Thankyou Kimberley for the posting and heartfelt congratulations to all the companies and individuals nominated.

"Each morning is the dawn of a new error" - anon.

Tim How: 'Assassins' or 'Sweeney Todd'?

that the Music Theatre Nom is actually for Assassins, but I am trying to confirm that.

My heartiest congratulations to everyone nominated for an award.
I have to convey my delight that ' Nunsense ' was nominated in so many categories ! ' Chookas ' to all of those nominess. Especially Karen tropiano, a dear friend, who was amazing as a director, ans as this is her first musical direction, thus making this an even more outstanding achievement.
I would also like to say ' awesome' to Mahalia Bowles ( she'll know what I mean )and Jen ' you rock ' !! But I would also like to say to Shelley McGinn and Jane Anderson that I felt that you also should have been given a nomination as you were also totally amazing and it was an absolute pleasure to work with you all.
Let's here it for the NUNS ! Hip Hip Hooray.....xxxxx

Wow, only two directors who work professionally got nominated. They may not have been paid for the shows they were nominated for but I bet plenty of their income for the year was from professional direction of other shows.

...the first Finley-related whinge came in at 49 minutes after Kimberley's initial post.

Is that a new record? I ask out of genuine (if perverse) interest.

El

Probably.

Cheers

R.

Dear Bass Guy,

perhaps there should be a special award for 'The best Finley-related whinge' at next years award? (Then would we ever hear the end of the whinging about that?)

Congraluations to all the nominees and in particular all my friends at Rolystone and Limelight. Look forward to seeing you all on the 23rd.

D.

Good luck Josh. I heard you did an amazing job and a brilliant performance.
Its not the award that tells you how wonderful your skils and talents are, it is the praise and applause at the end of the show. And all stories tell me that you had them cheering in the aisles. So you are already a winner : )

Tina

Just wondering, is this award for Direction as well as performance? If it's not, then perhaps Tyler was nominated for Spelling Bee and not Ruthless?

"Performance" in any capacity.

Tyler and Julian are first time directors.

just letting you know that its actually "jason" and not james arrow from jesus christ superstar

congrats to everyone!!!

Congrats and Best of luck to all.

Fingers crossed JCS (MLT) and Bec Daniels (MESH)

So, every time he has been nominated or for that matter won an academy award, Woody Allen has steadfastly refused to attend the ceremony and instead marks the evening playing clarinet in a downtown New York jazz club.
Will our very own Bass Guy be noodling away on his guitar the night of the awards?
Couldn't resist El - sorry

...now that I would pay to see

. . . or do a D-Generation and get someone like Pete Smith (the voice-over guy widely known for a string of Copperart ad's).

I don't think anyone (on this thread) has actually congratulated the ITA crew properly on providing us with such a great night! Good food, nice wine(!), a pleasant, welcoming atmosphere and convivial company, great entertainment and a fantastic chance to do a spot of networking and catching up with old friends. Half of the group I travelled up with are unable to attend the actual Finley night as we are performing in summer shows down our way on that weekend, so for some of us it was our annual "Finley related fix", and we thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

Thankyou to anyone who worked in any capacity either on or towards the evening, your efforts were appreciated mightily!

My little comment is about the amount of city vs country nominations...How many non-metro theatre's are there and how many entered the competition? I'm sure there are a lot of talented people in the country who (for whatever reason) are never acknowledged, and who perhaps have never even heard of the Findleys (I know I didn't until the Adjudicators showed up at one of my Theatre's shows!!)

I'd like to see something acknowledging the extra effort required to put on a show in the non-metro area!!!

Thanks for the enjoyable reading of comments, and I look forward to the post-awards night comments too, as I won't be there!

Good Luck to all Lefties, and SLO's, and congrats to one and all on a great year of theatre!!

...there's Kalgoorlie Rep Club in Brookman St, Stage Left in Boulder, the Little Theatre in Bunbury and the....damn...escapes me, the musical theatre group in Bunbury as well, Murray Music and Drama in Pinjarra, Busselton Repertory, I think there's at least one in Albany, there's probably one in Geraldton, Meredin has a theatre but I'm not sure it's in use, and theres probably a couple more I've overlooked.
To my knowledge though, only Stage Left and Murray Music and Drama opted to enter Finley entries this year. Everyone CAN enter and I can assure you that at least Kalgoorlie Rep and the two theatres in Bunbury ARE aware they can enter if they so choose. Having been a past member and committee member in Busselton they have elected in the past not to take part in ANY competitions and that includes the Southwest Drama Festival. Once again, it's up to the respective theatres if they wish to take part.
I do agree wholeheartedly that there are some great shows on out there in the bush however I'm not sure about extra effort needed however see my comment later in this post where I outline an exception.
Most of the non-metro theatres I've had anything to do with (that includes Kalgoorlie, Bunbury and Busselton) had a great team of people running them and pretty good support in the town for the shows. Generally everyone mucked in just as they do in the city.
Having said that, I am also aware that Stage Left makes an enormous effort to encourage the arts in their area and has done some incredibly innovative stuff with taking the theatre literally to the bush. Hats off to one and all. I think the fact they have received as many nominations as they have is testament to that. I wish each and every nominee the very best for the night.
Fear not Cherrygrrl - I'm sure there will be some recognition of our country cousins
Anyone care to add to or expand/correct on my list of country theatres?

Esperance Theatre Guild
Danadaragan Little Theatre
Spectrum Theatre Albany
Albany light Opera and Theatre Company
Darkan Music and Drama
Denmark Village Theatre
Narrogin Repertory
Geraldton Theatre "8"
Williams Repertory Club

thats just from memory.

There may be others

Cheers

Robert

I would definitely NOT like to see country clubs given preference because they are in the country. It's about the end result, not the effort. ALL shows produced require a great deal of effort, even if the end result is rubbish.

If you read through the noms list, there were quite a few from "out of town" from memory.

You could add Dampier Rep to the list Murray, but I don't think they entered anything, though they have been known to make the trip for Dramafest, I believe.
www.meltheco.org.au

Not sure if it's a proper theatre but I attended dinner and a show in Dunsborough once.

...or was I?

Too many jugs?

To set the records straight, here's the list of country clubs who are currently members of the ITA:

Bridgetown Rep

Bunbury Musical Comedy group

Bunbury Rep

Dampier & Districts

Esperence Th Guild

Goldfields Rep

Goldfields Arts Centre

Murray M & D

Northam Th.

Spectrum (Albany)

Stage Left, Kalgoorlie

Stark Raven

Others have come and gone over the years, notably Theatre 8, Geraldton, Merriden & Narrogin who are intermittent members!

All member clubs whether town or country are sent information each year about the Finley's and encouraged to enter. so all you country memers out there who "didn't know such a thing existed" get on to your committees and ASK.

I started out with Katanning Dramatic Society, they have a great set up there and perform out of the town hall but I've never seen or heard of them in any of the ITA things.

Margaret River Theatre: http://www.margaretrivertheatregroup.com.au/

Katanning Dramatic Society: http://katanning.org/node/79

Busselton Rep: http://www.mysouthwest.com.au/Directory/Entry?entry_id=1220 and http://www.busselton.wa.gov.au/node/243

Sadly Waroona has officially 'disbanded' or whatever the proper term is. A real pity, had several good nights out at their dinner shows in the past.

Firstly thanks one and all for all your comments.... Its great to see such lively debate and that you all have opinions...
In response to some of your comments
.... I did ask, and here I am, asking more... I am not a theatre person, just a normal community minded person - i don't know whats out there so its hard to find out sometimes, until you stumble onto forums like this one - and may i point out, the only reason i know is because i am part of a group who does know?? Information has to start somewhere....
... Extra effort for country people? I really am just referring to the sheer availablity of basic things - like gaffa tape and fabric, which can take a few weeks to arrive in town once you run out of them - not to mention sponsorship depending heavily on the "market price" - little things like that can make the difference between a show going on and being cancelled.
... I wasn't suggesting a country award by any stretch, maybe just a little nod - which you have done quite well in this forum (thanks jmuzz) but you are also right - it does depend heavily on who is running the show, the team - unfortunately it has been my experience that the team is different each year and it makes it hard when you don't have the technical knowledge you had last year as they had to leave town for a job. If the end product is all that matters, then so be it.

And finally thanks for the list of country theaters, i have friends in most of those towns so I will now be able to encourage them to attend, if not participate!!

Happy New Year!!