Perform It! Stage Company Wins the 2009 Moss Hart Award

         Last week Perform It! Young People’s Stage Company reached a lofty goal. Three times in the past they have received an honorable mention from the New England Theatre Conference for their innovative Shakespearean productions. But this year was different. On Saturday evening Executive Director Jan Helling Croteau received a phone call, informing her that Perform It! Stage Company is this year’s recipient of NETC’s top theatre production award, the Moss Hart Memorial Award, for their performance of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

     The Moss Hart trophy is awarded to one theater company in New England each year whose production exemplifies the highest standards of excellence. There are five divisions that compete for the award: professional, college, secondary, children and youth, and community theatre. Theatre companies compete in their respective divisions, and one winner is selected from each division. The award committee then chooses one of these five winners to receive the Moss Hart trophy award. Perform It! was the 2009 winner in the children and youth theater division and was then selected as the overall winner.

     According to the New England Theatre Conference, “the annual Moss Hart Memorial Award has a two-fold purpose: to honor the memory of Moss Hart, dramatist and director, for his wit and sensitivity, for his unconquerable enthusiasm for life and for his work in the theatre [especially on Broadway]; and to recognize outstanding theatrical productions throughout New England of plays that present affirmative views of human courage and dignity, that have strong literary and artistic merit, and which in their productions, exemplify fresh, imaginative, creative treatment within the intent of the playwright.” The New England Theatre Conference, in making the annual Moss Hart Memorial Award, seeks to recognize the highest standard of excellence in theatre.

     The Moss Hart Memorial Award is presented at the New England Theatre Conference Annual Convention to the stage company whose production most completely fulfills the stated purpose. Last May Perform It! experienced three sellout crowds and two full houses for their production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Many audience members wrote and called Perform It! after the show to give their praise of the performance.
           
     “Attending the theater conference in Sturbridge, Massachusetts will be quite an honor, and to get the whole company to the conference will be a costly endeavor,” said Helling Croteau. “We have lots of fundraising to do! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our theater company. Through the years many people have told us how unusual it is to have a Shakespearean theater company for youth thrive in such a small town as Wolfeboro. I think it speaks most highly of how much support Wolfeboro and the lakes region residents have given the arts. Last year we celebrated our fifteenth year anniversary of bringing Shakespeare alive through the hearts and minds of young people. To be given the Moss Hart trophy award is a huge honor and a wonderful surprise!”
     If you would like to help Perform It! Young People’s Stage Company to attend the conference in November, you can make a tax-deductible contribution by either calling Jan Helling Croteau at 569-5067 or by mailing a donation to Perform It! Stage Company, P.O. Box 2093, Wolfeboro NH 03894. You can also contact them online at www.PerformItStageCompany.org. (home)