Utah Shakespearean Festival Wins Tony Award
from the Summer 2000 U.S. Outdoor Drama, pages 1-2
By Donna Law
  |
  |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
When the call first came, Thursday, May 4, Utah Shakespearean Festival founder and executive producer, Fred C. Adams, could
only respond, "Are you sure you've called the right theatre?" As he realized
he had just spoken with Edgar Dobie, managing producer of Tony Award Productions,
he knew that the festival he founded 39 years ago was the recipient of the 2000
Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. The thrill and amazement has yet
to wear off.
"Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought we would receive a Tony Award," stated Adams in an early interview. "I've always wanted to produce the best theatre possible, but this honor takes my breath away." This award is the only Tony awarded outside the Broadway community and is based on a recommendation of the American Theatre Critics Association. The difficult part for Adams was to keep the news quiet until the award was officially announced in New York City on Monday, May 8. At this point, the marketing and publications division of the Utah Shakespearean Festival began the task of releasing the good news and planning the celebratory events to follow. The weekend became a flurry of very "quiet" marketing activity. A press release was prepared and mailed to over 700 members of the media and theatre colleagues. Arrangements were made to get our producing team to New York City to receive the coveted award. Monday morning, I was listening on the Tony's web site (www.tonys.org) to hear it for myself. Sure enough, at 8:30 a.m. EDT, the Utah Shakespearean Festival was announced as recipient of the Tony for Outstanding Regional Theatre. Then it was quickly off to the office to handle what became weeks of media activity and calls of congratulations and kudos from friends and colleagues from around the country. That Monday morning was the day our entire company — some 350 strong — gathered for our first company meeting. First on the agenda was the announcement, from an emotional founder, that the award had been given to the Utah Shakespearean Festival. There was cheering and a standing ovation from the group as Fred paid tribute to the talent assembled to begin work on the 2000 season. For most of the company it was "business as usual" as rehearsals began and sets and costumes started to take shape. In the world of marketing and publications, it was a different story as we prepared to bring the Tony home to Cedar City. Adams, along with R. Scott Phillips, managing director; Douglas N. Cook and Cameron Harvey, producing artistic directors; and Sue Cox, chair of the Festival's board of governors made the trip to New York and participated in all the pomp and circumstance that makes the Tony Award such a coveted honor. Phillips stated "One of the greatest thrills was to walk onto the stage at Radio City Music Hall with 6,000 theatre professionals in the audience, and have them all applaud our award and the work that is done in regional theatre." While the group hobnobed with theatre elites in New York City, company members got dressed up and gathered in the Randall L. Jones Theatre to watch our executives accept the award and acknowledge all of us with the declaration, "This is for you!" The biggest thrill for the entire company, the city of Cedar City, and the state of Utah was the day we brought the Tony Award home. After a press conference in Salt Lake City, attended by the Governor and his wife, who actually met at the Festival, the entourage flew into Cedar City's small airport to find a red carpet greeting, a welcoming committee of over 250 people and heartfelt enthusiasm for the national recognition. A motorcade wound through the streets of Cedar City finally ending up at the theatre complex, where nearly 1,000 company members, city officials, volunteers and guild members had gathered to welcome the award. After a short presentation, Fred handed the Tony Award to his wife, Barbara, who had been part of the dream from the very beginning. The award was passed from hand to hand to all the well-wishers gathered, so that all those who had participated in the success of the Festival over the years were "handed their Tony Award." Receiving the Tony Award validates the professional effort, not only on the part of Adams, Cook, Harvey, and Phillips; but also the thousands of artists who have contributed to the artistic growth of the Festival over it's 39-year history. The Tony Award stands in a beautiful mirrored case in the lobby to remind all who walk by that, as the producing leadership of the Festival said, "The Tony Award has confirmed our quest for excellence and sets a clear guide for the future of the Utah Shakespearean Festival." |
|
