RESULTS: Ballymoney Drama Festival

Ballymoney Drama Festival 2020 Committe Members and Adjudicator, (left to right), Heaney Sayers, Festival Treasurer, Sharon Flynn, Festival Secretary, Jennifer Scott-Reid, Adjudicator, Mac Pollock, Festival Chairman.

The Adjudicator Jennifer Scott-Reid said that she had been very impressed with the high standards of production and acting which had been on display every evening and grateful for the friendship and support she had been shown. She told the Festival committee that she would love to be invited back to Ballymoney!

The Chairman of AUDF, Shauna Kyle, also spoke briefly, reminding the audience of the importance of the amateur drama movement and of the audiences who support it. Mac Pollock, the Festival Chairman, closed the proceedings by thanking the Adjudicator, the local organising team, the Town Hall staff and all the competing companies for a varied and successful Festival.

Newpoint Players, Newry, were the overall winners with their production of The True Story of Mary K, written and produced by Sean Treanor. Holywood Players, who performed the Alan Ayckbourn comedy Absent Friends, were

Ballymena Drama Festival 2020 Acting Awards, (left to right): Alan Marshall from Clarence Players with the award for Best Actor won by his colleague Stephen Connolly in their production of 'Painting Churches', Festival Adjudicator, Jennifer Scott-Reid, Steve Emerson with his award for Best Suppoting Actor for his role in Holywood Players production of 'Absent Friends', Joanne Hughes from Theatre 3 with the award for Best Actress won by her fellow actress, Sarra Donnelly for her role in their production of 'Agnes of God', Mac Pollock, Festival Chairman.

placed second, with Rosemary Drama Group and Ballymoney Literary and Debating Society coming third and fourth with These Shining Lives and Laying the Ghost respectively.

Certificates of Merit were presented to Naimh Kearney for her beautiful singing and Pauline Lynch-McDonald for her narration in The True Story of Mary K; Richard Dowling for his rounded performance as Tom in These Shining Lives; Steve Emerson for ‘stepping in and acting up’ in Absent Friends and Dorothy Wiley for her poignant performance as a woman losing all she loves in Painting Churches.

The following cups and trophies were awarded:

Friers Trophy for Décor: Newpoint Players, Newry – The True Story of Mary K. O’Cahan Cup for Décor: Holywood Players – Absent Friends. Malachy McLaughlin Cup for Stage Lighting: Holywood Players, Absent Friends; Tom Dale Trophy for Best Supporting Actress: Lindsay Wallace as Charlotte in Rosemary Drama Group’s production of These Shining Lives; Tom Dale Trophy for Best Supporting Actor: Steve Emerson as John in Holywood Players’ production of Absent Friends; Dalriada Cup for Best Actress: Sara Donnelly as Agnes in Theatre 3’s production of Agnes of God; Route Cup for Best Actor: Stephen Connolly as Gardner in The Clarence Players’ production of Painting Churches.

Ballymoney Drama Festival 2020 Overall Winners Award. (left to right): Sharon Flynn, Committee Secretary, Adjudicator,Jennifer Scott-Reid, Mark Hughes of Newpoint Players holding the Committe Cup for the overall winning play, "The History of Mary K" and Mac Polock, Festival Chairman.

Vin Smyth Memorial Trophy for Best Producer: Sean Treanor - Newpoint Players, Newry – The True Story of Mary K; Edmund Gordon Memorial Trophy for Best Moment of Theatre: Gardner’s meltdown in Painting Churches – The Clarence Players; Wreath Cup for Most Ambitious Choice of Play: Rosemary Drama Group – These Shining Lives; Sir Robert Lynn Cup for the Best Irish Dialect Play: Newpoint Players, Newry – The True Story of Mary K; Lord Antrim Cup for Best Comedy or Farce: Holywood Players – Absent Friends; Committee Cup for Overall Winner: Newpoint Players, Newry – The True Story of Mary K.