HCTlogo4cGREEN_high-resHickory – The Hickory Community Theatre is holding its annual Kay Awards and volunteer celebration this Saturday, August 5th at 8pm in the Jeffers Theatre. The Theatre encourages all members of the community to come out and celebrate the wonderful volunteers who make the magic possible. A $5 donation is requested at the door.

The annual celebration dates back to the Theatre’s first season, when company members presented each other with gold painted kewpie dolls. The awards were all about fun, with categories like Best Pratfall and Greatest Cast Party.

Today, a total of 11 awards are presented to rewards actors and volunteers alike. The volunteer awards are Volunteer of the Year, Technical Volunteer of the Year and the Charles E. Jeffers Award.

The acting award categories are Outstanding Lead Actress, Outstanding Lead Actor, Outstanding Supporting Actress, Outstanding Supporting Actor, Outstanding Character Actress and Outstanding Character Actor. Unique among most community theatre awards programs, the Hickory Community Theatre has two categories for its newcomers, Outstanding Newcomer Actress and Outstanding Newcomer Actor.

Theatre audience votes are the basis for the acting awards. The director of each play chooses the actors categories for the ballots, which are randomly distributed to patrons at each performance.

The Guild@HCT is the official presenter of the show, decorating the lobby and Jeffers Theatre, catering a lavish buffet of hors d’ouerves, and pouring drinks – soft drinks and bottled water are $1, beer and wine are $5. Each season has a theme and this year’s is “Actors and Volunteers Make Theatre Magic Happen Every Day.”

The doors open at 7:00pm and the awards show starts at 8:00. A $5 donation per person is requested at the door.

The Hickory Community Theatre is a Funded Affiliate of the United Arts Council of Catawba County. The annual Kay Awards are sponsored by Ernie Sills, CBSA Architects.