And the award goes to . . .

It's awards season (starting with the Golden Globes early in January).  Do you care about awards at all?  I used to.  My sister and I used to pour over the Oscar nominations and discuss all the categories, not just the "big ones" -- actors, directors, best movie -- but also the art direction, the screenplay (really a more important aspect of the film than we think), editing (also really important).  I don't see as many movies as I used to (I haven't seen any of the Best Picture nominees) and I really don't care about who wins anymore.  Lots of great performances haven't won over the years.  Two that come to mind are Bette Davis in "All About Eve" and Henry Fonda in "The Grapes of Wrath", two magnificent performances if there ever were two.  I find the awards shows themselves rather sickening -- I hate that phrase "who are you wearing?"

I was nominated for two awards last year for my performance in "Woman in Mind".  I won one of them (and I wasn't at the awards ceremony -- too bad!) and I didn't win the other (and I WAS there for that ceremony -- too bad!) and it was nice to win and not so nice to not win, but neither event did anything to convince me that that was the final word on the matter.  I still think of things I could have done to make  the character of Susan more interesting, more real, more moving.  I don't think, because I won an award, that my performance was great.  Nor do I think that I was necessary the "best" actor.  It was a huge part and people can be impressed with that.  She spoke with an English accent and mine is quite good (if I do say so myself), so people can be impressed with that.  And of course, a character who goes insane on stage can provide an actor with all sorts of opportunities to show off.  So those factors could have influenced the people who chose the winner.  And on the other hand, when I didn't win, I didn't feel like that meant my performance wasn't good.  It's certainly better to win than not win, but in the big scheme of things, it's the actual work that matters.

If you're interested in finding out about the next show, "The Wars of 1812", we will be reading some scenes from the play on Monday.  I'm hoping it will be in Mr. Allan's room.  It will be very casual, but we will discuss auditions, which will likely be in February after exam week.