Tampa Bay theatre goers will notice something very new this season when they attend their favorite plays: ballots to nominate the finest stage artists in the area.
The idea was hatched recently when a group of artistic directors at local theatre's got together the day of Jeff Norton's memorial. Norton was a beloved figure in the Tampa Bay-area's artistic community, with decades of memorable work on both sides of the Bay as actor, director, teacher and fight director prior to his murder in July.
"Our idea was to begin a Tampa Bay-area awards ceremony to recognize theatre excellence, not unlike the Jefferson or Carbonelle awards, and name them after Jeff Norton, who was always generous about giving credit to every artist he ever worked with," said Todd Olson, producing artistic director at American Stage Theatre Company in St. Petersburg. "The goal for the Jeff Norton Awards is to recognize finest stage artists in the area and raise the public's awareness of the exceptional amount of professional not-for-profit theatre in Tampa Bay."
Final awards will be announced at an awards ceremony on August 22, 2011 at the Palladium Theatre in St. Petersburg, with proceeds going to participating theatres.
"Stage Works has had the dream of our Bay-area professional theaters having an awards ceremony for many years," said
Anna Brennen, Stage Works artistic director. "The Jeff Norton Awards sets the bar for theater at the highest level. It's time to let the voices be heard of the vast theatre going public in Tampa Bay."
The criteria for the first year will be simple: for a theatre to participate in the Jeff Norton Awards they need to be a not-for-profit professional theatre with an annual budget of $250,000 or more, operating in Pinellas or Hillsborough County. Any theatres interested in taking part can contact Olson at 727-224-3277. So far, the organizations embracing these awards include American Stage, Gorilla Theatre, Stage Works, freeFall Theatre and Jobsite Theater.
"Before we did anything, we approached Jeff's mother for her approval of the use of Jeff's name," says Bridget Bean, artistic director at Gorilla Theatre in Tampa. "Valara Norton agreed and said she was touched by the idea of honoring her son in this way."
Voting for "The Nortons" will have a similar structure to the People's Choice Awards, where audiences choose the winners. Everyone attending a performance at an eligible theatre will have access to official ballots. From returned ballots, the top three vote getters in each category will be nominees at the award ceremony in August. These official ballots will be available at start of each theatre's new season.
"I can't think of a more fitting memorial for Jeff Norton," said
David Jenkins, Jobsite Theater's artistic director. "He was the consummate 'actor's actor.' His integrity as an artist is a standard every actor and theatre artist should aspire to, and naming this award after him will hopefully be one of many things that keep his memory and the memory of his impressive body of work alive."
