Published on: 25 October 2013

The Midnite Youth Theatre Company (MYTC) celebrated its 2013 season at the annual Drama Dinner held at the Claremont Yacht Club on Tuesday night. The evening included the presentation of the 2013 Leo Awards, reflections on the year’s productions and a forecast of the 2014 season.

MYTC Artistic Director Drew Stocker said patrons, families and staff heard students’ reflected on the main productions for the year including Gargantua, Julius Caesar, Born Bad and Les Misérables before the presentation of the awards.

The Leo Awards were instituted in honour of the international actor and MYTC’s first Theatrical Patron, Leo McKern AO. Mr McKern and inaugural MYTC Artistic Director Tony Howes formulated the criteria, and the awards are given in Mr McKern’s honour and memory.

The Midnite Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Arts and Western Australian Theatre was awarded to Sandra Gorringe – a respected drama educationalist, who has also done some teaching at Christ Church.

The Willoughby Family, in memory of the late Tim Willoughby, presents the coveted ‘Tim Willoughby Award for Outstanding Performance’. This year, the award went to Brayden Schofield (Year 12) for his performance in Gargantua. Nathan Tang (Year 12) was awarded the Newnham Prize for Technical Achievement while Andrew Stewart (Year 12) received a Special Leo for Long and Outstanding Service.

The evening concluded with a forecast of the 2014 season. The Year 9 play, which will be directed by visiting director Andy Fraser; was still to be confirmed at time of publication. In Term 2, Year 10 play The Trial, adapted by Steven Berkoff from the story by Kafka, is an arresting piece of physical theatre of a dark existentialist nightmare.

In Term 3, Years 11 and 12 perform Henry IV, Part 1 and 2 by William Shakespeare, set in Thatcher’s Britain with punk-rock panache. In Term 4, the Years 7 and 8 play will be The Man from Mukinupin by Dorothy Hewett, in which daytime and nighttime characters mirror each other in an exploration of life in rural WA.