By Michelle Saturley
Staff Writer

George Piehl and Scott Severance perform during the New Hampshire Theatre Awards. The two men are fixtures on the state’s theater scene. Piehl won an award for Best Actor and Severance received nominations in two categories.

Statues were given out, show-stopping numbers were performed, mascara ran down hundreds of faces, and a tumbling saxophonist avoided injury – all par for the course at theater awards ceremonies, and the 2006 New Hampshire Theatre Awards didn’t fail to disappoint.

A celebration of the Granite State’s best professional and community performing arts companies, this year’s ceremony, presented at the Palace Theatre on Friday, Feb. 3, boasted some of the best performances seen since the awards began in 2003.

Even more remarkably for awards veterans, the show clocked in at just over the two-hour mark – a big change from the three- to four-hour marathon sessions of years past. While the presenters and audience were primarily made up of show business folks, it was also a chance for novice theatergoers to see a sampling of some of the best arts programming the state has to offer.

“Theater is about dreaming, and all of these people work together to make the dream come true, even if only for a short time,” said host Ernest Thompson.

A New Hampshire native best known as the author of the Tony and Oscar award-winning scripts for the stage and screen versions of “On Golden Pond,” Thompson summed up the feeling behind the awards’ patrons energy and enthusiasm in his opening remarks.

Co-produced by The Palace and New Hampshire Magazine, the N.H. Theatre Awards provide a pat on the back for the state’s theater groups, honoring actors, directors, costumers, choreographers and set and lighting designers.

The awards for the professional categories were handed out in a special ceremony preceding the main event. Theater powerhouse, The Peterborough Players, cleaned up in several categories, but their winning streak for Best Actor in a drama was broken this year when Larry Vigas from the Gamaliel Theatre Company in Dover won top honors for his work in “The Car.” James Whitmore, a longtime actor at the Peterborough Players, had won three years in a row previously. However, his son, James Whitmore, Jr., received a Best Supporting Actor award for his work in Peterborough Players’ version of “Inherit the Wind.”

The community theater awards were more evenly distributed than in years past. This could be the result of a major increase in the number of participating amateur theater groups this year – more than 30 in all – but it may also be that these groups have been striving for quality like never before. Thirteen different groups took home awards in various categories, with Actorsingers of Nashua, New Thalian Players of Manchester, M&D Productions of Conway and Actors’ Circle Theatre of Peterborough taking home multiple statues.

For the first time ever, the state’s governor attended the event. Thompson was happy to point out Gov. John Lynch to the audience, but not before confirming that he was, indeed, a Democrat. Gov. Lynch and his wife, Dr. Susan Lynch, watched the show from the balcony for the first act, and then opened the second half of the night by paying a special tribute to the late M.T. Mennino, former executive director at the Capitol Center for the Arts, who passed away in December. Gov. Lynch closed his tribute by saying how important the arts community is to the entire state.

“You inspire us every day,” Lynch told the performers in the audience. “If there’s every anything I can do for you, please let me know.”

Each year, producers of the event choose a theme tying the show together. This year, it was “Children’s Theater.” Several theater groups featuring young people were invited to perform numbers from Broadway shows. The Palace Youth Theatre performed “One Day More,” from “Les Miserables”; R&B Productions of Concord did a medley from “Grease”; and Nashua’s Peacock Players brought down the house with a number from the smash musical “Rent.”

And this year’s best actress recipients, Lauren Cassidy and Holly Laurent, who played conjoined twins in the musical “Sideshow,” were barely 18 years old. The pair opened the show with a tear-jerking ballad, “Love Me As I Am,” which was punctuated by a saxophone player from the orchestra taking an unfortunate spill off an elevated platform. Luckily, he wasn’t hurt, and Thompson made clever mention of the tumble later in the program.

Though much of the focus was on youth, the show did take time to observe some theater legends. Norman Leger, an actor and longtime owner of the New London Barn Playhouse, received a lifetime achievement award, while Manchester theater icon George Piehl picked up a Best Actor award for his work as Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof.” Both had a few words of wisdom for up-andcoming thespians. Leger spoke briefly about some of the people he’s worked with over the years, while Piehl expressed his opinion about the awards ceremony itself.

“To the adjudicators: please do all that you can to ensure that these awards mean all that they can mean,” Piehl said as he accepted his award.

Thompson closed the ceremony by congratulating everyone for getting out of the theater before midnight.

“I’d like to ask all of you to make a point of seeing a play this year,” Thompson said. “Or perform in one, or go write your own play.”

To learn more about the awards, visit nhtheatre.com