AWARDS! AWARDS! AWARDS! at the Vancouver Fringe

Author Name: 
Allyson McGrane
Photograph Caption: 

Update for y'all who weren't at the awards show on Sunday night!

First, the Food Bank.  There was over $1200 raised by the artists' donations from their own ticket sales plus $250 at the door of the awards show.  That means the Food Bank can buy over $5300 of food which will be for their young children program.

Next up was the Straight Critics Choice Award!  Colin Thomas and Kathleen Oliver listed off five nominees:  Big Shot,
Giant Invisible Robot, Little Orange Man, Peter'n'Chris Show and This Is Cancer.  And the winner is:  Giant Invisible Robot!

David Jordan presented the Playhouse Award.  It's the first year for the award, but it was noted that a 2010 Fringe show (The Exquisite Hour) will be in this year's Playhouse season.  And the winner is: Little Orange Man!

And then, the coveted Joanna Maratta Award with a coveted mentorship.  Last year's winner was Marisa Smith of Wicked Shorts who worked with David Jordan & Ron Jenkins.  And the winner is: Awkward Stage Productions who produced Smile!

Well ladies and gentlemen, now we get a repeat winner with the Volunteer Choice award.  And the winner is: Little Orange Man!

The lovely Cindy Reid and Zoe Forsyth took the stage to present the Cultchivating the Fringe Award (and they shamelessly plugged last year's winner Wicked Shorts which is coming to the Cultch this month).  And the winner is:
Grim & Fischer!

An award with an odd acronym, the Spirit of the Fringe (SOFA) comes with several bottles of alcohol.  A volunteer described the winner as follows: "She is open, honest, frank and writes good smutty poetry." And the winner is: the solo performer of Phone Whore!

YAY!  Now the IMPORTANT award!  Plank Magazine brings you Talk of the Fringe.  This year, there were two honorable mentions (in no particular order): Duck off and Wreckage. And the winner is: Siddhartha!

So, the final award of the night.  The 2011 Pick of the Fringe.  This year, the Fringe folks went overboard and picked six shows (even though they're only supposed to pick four).  If you missed them at the festival, you can check out the winners this week:  Big Shot. The Progressive Polygamists,  Grim & Fischer, This Is Cancer, Peter'n'Chris Show and Little Orange Man!