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Harper Joy Theatre
2020 Drama banquet
Patron Award for Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actor
Eva Sullivan for Ripe Frenzy
Sylvia Adome for Chekhov's Farces
Laurie Pitts Stage Manager Award
Outstanding Stage Manager
Alyx Kruger
Departemental Awards for Excellence in Dance
Outstanding Performance and Choreographic Contributions to a Movement-Based Work
Chloe Hood
Nidhi Jaltare
Brad Hunt Music Award
Two Juniors Interested in Musical Theatre
Alyx Kruger
Oriana Golden
"Saving the Day" Award
Created by the faculty to honor a student who has gone above and beyond any expected contribution to the department
Buyaki Nyatichi
While we love and cherish all newbies, we’d like to take this time to welcome one resilient transfer who certainly hit the ground running, getting involved every which way before our cute little pandemic came along. Throughout this semester, she’s sweated over spotlights, made swans kiss, and entranced Emily’s class with her excellent recordings of class readings. All we can say is: we sure are glad you picked Whitman. Here’s to more theatre-filled years! The Welcome To Whitman Award goes to Piper Olsen!
(Dramatically) The art of camouflage. Subtle. Steady. Stunning. Sweet. So frequently, we don't see the powerful serpent in the brush. Tonight we would like to honor one person who has dedicated countless hours to this department, but rather sneakily. Our Snake in the Grass Award goes to Nick Xiang!
Abbott and Costello. Calvin and Hobbes. Ben and Jerry. There are some friend duos who will go down in history as inseparable, compatible, and down-right beautiful. This year’s Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum Award goes to Lucy Evans-Rippy and Chloe Holaso for bringing us the bank men in Chekhov!
Some theater artists are known for their ego. Some are known for their loud personalities. Some of the greatest, though, bypass all that noise and make their work sing. This person has acted, painted, researched, and wittily observed the happenings of HJT for four brilliant years. The Anti-Diva Award goes to Miranda LaFond!
Rose and Jack, Fred and Ginger, Lucy and Ricky, Bert and Ernie…these are the couples of our time. Some lovebirds will even give a (prosthetic) arm and a leg for their partner. The Cutest Couple Award goes to Beej Haas and Ava Wadleigh for Playing With Fire (After Frankenstein)!
Hear ye, hear ye! Give three huzzahs for the senior that hath given loyal service to the art of reenacting the great time of enlightenment and festivities. Raise your goblets to honor this individual’s knowledge of history. The Mr. Puffy Pants Award goes to Ethan Raffman!
Hussy, hussy, hussy. (blows a kiss this way) This is an honor bestowed to few, but important to all. (blows a kiss that way) Qualities of the hussy include; an unwavering commitment to a unique personal image, the drive to make the world a better place, and a great smile. This year’s Hussy Award goes to Jamie Fields!
A recently declared dance minor and an inspiringly honest, intelligent, and badass human being, the Mothafuckin’ Dragon Award goes to Nidhi Jaltare!
The scene shop teaches many skills to its workers. Some, though, are happiest going back to the basics. This person has shown above and beyond, that (despite our field's many environmental atrocities) we can do it. Yes we can! The Bob The Builder Award goes to Grant Gallaher!
The Makitas Team Mom is: Taylor Kolkemo
The Makitas Team Captains are:
Cameron Fraser and Eva Sullivan
This person is an impeccably talented designer, vocal class participant, and everyone’s favorite person to run into in the HJT lobby. He awes us all with his work ethic, creativity, kindness, and devotion to the HJT community. We will miss his spooky sounds, his cheerful laughter, and his subtle, sly remarks. This year’s Greatest Of All Time (G.O.A.T.) Award goes to Evan Marks!
This senior has absolutely killed it with her costumes, shown dead-ication to her SFX work as a makeup designer, and proven to be a bloody great advocate for humans and zombies alike. Thinking about a future without her in Harper Joy truly, truly bites. The Knock 'Em Dead Award goes to Haley King!
Never has the world seen a more dramatic reaction since Nathan Lane pierced the toast in The Birdcage. For her majestically theatrical (and invisible) hand injury in Ripe Frenzy, the That Looked Like It Hurt Award goes to Eva Sullivan!
It has been said that art forms the future structures of society. If this is true, it takes a special kind of person to spin tales that reimagine the possibilities of the future. This person spins tales in everyday conversation that transcend space and time as we know it, weaving dimensions together like no other. The Magician Award goes to Andrew Yeon!
Never has there been such an impeccable fart-noise maker in the history of fart-noise making. The man who made this music was sadly not allowed to flex his fabulous fart noise muscle in the final Chekhov production, but we still want to take this opportunity to toot his horn. The Deepest Cut Award goes to Ravi Narayan!
She used the beard tape. She placed it on. She expressed herself. Nothing else mattered...She’s the best darn mustache-wearer this department has ever seen. The Suave Stache award goes to Ashlyn Quintus!
The Best DCO Award goes to Jay Tyson!
There are some who dangle their toes in the kiddie pools of life, and there are others who dive straight to the bottom of the ocean. The same goes for getting involved with Harper Joy. This first year proved that she certainly wasn’t afraid of the water by delving into many different aspects of HJT. She's done it all: from costumes to stage management to light board operating; she’s faced down the costume shop’s extremely intimidating pressure iron and applied gory prosthetics without batting an eyelash. For diving deep and jumping right in, this year's 0 to 60 Award goes to Jaime Fields!
This actor is known for her intensity, and her passion. In every role she plays, she brings a level of commitment and strikes awe into the hearts of her collaborators. Where does it come from? We may never know the depths of her inner fire. The “If You Can’t Stand The Heat, Get Out of the Kitchen” Award goes to the hilarious and wonderfully magnetic Rose Heising!
This award is not so much a reprimand as it is a virtual hug. This student has been as active and present as is humanly possible without literally morphing into the walls. While we appreciate her enthusiastic, diligent, and inspiring work, we would like to assign her a new task... This year's Calm the Fuck Down Award goes to Julia Etrusco for going full throttle on every project she can get her hands on!
This award goes to the couple with the best make-out chemistry. For the sexy surprise right before Chekhov’s intermission that included a perfect height difference, a full dip, pistols, and a strange mating dance, the Best Kiss Award goes to Ruby Daniel and Ashlyn Quintus!
Not everyone who dedicates their time and energy to Whitman theater comes out with a degree. We are happy to have a great pool of non-major theater students who work tirelessly for this department, despite the fact that they actually have other work to do. This year’s Victoria E. Davidson/Cade Beck/Jon Reid Watson III "I Am Still Not a Theatre Major" Award goes to Buyaki Nyatichi!
The Beer Smock goes to Sylvia Adome!
Some students are tricky to pin down. While completing her creative work, this student sometimes shifted around requirements to create texts beyond our wildest dreams. She also angrily ranted about women and the financial system to her heart’s content while wearing a beard and spitting into a bucket. She is a personality unto herself, and it is the utmost pleasure to know and work with her. This year’s Transcendent Award goes to Nhi Cao!
This award goes to the crazies who tripped, fell, and somehow got back up again. For shooting Beej during a speech about life, smashing a lantern the day it arrived, and jamming the Creature’s slab on opening night, this year’s Technical Fuck-Up Award goes to the cast and crew of Playing with Fire (After Frankenstein)!
That electrifying lab transition… that horrifying makeup… those incredibly durable fake limbs. Not only did you manage to acquire the world’s supply of visqueen, install bubbling tubes and severed heads, and “electrify” an actor with a lowering, lit apparatus… but you worked that rake without flailing into the audience. Forget those earlier speed bumps. This year, the Technical Fuck Yeah Award goes to the cast and crew of Playing with Fire (After Frankenstein)!
Offstage, he’s always got a friendly smile, a goofy joke, and enough mac n’ cheese to share, but his raw emotional intensity onstage has moved audiences to chills and tears. The Jekyll & Hyde Award goes to Beej Haas!
She's been a force onstage and off for four years, a leader in both the Drama Club and Varsity Nordic, and a pillar for theatre on Whitman's campus. For being a steady voice of reason and a catalyst for knee slaps everywhere, the Wind Beneath Our Wings Award goes to Ruby Daniel!
Every Friday, mysterious (yet deafening) sounds echoed through the hallways of HJT. Was it a ritual? Was it a class? Or was it two of HJT’s most musically proficient characters jamming the heck out? This year’s DJ Dudes Award goes to Sal Goldblatt and Peter de Grasse!
Theatre often pushes the limits with its political themes and questions societal norms with its content. Because of this, it often becomes a place where people on the edges can find a home. This colorful individual's presence alone makes it known that everyone is accepted and welcomed to the Harper Joy community with open arms. They wear their uniqueness like a badge of honor (sometimes literally). The "I’m Here, I’m Queer" Award goes to Riley Gavigan!
This year, no one knew that there was a competition for the most DCPs. Imagine, you all could have been praised at this banquet, but you were too busy screaming into the void to bake/sell/table!! The Nicky Hard Khor Award goes to Julia Etrusco!
For their patience during endless cicada drops, their contagious camaraderie during the One Acts, and their unbelievable work ethics that made stage management look like smooth sailing, this enthusiastic trio deserves some love.
The Dream Team Award goes to Alyx Kruger, Sydney Bellon and Marilyn Schlanger !
Not only are these two non-theatre majors, they're non-theatre combined / double majors, active interest house members, full-time students with jobs, first-time stage managers, and nightly hot chocolate consumers. The "Somehow Survives on Two Hours of Sleep" Award goes to Hannah Marker and Emma Fletcher-Frazer!
PATRON AWARDS
Guthrie McClintic Drama Award
Best Actor
Ashlyn Quintus for Chekhov's Farces
Rose Heising for Chekhov's Farces
Ruby Daniel for Chekhov's Farces
Note: The patron committee wanted to honor the ensemble of lead actors in this production.
FACULTY AWARDS
Edith Blackman Merrell Davis Award
Four Years of Outstanding Service to the Theatre
Ruby Daniel
Cherry Production Awards
Outstanding Service to the Theatre in a Technical Field
Haley King
Jean Yvonne (Jay) Tyson
Jean Morgan Stone Award
Outstanding First Year/Sophomore Actress
Lucy Evans-Rippy
Dorothy Fiala Beaupre Drama Scholarship
Commitment and Service to the Department
Sylvia Adome
Senior and legend awards
AWARDS
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