The 15th Annual Column Awards Gala was held Monday night at the Granville Arts Center in Garland, Texas. Brad Stephens received the trophy for Best Actor in a Play, Equity for his performance as Alan Raleigh in Circle Theatre’s 2013 production of God of Carnage. This is Stephens’ third Column Award victory.
Hosted by Executive Director/Producer and Founder John Garcia with guest hostess and Broadway star Rachel York, the event brought together the entire DFW theater community to honor excellence and celebrate the theatrical arts.
The Column Awards honors excellence in theater throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth theater community, both in Equity and Non-Equity theater companies. This marks their 13th year uniting and celebrating the accomplishments of all artists who bring to life the art of theater.
Nominations are made by the over 22,000 readers who subscribe to The Column. Practically everyone and anyone who is involved in DFW theater is a subscriber as well as those who love to attend and support this beautiful art. Thus, those nominated have been chosen not only by the very peers with whom they work but also the very audiences for whom they perform.
The Column Awards is also a major fundraiser gala for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids, a charity they have supported since year one. They have raised & donated close to $70,000.00 to BC/EFA to date. The Column Awards is the only awards organization in the entire United States that donates all money raised (after expenses) from ticket sales of the gala to BC/EFA. The Column Awards has been very honored to have been acknowledged by the national media, BC/EFA, Actor’s Equity Association, and the Broadway community for their fundraising efforts.
The 2012 Column Awards Gala was held last night at the Granville Arts Center in Garland, Texas. Hosted by Executive Director/Producer and Founder John Garcia with guest hostess and Broadway legend Chita Rivera, the event brought together the entire DFW theater community to honor excellence and celebrate the theatrical arts.
“Unbelievable,” Stephens commented. “I was amazed simply to be nominated among some exceptional talent; but to be honored with this award is beyond my expectations.”
Nominations are made by the over 22,000 readers who subscribe to The Column. Practically everyone and anyone who is involved in DFW theater is a subscriber as well as those who love to attend and support this beautiful art. Thus, those nominated have been chosen not only by the very peers with whom they work but also the very audiences for whom they perform.
Nominations for the 12th Annual Column Awards were streamed live over the Internet yesterday afternoon from the Irving Arts Center in Irving, Texas. Brad Stephens received a nomination in the category of Best Actor in a Musical, Non-equity for his performance in last October’s Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical at Greater Lewisville Community Theatre. This is his second Column Award nomination after winning Best Supporting Actor in a Play, Non-equity last year (All My Sons, ICT).
The Column is the creation of professional actor/part time theater critic John Garcia. What began a little over a decade ago as a small email group of theater friends has grown into a major daily entertainment related column with over 19,000 subscribers. The Column Awards annually honors excellence in local theater productions. Additionally, The Column Awards strives to raise funds for the fight against AIDS by primarily contributing to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Finally, The Column Awards is dedicated to developing a love of theater in local youth.
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In addition, all three Jekyll & Hyde leads – Brad Stephens (Jekyll/Hyde), Courtney Sikora (Lucy) and Michelle Foard (Emma) – were listed in Garcia’s 2010 Breakthrough Performances of the Year. “For me a ‘breakthrough’ performance is one in which I do not see whatsoever the common tics or the ‘usual’ acting craft or tools that an actor has used before in previous performances,” stated Garcia. “I sit in the dark watching an actor go so out of the box and create a performance that I have not see them do before that it leaves me speechless. That’s a break-through performance in my book.”
In his Special Achievement/Recognition category, Garcia named Foard and Sikora as Best Female Vocal Duet for their performance of In His Eyes and praised Sikora as Best Female Vocal Performance with A New Life. “Sikora belted, soared, and glided with extra-ordinary vocal beauty within this solo,” he said. The Frank Wildhorn musical also garnered a nod for Best Scenic & Lighting Design.
I really believed it an anomaly I was even nominated. After all, for a role in which I spent only twenty consecutive minutes onstage in the middle of a three-act play last June, I was amazed anyone had even remembered me, much less considered me for a Column Award. So when my fellow Brigadoon cast-mate Stan Graner announced that I had won Best Supporting Actor in a Play (non-equity), I was truly stunned.
Ready Teddy took home two Golden Drovers last night at the awards presentation for the Trail Dance Film Festival, held over the weekend in Duncan, Oklahoma. Writer, Producer, Director Jerod Costa’s bloody rock-n-roll opus took home a statue for Best Dark Comedy. Kate Cassity won a trophy for her poster design for the film.
In the film, I play a Liverpudlian lunatic named Paul whose crew — John, George and Ringo — has kidnapped the King of Rock-N-Roll seeking to extract the secret of That-Which-All-Men-Desire. Caught in a trap and can’t walk out, will our hero get all shook up? That’ll be the day! Not for the squeamish, Ready Teddy is a tale of blood, guts and peanut-butter-banana cuisine.
Brad Stephens 