That Tall Blonde at the Callback — I’d Like to Thank the Academy…
By: Susan Tonkin
Tags: Bay Area, Awards, Recognition, Musical Theatre

Actors love validation, especially from their peers. “You like me, you really like me!” So it’s no surprise that the various awards programs in the Bay Area are always top of mind for lots of us. Getting named a Theatre Bay Area (TBA) recommended production is #squadgoals. And an individual acting nomination is the career goal of many a local actor (I’d certainly take one!)

That said, surprisingly few of us know how the nominations and awards work. And I’ve heard SO MANY comments from people about the validity or the non-validity of various awards. Things like “isn’t everything TBA recommended these days?”, “they don’t even watch the shows that they nominate” and “so-and-so just picks their friends and family”. So I did a bit of research to at least understand the basic process for the three local awards programs that I hear about most often — the TBA Awards, the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle (SFBATCC) Awards and the Shellie Awards. I did not dig into the various “vote for me on this website” awards — we’ll just ignore those for now!

TBA

From the website: The TBA Awards are designed to honor excellence in professionally oriented theatre through a peer-based, Bay Area-wide adjudication process. Each week, all season long, hundreds of TBA Awards adjudicators attend and evaluate eligible productions all over the Bay Area. Based on the overall production scores from these adjudicators, Theatre Bay Area publishes a weekly list of productions that have reached the required threshold of scoring to be deemed “TBA Awards Recommended.” All adjudicator votes throughout the season are then tabulated to determine that year’s TBA Awards Finalists and TBA Awards Recipients.

Of the three — TBA is the newest awards, but also seems to have the most formal, transparent process, and the largest number of adjudicators out there seeing shows. Theatres do pay to participate, however, and the theatres choose which productions they want adjudicated. (Registration fees for the 2018–19 season are as follows: Tier I: $250, Tier II: $175, Tier III: $125) I like the tiered process too, it’s by annual production budget and union (Actor’s Equity Association or AEA) involvement, so it’s a good attempt to similarly group productions, rather than pitting a world-class ACT show against a small community show. The tiers are:

· Tier III: Productions in this tier have no Actors’ Equity Association (AEA) requirement and operate on an annual budget below $400K. Tier III productions must be seen by a minimum of (6) six adjudicators.

· Tier II: Productions in this tier operate on some AEA contract and/or an annual budget of $400K or above. Companies operating under some AEA contract and an annual budget of below $400K may choose to participate in either Tier II or Tier III. Tier II productions must be seen by a minimum of (9) nine adjudicators.

· Tier I: Productions in this tier operate under LORT or BAT contracts with AEA. Companies operating with LORT or BAT contracts with an annual budget in excess of $1M must participate in Tier I. Companies operating with LORT or BAT contracts with an annual budget below $1M may choose to participate in Tier I or Tier II. Tier I productions must be seen by a minimum of 12 adjudicators.

How are the adjudicators chosen? Any individual member of Theatre Bay Area may apply to be an adjudicator. Chances are you know a handful of them! They must commit to score 18–36 performances per year. Adjudicators choose their first performance from a list of available complimentary tickets provided by the production company. Adjudicators are then assigned to their next production based on their selecting a performance date and time during which they are available to attend a production. The adjudicator can then choose their third production, be assigned to their fourth, and so on.

Within 48 hours of attending a production, adjudicators log in at the awards program website, select the ballot for that production and record numeric evaluations (from 0.01 to 10.0) on line on the ballot. They are required to evaluate all ballot lines except those that would create a conflict of interests or where the listed artist was absent from the performance attended. I drilled into this conflict of interest concept with all three programs. It’s always an honor system, so the adjudicators have to call out their own conflicts. TBA includes the following: ongoing paid or volunteer staff positions, board service, and close personal relationship (spouse/partner/family member) of someone in the production and/or related to the company. What’s missing here to me is close friends and people who may have auditioned for the show and were not cast. Now, I know we all know a LOT of people in the theatre community, so I see how it would be practically impossible to have a “friend” rule that was enforceable. None of the three programs seem to have a rule about not rating shows you were rejected from — I suppose it’s rare. But I did hear scuttlebutt that one of the adjudicators that came to see “Company” had auditioned but not been cast. Hope he/she/they were kind! All that said, the rigor in the process at TBA was very impressive.

Company was TBA recommended! I don’t have any individual nominations, but I have been in two “Best Musical” shows. WAY back in the day, I was in a Chabot College production of “Good News” that won the SFBATCC Award for Best Musical. And (also quite a few years ago) I was in the Diablo Light Opera Company production of “The Scarlet Pimpernel” that won the Shellie for Best Musical.

San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle

While TBAs are mostly peer-adjudicated, the SFBATCCs are decided by both peer reviewers AND the community of theatre critics. There are adjunct and full members who each must see 40–100 shows per year. Full members are regular reviewers in print, radio, TV or digital media. Adjunct members are NOT critics, and have no requirement to post reviews, but “as directors, designers, performers, non-reviewing media members, etc., bring an additional level of critical perspective and experience or other theatrically-related background to the Circle.” This year’s awards ceremony was the 43rd annual — so they have been around a very long time. Similar to TBA’s “recommended” designation, SFBATCC awards certain productions that score highly a “Go See!” designation. There is tiering of the awards by house size (<100, 100–300, and 300+ seats), and some regional awards for best production (SF City, East Bay, North Bay, South Bay/Peninsula).



Like all three programs, there is a lot of rigor around the process. Affidavits attesting to having seen the shows they are nominating. Rules against nominating any work where there is personal involvement. A minimum of three critics must have seen the show to be considered for awards.

Shellies

These awards are not Bay Area wide, but are focused on the Contra Costa County area. But they have also been around a very long time — 2019 was the 40th Annual Shellie Awards ceremony. Currently, the regional companies participating are: Brentwood Theater Company, Center REPertory Company, Clayton Theatre Company, Contra Costa Musical Theatre, Onstage Theatre, Pittsburg Community Theatre, Town Hall Theatre Company and the Vagabond Players.



The nomination process here was different than the other two programs. Nominees are NOT selected by the “voting body” called the Shellie Committee, but are selected by each participating organization. So, for example, CCMT or Town Hall looks at their shows for the season, and picks and chooses what they think the best work was, and puts those forward, and then a ballot is prepared to be voted upon by the Shellie Committee (a confidential group of individuals). They stress that these individuals from the Shellie Committee DO attend each production. The Shellie Committee members then complete their ballots and forward them to the independent accountant who tallies the ballots and prepares the sealed envelopes which are not opened until the awards ceremony.

I hope this helps highlight some of the process differences across the three programs, and that you know a little more about these programs. What it highlights for me is just how much amazing theatre happens in the Bay Area every year! And for all three of the programs, it really is an honor just to be nominated. And a good excuse to get dolled up and put on a fancy dress, which I never complain about. :)