The Arty Awards are back – The Vacaville Reporter

As the highly anticipated return of the Arty Awards approaches each day, On Stage Vacaville President Lisa Hilas feels an overwhelming feeling.

“Scared.”

The Arty Awards, a celebration of community theater in Solano and Napa counties since 1984, returns from a COVID hiatus on Oct. 20 with 46 award categories and a slate of performances of nominated productions in addition to the traditional opening number.

The return marks the first time the Artys have been hosted by On Stage Vacaville. In the early days of planning, Hilas met with longtime show producer Robert Ponce, whom she referred to as “the godfather of the Arty Awards.” Hilas says this year wouldn’t have been possible without the help of Arty Awards veterans like Solano College Theater artistic director and Arty veteran Christine Mani.

“I’ve always loved the Arty Awards,” says Mani, who will perform in the gala’s opening number this year. “My job is very busy, so I can’t attend so many shows. Just a little reminder to get back on stage sometimes is really nice.”

Mani has been part of the Artys for almost a decade. Ahead of this year’s gala, she emphasized to her students, “It’s not about whether you’re nominated, it’s not about whether you win or lose.” It’s a time for us to come together and share in the theater community at large participate.”

The Artys are an event for both theater lovers and theater artists. Just check out the long list of this year’s judges posted on the On Stage Vacaville website.

Beth Ellen Ethridge, the lead judge at this year’s Artys, had an on-again, off-again relationship with the stage.

“I spent my whole young life acting and waiting tables,” said Ethridge, who, after living and working in North Hollywood for several years after college, decided to enter the health insurance industry instead.

In 2019 she took the stage again. “As I got a little older, I realized that waiting until I retired to start acting again would be unbearable,” she says.

As an Arty Awards judge last year, Ethridge attended local shows and was careful to avoid a conflict of interest with her own involvement in stage productions.

“That was definitely one of the biggest draws,” Ethridge says. Giving back to the theater community and seeing so many local productions would essentially “kill two birds with one stone,” she says.

With any nomination announcement there will be both positive and negative reactions, but when On Stage Vacaville announced it would be bringing back the Artys, the reaction was “overwhelmingly positive,” Hilas said.

From the actors’ perspective, “awards are themselves motivating factors,” says Ethridge, who also hopes the Artys will be more community-oriented than competitive.

Hilas says the best thing is to “leave the drama on stage.”