Year-end list shines spotlight on those backstage, offstage

There are many lists out there at the end of the year of best performances and best shows, but I think it’s high time we recognize those that we could not do without. 

Everyone knows the Capital Region has the greatest audiences out there. We couldn’t attract so many national acts and tech Broadway tours at Proctors, or try out material for Netflix tapings, if we didn’t have the folks to turn up and turn out. In the Capital Region we understand that a performance without an audience is just a rehearsal, and that we could never practice the craft that gives our lives meaning without the reciprocal support from our fellow artists.

So here I would like to initiate my very first, ridiculously biased, Best Audience of 2023 Awards.

BEST COMMUNITY THEATER SUPPORT

The Sand Lake Center for the Arts has welcomed and collaborated with myself and everything I’ve been involved with from the very beginning. From Bob and Sharon Dawes doing their remarkable sets for my “out there” ideas, to Barb Neu’s help on costumes, to Val Kavanaugh’s help producing, to Brian Sheldon’s vote of confidence in me. There are dozens who have attended shows at Albany Barn, and if they can make it to this side of the river, shouldn’t we return the favor?

BEST OVERALL

Debra Kelsey is the person we bump into at more shows than any other. She ushers, she attends previews and we see her from Simon’s Rock to Catskill to Arbor Hill. She loves attending the highly professional productions from Broadway to Barrington Stage, but also takes great pleasure in frequenting everything else in between, from Confetti to Creative License.

BEST ADVOCATE

Olga Zerniskaya Porterfield is an avid theater-goer and mother of a talented show composer who first came to my attention eight years ago when a group of her TheaterBuffs showed up to a performance of “Charly’s Aunt” at CCT. I have since learned that she cultivates an audience and grows her TheaterBuffs through Facebook and the Meetup app.

BEST SUPPORTIVE COLLEAGUE

David Quiñones Jr. can be found everywhere – acting, singing, dancing, photographing. This year alone he did shows with TIS, CAU, SLOC, CCT and Harbinger. He also does bang-up promotional artwork for shows, and when he’s not doing that he’s attending theater and posting positive reactions to what he’s seen. It is a great boost to everyone in the community, and we see it and appreciate it.

BEST SUPPORTIVE COLLEAGUE WITH TWO TODDLERS

Ellen Cribbs hosts the Everything Theater podcast with the indispensable Benita Zahn, and when she is not interviewing national and community figures about Everything Theater she’s doing monthlong runs at Capital Repertory Theatre or Cohoes Music Hall, or directing at Albany Civic Theater – all while being the mother of two adorable little girls. And in the meantime she attends theater as much as she can, which is a lot.

BEST SUPPORTIVE TECHNICAL ARTIST

Joshua Horowitz has made himself the go-to sound designer in the Capital Region theater community and he seems to relish filling up his calendar with commitments to every company in the region. Best of all, he’s a great friend who can frequently be seen bounding from his booth for hugs in the lobby or visits to everyone’s shows with his mother. He then posts detailed appreciations on Facebook. I keep encouraging him to write for Nippertown, but so far that’s the only theater request he’s been able to sidestep.

BEST DATES

Dick Feldman & Mary Williams

These two are our constant companions for previews or opening nights and we are always on one of their arms negotiating the entrances to every production at Albany Civic Theater, Curtain Call Theatre or Harbinger. Dick is a retired Bethlehem schoolteacher who has directed hundreds of plays throughout the community and has a story about every Bethlehem High graduate who graced his stage. Mary was in my first acting class at the Albany Masonic Lodge 10 years ago after seeing a flyer for my class in the Delaware Avenue Library Branch.