On Saturday 23 February the Canberra and Area Theatre Awards were held at Llewellyn Hall. The Awards are a chance to promote live theatre and recognise outstanding talent from across the region. Mary, speaking as patron of the awards, was pleased to announce this year’s Professional Development Scholarship winner.
“Last year I established the Mary Porter Professional Development Scholarship and this year we received almost twenty nominations and the decision about who to select was a most difficult one. I want to thank both Coralie Wood and Stephen Pike who assisted me in the process” Mary said.
The winner, Thomas Walsh, is well known to the CAT Family, having been nominated for a number of CAT awards over the last seven years- including Best Newcomer in a School or youth musical, Best Lighting Design for a Play and Best Youth Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical.
Thomas has been performing since the age of six and during that time he has been nurtured by the longstanding CAT member company, the Bay Theatre Players. With their help and support, he has been accepted by NIDA to study production.
Mary acknowledged the courage of young people pursuing a career in theatre, saying “Since I became involved in the CAT Awards more than a decade ago, I have always been inspired to see the many young people who got their start in professional theatre by winning a CAT award and, as you know, many of them say that winning that award is what gave them the confidence to seek to pursue a career in the professional theatre.
There would be few, if any, more difficult careers to choose, and I am full of admiration for those young people who do make the decision to follow their dream.” A very excited Mr Walsh gave a gracious acceptance speech to a packed house. No doubt his is a name to watch out for.
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