysler Hall in Norfolk) was to see Flyin’ West on Saturday, September 23rd, and we were not disappointed. Flyin’ West is a period piece, taking place in a rural, all-black town in Kansas in 1898. The story revolves around three sisters (two by…
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LTVB’s The Play That Goes Wrong… Goes Right
As Tropical Storm Ophelia rained down on Hampton Roads, the Little Theatre of Virginia Beach declared that the show must go on. The cast of “The Play that Goes Wrong” did not let the soggy weather affect their performance. From the moment we walked into the lobby at LTVB, the cast was already in character…
HRACT Awards 