A veteran and a novice actress came away from the provincial Mainstage drama festival in Kamloops last week with individual awards and high praise for their cast and crew.
Sandi Alaric, a 40-year veteran in the amateur theatre scene as actress, singer, director and choral director, won the best supporting actress award for her role as Lady Jennings in the Studio Theatre production of Sense & Sensibility.
“I’m quite excited,” Alaric says. “I’ve been in four or five plays over the years that have gone to the provincials. That in itself is an honour and to be recognized is even more so.”
“Working with this cast, crew and director was marvelous. This was pretty much an ensemble work. Everybody helped everyone else to do better and work toward the goal of entertaining the audience.”
“The costumes helped so much in the actors finding their characters,” she says in extending praise to Christa Obergfell who won the provincial award for best costumes.
Some of Alaric’s many roles include Ethel in On Golden Pond, Ruth in Looking for Normal, Mother Superior in Nunsense, and Aunt Marilla and choral director of Anne of Green Gables.
Jenny McPhee, won the best novice actress award (25 and under). McPhee developed her love for theatre while in high school growing up in Williams Lake, where she acted in school plays, and played the beautiful swan in the Studio Theatre production of Honk.
She went on to study theatre at Capilano University in Vancouver where she acted in several student productions and was selected to play the young girl in a professional production of Queen Lear at Vancouver’s Presentation House Theatre.
“Mainstage was a fantastic experience and I’m so lucky to have been able to be a part of such a great gathering of creative people,” McPhee says.
“Williams Lake was well represented with our amazing cast and crew.
“Winning an award is such an honour and I owe any recognition to the support of our director Becky Strickland, our stage manager Stacey Poirier and the incredible level of work Kathy (Kathleen MacDonald, as Elinor Dashwood) brought to the show.
“Each and every person involved in the show has become a part of my extended family and getting to know them was the highlight of everything.”