One Night, Many Stars: Gregory Awards Fill Town Hall Seattle with Camaraderie, Joy
2025 Gregory Award recipients
On the evening of Monday October 27, actors, theater crew, directors, and producers (along with their families and friends) gathered at Town Hall Seattle for The Gregorys. Twenty-five years of celebration and recognition from and for the theatre community, the theme apt and invited dazzling outfits: One Night, Many Stars.
Upon arriving early with my press badge hanging around my neck, I entered a space reminiscent of the night sky. Black and shimmery gold and silver décor set the vibe as the venue waited to be outshone by attendees. I entered, having no real connections to the Seattle theater scene other than my Evergreen Echo affiliation, but guided by the tender memories of my high school theater relationships and my adolescent years of yearning to belong to something larger.
I hovered outside of groups of nominees and attendees as people caught up and celebrated their excitement. Waiting for eye contact, which was then quickly followed by inquisitive smiles and welcoming demeanor, I was able to capture quotes and pictures prior to the ceremony. A champagne toast in dedication to John Bradshaw, the Gregory A. Falls Honoree of the night, encapsulated the true theme of the night before the ceremony began. Togetherness, community, and love.
-
Paul Linnes of the Woodland Park Players won the award for Outstanding Musical Direction and the group won the award for Outstanding Performance Band/Orchestra.
It's easy to think of negative tropes of theater: harsh directors, cold theaters, and an understudy ready to sabotage the lead, but most theater companies are like The Woodland Park Players, a community theater group that consists of neighbors and volunteers. I had the honor of meeting some of the group that was in the musical CATS, nominated for six different awards. They were friends and neighbors coming together to put on a show with a full orchestra of volunteers.
As the awards presentation progressed, an award category that—based on the energy of the crowd—was highly sought after and solidified the theme of the night was Outstanding Community Engagement. With many nominations, Seattle Public Theater took home the award, but all the different groups and organizations, big or small, were unerring in their belief that community was the way forward in theater.
I had the opportunity to chat with the Executive Director for Bainbridge Performing Arts who summed up the importance of the Community Engagement Award: “When the world feels bleak, we need spaces where we can find each other, it feels more crucial now than ever.”
John Bradshaw with his famous cookies prior to the awards ceremony
This sentiment was echoed over and over including by John Bradshaw himself in his acceptance speech. Some poignant moments included his thoughts of community and theater’s role in it: “Telling the stories of who we are—and who we should be,” in reference to the importance of scripts and appealing to the growing community of Seattle and the greater suburban counties that surround it, “we need your voices and your stories.” Coupled with, "The more theatres we have, the more opportunities we have for performers and theater workers in our city." And then the exceptional quote from the awards’ namesake Gregory Falls, "Theaters are like grapes, they grow better in bunches,” as paraphrased by Bradshaw.
Theater is nothing without the people. Onstage, backstage, lighting, sound, projection, and most of all, the attendees. It’s the reactions of the crowd, the camaraderie of the crew and cast, playwrights, directors, and the venues that offer space and the production companies that help arrange it all and make the art truly special. All of these different roles combine to create the magic of live theater.
There were many nominees and while the winners of each award got the keepsake and name card, everyone got to share in the memory of the night, cheer each other on, and enjoy the lively performances between batches of award presentations (during which the entire crew behind House of Joy was among the loudest and most gleeful of nominees and winners, bringing a little bit of the joy that lingered from the show).
Additionally, and in true theater kid unseriousness, the outstanding kazoo accompaniment of the stage band Gregs Over Easy and the contagious and seemingly boundless energy of host Jimmy Shields and the other presenters were thoroughly enjoyable. I got to remember the past days in my high school auditorium and envision many more years in future theaters near me.
Gregorys Executive Director Dr. Crystal L. Yingling with stage band Gregs Over Easy
The Evergreen Echo
