Saturday, July 14, 2012
The Invitation:
The Committee of Noosa Arts Theatre invited all members to a sausage sizzle to honour our wonderful and unselfish volunteers who give their time so willing on so many occasions each year to ensure each and every production is of the highest standard.
The party also included the Third Annual Rod Taylor Memorial Flower Pot Award for the person "who best embodies the spirit of volunteering" (a sort of 'Volunteer of the Year'). There were several less serious 'Certificates', plus entertainment from The Halversons, Charleene Closshey, Travis Macfarlane and Simon Russell-Baker. For those who did not know Rod, he was the man in the wheelchair out the front selling programmes; a dedicated volunteer with a smile and a friendly word for everyone...well, nearly everyone.
The Presentation Evening:
The Committee hosted the evening as a way of saying “thank you” to all you willing helpers. It may have been said many times before, but it is all too true – we couldn’t have done it without you – so give yourselves a big round of applause, why not a standing ovation!
The Rod Taylor Memorial Flower Pot Award:
Why the Flower Pot Award? Well, in 1990 I had been cast in one of the finalist plays of the One-Act Playwriting Competition. It was a 2-hander, 1 male, 1 female. The play was something of a dramatic thriller, in which the man had a history of killing his dates (I know, I was typecast!). The woman was meant to be wraith-like, so that the audience would be kept guessing whether she was the latest date or the ghost of a previous date looking for revenge. Stop laughing, it was a drama! The originally cast female (let’s call her Actress 1) was physically and vocally perfect, but was facing drugs charges, so an understudy was sought (let’s call her Actress 2). As the performances drew near, so did the court date of Actress 1 and there was no guarantee she would be available to perform. So Actress 2 stepped in...and so did the mother of Actress 2. Mother obviously thought she knew better than both the author and the director as she decided to dress Actress 2 as a cross between Shirley Temple and Minnie Mouse, all bows and bright colours. Mother also thought it was a comedy. Anyway, come performances (there were only 3 in those days) and the first night we both dropped lines and only just made it through to something resembling the end. However, Actress 2 blamed me for the fiasco. Also in those days the acting awards were judged on the first night (who thought of that? Some sadistic director no doubt!), and the adjudicator was a professional actor who just happened to be a friend of Actress 2’s family, so she won the Best Actress Award. The prize was an enormous terracotta vase/pot with a painted frieze; to which Rod took an instant dislike. The following performance was only saved by someone plugging in a hairdryer and shorting out the whole theatre, which gave us time to work out where we were in the script before continuing. Again Actress 2 blamed me. On the last night Actress 2 jumped 5 pages and when given a direct cue jumped the same 5 pages. I had left my script at home that night, so after the performance raced home to check that, in fact, I was right and Actress 2 was wrong. Rod and I got back to the theatre to see Director and Actress 2 in the middle of a shouting match over who was to blame for the dropped lines, when Rod walked up to Actress 2 and said, “You’ve got your @#$%^&* flower pot, what more do you want?”
For several years after that moment Rod would award his own flower pots (the smallest seedling pots he could find) to anyone he thought had done a good job in a production. They became highly prized and many were miffed that they missed out. And so we come to a new era in Flower Pot Awards!
Stephen Moore
Certificates:
The following certificates were arranged broadly into 5 categories – Zealousness (those ever eager volunteers, just bursting out of their skins to help), Blooper Worthy (pretty self explanatory really), Over Achievers (pretty self explanatory really), and Newbies (for the new comers showing the most promise).
The nominations for the category of Zealousness were:
- Con Bleyerveld - The Bob the Builder Award - for being Con the Builder
- Helen Bischoff – Flexibility Award – for lending a hand to anything
- Rhonda Hunt – Specsavers Award – for proofreading newsletters and programmes
And the Certificate went to: HELEN BISCHOFF
The nominations for the category of Blooper Worthy were:
- Dirk Van Der Wiel – no particular reason award – for just being Dirk
- John Reed – Going, Going Gone Award – for the old dressing room air conditioner disappearing out the window
- Joe Jurisevic – Vinnies Fashion Award – for wearing a rainbow coloured shirt in the bio box
And the Certificate went to: DIRK VAN DER WIEL
The nominations for the category of Over Achievers were:
- Nelson & Barbara Tomlin – Homelessness Award – for always being here
- Synda Turnbull – The Magicians Award – for what she pulls out of her arse
- Susan Dearnley – The Broom up the Bum Award – for doing everything including sweeping the stage
- Carole Dacey – Microsoft Award – for being all over the computer
And the Certificate went to: ALL OF THEM!
The nominations for the category of Newbie were:
- Clarrie Day – The Dr Kildare Award – for always being up a ladder against orders
- Barbara and Gary Elliot – for keeping it in the family
- Marie Milner – for farting around with fairies
And the Certificate went to: CLARRIE DAY
Flower Pot Award
The Third Annual Rod Taylor Memorial Flower Pot Award:
The nominations were:
- Liza Park – Boots and All Award – for doggedly getting the building work done against all odds
- Liza park - Boots and All Award - for the 'take no prisoners' approach to getting the building work done
- Liza Park - Boots and All Award - for getting Stage 1 of the building work done
And the award went to: LIZA PARK
The Entertainers
For making all this possible, thank you:
- The Committee of Noosa Arts Theatre
- SMB
- Those working on the night
- FOH and Bar
- Joe Jurisevic, Kim and Ben and in the bio box
- Julie Simpson as Stage Manager, and
- Members of the Committee for the catering
- The performers who entertained us all:
- Josh, Rachel and Sarah Halverson
- Charleene Closshey
- Travis Macfarlane
- Simon Russel-Baker
Photos courtesy of John Woodlock