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Nanaimo Theatre Group brings home regional and provincial awards for one-act plays

Group amassed nearly 20 awards for ‘Legoland’ and ‘Never Swim Alone’
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Tasha Ballantyne and Zane Downey starred in the Nanaimo Theatre Group’s one-act play ‘Legoland’ for the group’s most recent season. Downey was recently awarded the Bill Elliot Award for Best Performance by Youth or Novice at the Theatre B.C.’s Mainstage 2022 festival held in July. (Photo courtesy Sheila Fremont-Male)

The Nanaimo Theatre Group is no stranger to awards this year.

A press release noted that after winning several awards at the North Island Zone Theatre Festival, the cast and crew of the group’s one-act plays, Legoland and Never Swim Alone, travelled to Vernon for the Theatre B.C.’s Mainstage festival.

This year’s provincial festival, held for the first time since 2019, had five groups perform over five nights during the week of July 11 at the Vernon District Performing Arts Centre.

The Nanaimo Theatre Group performed both Legoland and Never Swim Alone the evening of July 14, and was “very well received and highly praised,” noted the release.

During the July 16 evening gala for the provincial festival, the group received awards for best sound, lighting and costume design, as well as Best Director, Sherri McLean, and the Bill Elliot Award for Best Performance by Youth or Novice, Zane Downey.

At the North Island regional festival, held mid-May in Courtenay, the theatre group was presented with an accumulated 13 awards, for both plays, including Best Production, Best Director, Best Actor in a Female Role, Best Actor in a Male Role and Best Ensemble.

Both Legoland and Never Swim Alone debuted in late April this year, but had been originally planned to hit the stage for the group’s 2019-20 season.

A press release issued in June noted that Legoland, penned by Victoria-based Jacob Richmond, features Penny Lamb, 16, and her brother Ezra, 13, played by Tasha Ballantyne and Downey, respectively, as “two innocents” off to see the world. Never Swim Alone, written by Daniel McIvor, is a satire about “two egotistical men locked in a ruthless competition of one-upsmanship for seemingly no reason.”

READ MORE: Nanaimo Theatre Group staging long-awaited one-act plays


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