Probably the most exciting thing about the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the range and diversity of performance. The Total Theatre Awards aim to recognise work that is pushing at the boundaries of traditional theatre, and where spoken text is only one of the elements at play. Founded in 1987, the Total Theatre Awards follow a rigorous process that combines peer assessment and a highly qualified judging panel drawn from all areas of the theatre industry to find the most innovative work at the fringe, offering five awards across the following categories: Emerging Artists/Company, Physical and Visual Theatre, Innovative Theatre. There is also a special award each year for a company or artist who has made a significant contribution to theatre making.Previous winners of Total Theatre Awards include Grid Iron, Improbable, Tim Crouch and Ontroerend Goed ( Belgium ). The awards are highly prized among theatre makers, as they raise the profile of work that might otherwise go unrecognised. Audiences too, know that a Total Theatre Award is a mark of quality and innovation, as winning companies use them on marketing materials year-round, giving them currency beyond the Fringe. Last year???s winner of a Total Theatre Award for Devised Theatre, Kristin Fredriksson has recently completed a UK tour of the winning show, Everything Must Go that included a run at the Barbican. Total Theatre Awards Director Pippa Bailey says 'Theatre as an art form never stays still, it is constantly changing and evolving. The Total Theatre Awards help to encourage the very best of this innovation and draw attention to excellent live performance which can be overlooked at the biggest performance festival in the world' Who is behind the Total Theatre Awards? The Total Theatre Awards is a project of Total Theatre, a small agency producing projects to support theatre makers and develop their audiences. Total Theatre is affiliated with Total Theatre Magazine, although the awards are independent of the publication. The 2010 Total Theatre Awards are supported by barbican bite10, London International Mime Festival, New Wolsey Theatre & Pulse Festival, Norwich & Norfolk Festival, Royal & Derngate Northampton, University of Chichester & The Showroom, University of Winchester , Wales Millennium Centre. How does the process work? Companies performing at this year's Fringe can apply to be considered for the awards by visiting www.totaltheatre.org.uk and submitting an application form before 30th July 2010. All shows will then be visited by at least one peer assessors who decides if a show meets the criteria. If successful, the show will be attended by another assessor who can then put it forward for the longlist, which is then reduced to a shortlist. A panel of twelve judges that includes directors, producers, academics and journalists judge the shortlisted shows. Judges must see all shows in a category to be able to judge it, and must not have any association with work they are judging. |
| Total Theatre Awards web site: www.totaltheatre.org.uk |
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Thursday, July 1, 2010 |
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