IT was all feathers, teeth and smiles tonight (February 23) at the 24th CAT Awards, back at Llewellyn Hall after a year’s break.

“Twenty four years! I never thought it would last,” beamed founder and CAT mother, Coralie Wood, as she watched the busloads of CAT followers from around NSW and the ACT pack into the hall at the ANU School of Music to see actress Amanda Muggleton and “CityNews” music writer Ian Mclean introduce routines and excerpts from shows, along with the winners, who had been singled out from the Canberra region and beyond for their work during 2018.

Among the performers were the Wassa Wassa African Drumming Group from Red Hill School and two former luminaries from the Canberra arts scene, Kaitlin Nihill, now studying at the Queensland Conservatorium and Billy Bourchier, now on tour with “The Book of Mormon”.

The Gold CAT Award was presented to Martin Searles for “versatility and achievement in acting and set design throughout the year with a range of companies”. The judges note that he had appeared in lead roles in musical and straight theatre, including “Radio on Repertory Lane”, “12 Angry Men” and “Shrek the Musical”, while also designing or co-designing the sets for “42nd Street”, “Fame” and “Shrek the Musical”.

The Silver CAT Award went to renowned teacher (and “CityNews” theatre writer) Joe Woodward and the Daramalan Theatre Company for “achieving a high standard of student productions, for providing opportunities for, and mentoring students in acting, directing and the composition and performance of original incidental music, and for successfully exposing students to the demands of significant mainstage theatre pieces.”

The CAT judges also made non-award commendations to nine companies for the contribution they have made to theatre and to the community, especially to charities.

The big winners this year were So Popera, Wollongong and Canberra Repertory, with six awards each, while Chevalier College in Bowral was close behind with five awards and several awards going to other schools in the Southern Highlands this year.

Asked what would the CATs would be doing for its 25th anniversary next year, Wood told us: “John Barilaro [NSW Deputy Premier and CATs supporter] wants it to be at Sydney Opera House, but who knows?”

The 2018 CAT Awards winners

BEST SET FOR A PLAY: Sam Lloyd, Eric Haslam, Geoff Philpott And Nikki Bath, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, Bay Theatre Players; BEST SET FOR A MUSICAL, VARIETY OR DANCE PRODUCTION: Adam Loughlin, Janet Cunningham and Mark Dixon, “Into The Woods”, Wollongong High School of the Performing Arts; BEST COSTUMES FOR A PLAY: Anna Senior, “Arms and the Man”, Canberra Repertory Society; BEST COSTUMES FOR A MUSICAL OR VARIETY SHOW: Fiona Leach, “Shrek the Musical”, Free-Rain Theatre Company, Canberra; BEST COSTUMES FOR A SCHOOL OR YOUTH PRODUCTION: Joanne Crowe, Ann Philippe and Denise Hiser, “Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery”, Chevalier College, Bowral; BEST LIGHTING: Adam Loughlin, “Into The Woods”, Wollongong High School of the Performing Arts; TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT: Make-up and costumes teams for the statues, “Mary Poppins”, Albatross Musical Theatre Company, Nowra; JOHN THOMSON MAGIC MOMENT OF THEATRE: Underwater swimming scenes in “The Little Mermaid”, So Popera Productions, Wollongong; BEST ORIGINAL WORK: Matthew Webster. Original music, “Dr Frankenstein”, Canberra Repertory Society, Canberra; BEST ORIGINAL WORK FOR A SCHOOL OR YOUTH PRODUCTION: Stephen Gersbach, Frederick Klein and senior students, concept development and original music, “Vita Leben,” Canberra Grammar School; BEST ENSEMBLE IN A PLAY: The chorus, “Where in the World is Frank Sparrow?” Oxley College, Bowral; BEST ENSEMBLE IN A SCHOOL OR YOUTH MUSICAL: The principal cast in “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”, Oxley College, Bowral; BEST ENSEMBLE IN A MUSICAL: Christie Green, Shevaun Brown, Christa Radley and Kimberly Harris, Barb, Brooke, Tasha and Amy, “Motherhood the Musical”, Parkes Musical & Dramatic Society; BEST YOUTH ORCHESTRA: “Southern Stars: Iconic”, Southern Stars Performing Company Orchestra, NSW Department of Education; BEST ORCHESTRA: “A Chorus Line”, So Popera Productions, Wollongong; PATRICIA KELSON ENCOURAGEMENT AWARD: Emma Sollis, first time choreographing a musical, “The Wedding Singer,” Queanbeyan Players, Queanbeyan; BEST YOUTH ACTOR IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A PLAY: Sam Malone, Mr Stapleton in “Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery”, Chevalier College, Bowral; BEST YOUTH ACTOR IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A MUSICAL: Travis Neale, Uncle Fester in “The Addams Family”, Southern Highlands Youth Arts Council (SHYAC), Bowral; BEST YOUTH ACTRESS IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A PLAY: Beatrice McRobbie, Dr McCann/Nurse Malloy in “Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery,” Chevalier College, Bowral; BEST YOUTH ACTRESS IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A MUSICAL: Samantha Quilliam, Lady Marmalade in “Disco Inferno”, St Edmund’s College and St Clare’s College, Canberra; BEST YOUTH ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE IN A PLAY: Jack Curry, John Proctor in “The Crucible”, Daramalan Theatre Company, Canberra; BEST YOUTH ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE IN A PLAY: Mikayla Brady, Elizabeth Proctor in “The Crucible”, Daramalan Theatre Company, Canberra; BEST YOUTH ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MUSICAL: Lachlan Mills, Marius in “Les Miserables”, Albatross Musical Theatre Company, Nowra; BEST YOUTH ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MUSICAL: Sophie Highmore, Peggy Sawyer in “42nd Street,” Free-Rain Theatre Company, Canberra; BEST DANCE PERFORMANCE BY AN INDIVIDUAL OR ENSEMBLE: Lillian Grant, Bellatrix Lestrange, “Mischief Managed,” Classical Ballet Centre Canberra; BEST VARIETY PERFORMANCE BY AN INDIVIDUAL OR ENSEMBLE: Ruby Hawken with backing vocalists and the Featured Vocal Ensemble, “Bridge Over Troubled Water”, Southern Stars: Iconic, NSW Department of Education; BEST ACTOR IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A PLAY: David Bennett, Colonel Looseleaf Harper in “Happy Birthday, Wanda”, Canberra Repertory Society; BEST ACTOR IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A MUSICAL: David Santolin, George in “The Wedding Singer”, Queanbeyan Players, Queanbeyan; BEST ACTRESS IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A PLAY: Steph Roberts, Dolly in “One Man, Two Guvnors”, Canberra Repertory Society; BEST ACTRESS IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A MUSICAL: Chelsea Heaney, Martha Dunnstock and Pauline Fleming in “Heathers”, Dramatic Productions, Canberra; BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE IN A PLAY: Arran McKenna, Francis Henshall in “One Man, Two Guvnors” Canberra Repertory Society; BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MUSICAL: Nathan Lomas, Jean Valjean in “Les Miserables”, Albatross Musical Theatre Company, Nowra; BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE IN A PLAY: Ali Rapp, Olive in “Summer of the Seventeenth Doll”, CMS Productions, Moss Vale; BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MUSICAL: Belle Nicol, Veronica Sawyer in “Heathers”, Dramatic Productions, Canberra; BEST CHOREOGRAPHER: Teegan McKeen, “A Chorus Line”, So Popera Productions, Wollongong; BEST MUSICAL DIRECTION of a SCHOOL or YOUTH PRODUCTION: Peter Copeland, “Southern Stars: Iconic”, NSW Department of Education, Albion Park; BEST DIRECTION of a SCHOOL or YOUTH MUSICAL: Phil Cunich, “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”, Oxley College, Bowral; BEST DIRECTION of a SCHOOL or YOUTH PLAY: Kate Price, “Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery”, Chevalier College, Bowral; BEST MUSICAL DIRECTION: Peter Copeland, “A Chorus Line”, So Popera Productions, Wollongong; BEST DIRECTION of a PLAY: Chris Baldock, “One Man, Two Guvnors”, Canberra Repertory Society; BEST DIRECTION of a MUSICAL or VARIETY SHOW: Amy Copeland, “A Chorus Line”, So Popera Productions, Wollongong; BEST DANCE PRODUCTION: “Mischief Managed”, Classical Ballet Centre Canberra, Canberra; BEST PRODUCTION of a SCHOOL or YOUTH PLAY: “Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery”, Chevalier College, Bowral; BEST PRODUCTION of a SCHOOL or YOUTH MUSICAL: “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”, Oxley College, Bowral; BEST PRODUCTION of a VARIETY SHOW: “Southern Stars: Iconic”, NSW Department of Education; BEST PRODUCTION of a PLAY: “Summer of the Seventeenth Doll”, CMS Productions, Moss Vale; BEST PRODUCTION of a MUSICAL: “A Chorus Line”, So Popera Productions, Wollongong; SILVER CAT: Joe Woodward and the Daramalan Theatre Company; GOLD CAT: Martin Searles;

CAT AWARDS JUDGES’ COMMENDATIONS

St John Paul II College, Canberra, for the inaugural production of “The Greatest Show: A Vaudeville”, marking the “coming of age” of performing arts in the college; Legs Dance, Canberra, for inclusiveness of parents and special needs groups; ANU Med Revue, Canberra, for donating proceeds of “Freaky M.I. Day” to Companion House; Australian Defence Force Academy Performing Arts Company, Canberra, for donating all proceeds from “High School Musical” to Legacy; Dramatic Productions, Canberra, for raising over $12,500 for local charities through donating a proportion of takings from “Heathers”; Michael Sparks, Canberra Repertory Society, for participating in the Leukemia Foundation’s World’s Greatest Shave while preparing for the role of the Creature in “Dr Frankenstein” raising $1200, which he donated in honour of Naoné Carrol; Parkes Musical & Dramatic Society, for strong community engagement in attracting community support and council funding; Queanbeyan Players, for raising money for Headspace National Youth Mental Health Foundation during production of “Godspell”; and Wagga Wagga School of Arts Inc SOACT, celebrating tenth anniversary of annual “TenX10” Festival.