Local students take theatre prizes home By Dominik Kurek OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF 17 · Wednesday, March 17, 2010 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.oakvillebeaver.com A group of students in the Sheridan College and University of Toronto Mississauga joint theatre program took several top prizes in the university's drama festival. The 17th annual U of T Drama Festival occurred at the end of February and featured plays written, directed, performed and staged by the university's students. It happened at the Hart House Theatre at the St. George campus in downtown Toronto. Multiple students of the local Theatre and Drama Studies program won awards, including four awards that came from one play. The play Faith was written and co-directed by first-year student Ben Hayward. Hayward took the top award for playwriting and he and his classmate, Ali Richardson, took the top award for direction. "Ben is a terrific writer," said Patrick Young, program co-ordinator of the theatre "It's kind of a big deal for a first year, especially in a program like theatre. The reception we got was really incredible." n Ben Hayward Ben Hayward program. "His writing work is already attracting attention from outside of the school." Second-year student Tanya Filipopoulus received the award for best performance for her title role in Faith. The play also received the audience choice award. Another local student, Josh Wiles, received an award of merit for performance for his role in another play titled Forgive Us Our Trespasses. There were two plays by UTM-Sheridan students in the festival. "I felt surprised initially," said Hayward of his play's wins. "Now I'm over- whelmed. It's kind of a big deal for a first year, especially in a program like theatre. The reception we got was really incredible. Everybody has been really supportive and encouraging." Hayward, who resides in Mississauga, is a student in the joint theatre program. At the end of the program students receive both a diploma from the college and a degree from the university. Education facilities are shared between the two campuses. Hayward's monologuestyle play is about a young girl, Faith, who makes sexual advances on a United Church minister. "It's more about her speaking directly to the audience and telling the story of her life and it's a justification MICRODERMABRASION BEAUTY & Spa Spring cleaning starts with your makeup bag of why she does this. The premise of it was directorially: if you gave a character an hour to speak what would they say and this is what she decides to say," Hayward said. Faith has about 90 per cent of lines in the play, while the minister, who is Faith's memory, speaks the other 10 per cent. "The tagline for the play when we were advertising it was: a one and a half person show," Hayward said. Any of the 60,000 U of T students were eligible to submit a play. A committee selected the plays and seven were entered and performed at the festival. "I had no clue what anybody else's work would look like," Hayward said of his experience at the festival. "So we just showed up and did our thing. They keep you pretty isolated. You're not allowed to sit in the audience for any of the other shows the night you perform." The joint theatre program students perform their plays at the Erindale Studio Theatre at the Mississauga campus under the name Theatre Erindale. Neil Diamond tribute show at Oakville Legion on Saturday Neil Diamond is not coming to Oakville, but fans of the singer-songwriter can get the next best thing. Tribute-artist Joey Purpura will perform a concert titled Diamond In The Rough on Saturday at the Oakville Royal Canadian Legion. A part of the proceeds from the show will go to support the Legion. He will perform Diamond's hits such as Cracklin' Rosie, Sweet Caroline, America, I'm a Believer and many others. The show begins at 8 p.m. at the Legion, 36 Upper Middle Rd. E. Tickets are $15 in advance or $20 at the door. For tickets call 905-845-6271. Doors open at 7 p.m. Poetry Café this Sunday Oakville's Poetry Café this Sunday at the Moonshine Café presents readings from two Canadian poets dedicated to multiculturalism in Canadian life and art. There will also be an open mic session. Michael J. Walsh will read from his collection Singing in the Mist and he will be joined at the café by Cheryl AntaoXavier. Walsh was a delegate to the first Government Conference on Multiculturalism in Ottawa in the early 1970s and was also a member of the original Committee for an Independent Canada. He's a professor at Sheridan College's school of animation, art and design and has been involved with Canadian book publishing for more than 40 years. 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