Tony Awards

[iamchristuffin]

In the end, I am very glad there are no awards for stage management - - - I think it would be a bad thing in the end.  I take the greatest award from a job well done.

We have them here in the UK...

[PSMKay]

Chris, what are the criteria for the awards?

[MatthewShiner]

Chris, yeah - I would be intrigued . . . although the jobs has some differences from different sides of the pond - I am intrigued how they are judged - or is it truly just a popularity contest.

[iamchristuffin]

There could always be a danger of it becoming a popularity contest - it's run by the Stage Management Association, and there are five different awards

Individual member of Stage Management - can be nominated by anyone working professionally in theatre. This can be CM/CSM/SM/DSM/ASM
Stage Management Team - can be nominated by anyone working professionally in theatre
Student Stage Manager - nominated by their respective college tutors
Outstanding contribution to Stage Management - can be nominated by anyone working professionally in theatre
'Golden Headset' award - nominated by a member of the SMA for their 'Theatre heroes'.

Once nominations are received, a panel then picks a winner, based on their knowledge of the person, the work they have done and the information given on the nomination form.

More info here: http://www.stagemanagementassociation.co.uk/conference/awards

Matthew, Kay- I hope this has helped?

C

[MatthewShiner]

Oh . . . okay.

The Stage Management Association does that here as well.  Stage Manager's honoring other stage managers for their body of work, and less specific on a certain show.

The issue what would be hard for the Tony's is that is a mixed bag of theater professionals doing the nominating and voting - so it would be hard to comment on the individual show.

I am all for that.

[On_Headset]

Not just a popularity contest, I think there's a very real possibility a SM category would get "polka-ized".

Until very recently, the Grammy awards actually had about 120 categories, including fairly esoteric ones like Hawaiian, Native American and Polka. And, in practice, these categories were pretty much cesspools.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammy_Award_for_Best_Polka_Album

Look at that list of nominees and winners. See any patterns?

So few people vote in these sorts of "down-ballot" categories that in some years you end up with 20-30 people picking the winner. Bad news all around.

A separate awards run by a SM organization would be interesting. But rolling it into the Tonys... well.