Betty Award

Betty Mitchell Awards were created in 1998 to celebrate and honour outstanding achievement in Calgary's professional theatre community. It is commonly called the Betty Award and is named for Calgary theatre pioneer Dr. Betty Mitchell.^[1][2][3]

Betty Award
Current: 22nd Betty Awards
Awarded for	Outstanding achievement in Calgary's professional theatre community
Country	Canada
First awarded	1998; 26 years ago (1998)
Website	bettymitchellawards.com

Awards

The awards ceremony for the 2018–19 season was held on June 24 at the Vertigo Theatre in Calgary.^[4]

In 2019, Pakistani-Canadian actor Ahad Raza Mir, the first Pakistani actor to play Hamlet in Canada,^[5] won the Betty for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Drama for his performance of the title role^[6] In that same year Tiffany Ayalik became the first Inuit recipient of a Betty Award.^[7]

Categories

Awards are given in the following categories:

• Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble
• Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
• Outstanding Lighting Design
• Outstanding Set Design
• Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

•Outstanding Projection or Video Design

2019[8]
	Nicolas Dotsie	BOOM X
	Bretta Gerecke	The Invisible Agents of Ungentlemanly Warfare
	Amelia Scott	A Love Letter to Emily C
	Andy Moro	Honour Beat
	Elaine J. McCarthy	Everest
2018[9]
	Jamie Nesbitt	Nine Dragons
	Remy Siu	Empire of the Son
	T. Erin Gruber	Easter Island
	Corwin Ferguson	Julius Caesar
	Amelia Scott	To the Light
2017[10]
	Corwin Ferguson	Richard III
	David Leclerc	BOOM
	Jamie Nesbitt	The Big Sleep
	Amelia Scott with illustrations by Tyler Jenkins	Crime Does Not Pay
	JP Thibodeau	Lest We Forget
2016[11]
	Jamie Nesbitt	Calamity Town
	Sean Nieuwenhuis	The Little Prince
	Scott Reid	Die Tote Stadt
	JP Thibodeau	The Boy’s Own Jedi Handbook
	Amelia Scott and Joel Adria	Cockroach
2015[12]
	Andrzej Goulding	Silent Night
	Jamie Nesbitt	Liberation Days
	Jamie Nesbitt	Farewell, My Lovely
	Kalyna Conrad	Legoland
	Wladimiro A. Woyno R., Matthew Waddell and Laura Anzola	The Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst
2014[13]
	Kaely Dekker	n00b
	Corwin Ferguson	You Will Remember Me
	T. Erin Gruber	A Bomb in the Heart
	Jamie Nesbitt	The Hound of the Baskervilles
Sean Nieuwenhuis	The Mountaintop

• Outstanding Costume Design
• Outstanding Sound Design or Composition
• Outstanding Choreography or Fight Direction
• Outstanding Musical Direction
• Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Comedy or Musical
• Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Comedy or Musical
• Outstanding New Play
• Outstanding Direction
• Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Drama
• Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Drama
• Outstanding Production of a Musical
• Outstanding Production of a Play

Ceremony

Betty Mitchell Award Ceremonies
Ceremony	Venue	Date	Host(s)
1st	Stage West	August 24, 1998	Lindsay Burns[14]
2nd	Stage West	August 30, 1999	[15]
3rd	Stage West	August 28, 2000
4th	Stage West	August 28, 2001	Dave Kelly Elizabeth Stepkowski[16]
5th	Stage West	August 26, 2002	Dave Kelly Karen Johnson-Diamond[17]
6th	Stage West	August 25, 2003	Mark Bellamy Kevin Rothery[18]
7th	Stage West	August 30, 2004
8th	Stage West	August 29, 2005	Bob White Laura Parken[19]
9th	Stage West	August 28, 2006	Grant Linneberg[20]
10th	Stage West	2007
11th	Stage West	August 25, 2008	Dave Kelly[21][22]
12th	Max Bell Theatre, EPCOR CENTRE for the Performing Arts	August 24, 2009
13th	Max Bell Theatre, EPCOR CENTRE for the Performing Arts	August 30, 2010	AJ Demers Julie Orton
14th	Stage West	August 20, 2011	Karen Johnson-Diamond Kevin Rothery
15th	Stage West	August 27, 2012	Russell Bowers
16th	Stage West	August 26, 2013	Nicole Zylstra Stafford Perry
17th	Stage West	August 18, 2014	Stephen Hair[23]
18th	Vertigo Theatre	August 24, 2015	Julie Orton
19th	Vertigo Theatre	2016	Josh Bertwistle, Carly McKee Chris Enright, Nicole Zylstra
20th	Vertigo Theatre	2017	Mark Bellamy Selena Wong
21st	Vertigo Theatre	June 25, 2018	Katherine Fadum Michael Tan[24]
22nd	Vertigo Theatre	June 24, 2019	Raven Virginia

Statue update

The original Betty Mitchell Award statue, designed by local Calgary sculptor, Petronella Overes, was inspired by the geography surrounding Calgary. It was a steel base containing a glass monolith with motifs of mountains and prairies. For the 10th anniversary of the awards in 2007 she redesigned it replacing the steel base with powder coated aluminum and increased the contrast in the tone and texture of the awards metal and glass.^[25]

The Award received its most recent design update in 2014 when the Overes design was replaced with a multi-colour teardrop-shaped glass sculpture created by a local glass blowing collective, Bee Kingdom Glass. Each one is unique, as they are hand-blown.

See also

• Black Theatre Workshop
• Dora Mavor Moore Award
• Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award
• Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award
• Gascon-Thomas Award
• Jessie Richardson Theatre Award
• Rideau Awards
• Robert Merritt Awards

References

1. Northof, Anne (February 18, 2018), Betty Mitchell, The Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia, Athabasca University Press, retrieved June 16, 2019
2. Morrow, Martin (18 June 1998), "City theatre launches Betty Mitchell Awards", Calgary Herald, pp. E2, retrieved 15 June 2019
3. Brooks, Bill (4 September 2014), "Betty Mitchell Awards honor the best of city's theatre world", Calgary Herald, retrieved 15 June 2019
4. Louis B. Hobson, Schemers and spies top the Betty Mitchell Award nominations, Calgary Herald, June 5, 2019
5. News Desk, Ahad Raza Mir becomes first Pakistani to star as Hamlet in Canada, Daily Times (Pakistan), March 31, 2019
6. Ahad Raza Mir Wins the Betty Mitchell Award for Hamlet!, Hip In Pakistan
7. "Inuit actress wins 'Outstanding Performance' prize". Windspeaker. June 27, 2019.
8. Louis B. Hobson, Schemers and spies top the Betty Mitchell Award nominations, Calgary Herald, June 5, 2019
9. Louis B. Hobson, Puppets and sisters big winners at Betty Mitchell Awards, Calgary Herald, June 26, 2018
10. Louis B. Hobson, Betty Mitchell Theatre Awards go Crazy for Theatre Calgary, Calgary Herald, August 22, 2017
11. Louis B. Hobson, Best of Calgary theatre honoured at Betty Mitchell Awards, Calgary Herald, August 23, 2016
12. Bill Brooks, Betty honors Calgary's shining stars, [Calgary Herald], September 12, 2015
13. Bill Brooks, Betty Mitchell Awards honor the best of city's theatre world, Calgary Herald, September 5, 2014
14. Boettcher, Shelley (August 30, 1998). "Bright Lights". Calgary Herald. Retrieved August 25, 2019.
15. Morrow, Martin. "Sage Theatre dominates Betties". Calgary Herald.
16. Muretich, James (July 3, 1999). "Comedy, drama at Betties". Calgary Herald. Retrieved August 25, 2019.
17. Clark, Bob (August 27, 2002). "Calgary's theatre community bestows Bettys". Calgary Herald. Retrieved August 25, 2019.
18. Clark, Bob (August 26, 2003). "Filumena, ATP stage major wins". Calgary Herald. Retrieved August 25, 2019.
19. Clark, Bob (August 30, 2005). "Pinocchio, Black Rider lead way at sold-out Bettys". Calgary Herald. p. D2. Retrieved August 25, 2019.
20. Clark, Bob (September 3, 2006). "Betty shines on Calgary stars". Calgary Herald. p. C6. Retrieved August 25, 2019.
21. Clark, Bob (August 26, 2008). "Ties the tale at 2008 Betty Mitchell Awards". Calgary Herald. Retrieved August 25, 2019.
22. "The Drowning Girls surfaces with 4 Calgary theatre awards". CBC Arts, Aug 26, 2008
23. Brooks, Bill (September 5, 2014). "Betty Mitchell Awards honour the best of city's theatre world". Calgary Herald. Retrieved August 25, 2019.
24. Theatre Alberta Staff (June 20, 2018). "Interview with Braden Griffiths: 21st Annual Betty Mitchell Awards". Theatre Alberta. Retrieved August 25, 2019.
25. Clark, B (27 August 2014), "Award gets an update", Calgary Herald, pp. C2, retrieved 15 June 2019

External links

• Betty Mitchell Awards Official Website