The Stage has today announced the winners of The STAGE 100 AWARDS , recognising the outstanding organisations working in theatre today.
The prizes, launched this year and to be held on an annual basis, are run in conjunction with The Stage 100 – the paper’s yearly analysis of the most influential movers and shakers in the industry.
However, while The Stage 100 recognises the achievements of individuals, The Stage 100 Awards recognises performing arts organisations and the teams behind them.
Five categories have been awarded by the judging panel:
London Theatre of the Year is The Royal Court Theatre
Regional Theatre of the Year is Northampton Royal & Derngate
Fringe Theatre of the Year is The Finborough Theatre, London
Producer of the Year is English Touring Theatre
Performing Arts School of the Year is the Sylvia Young Theatre
School
Winners will be provided with an awards logo and marketing pack that can be used throughout 2011 to promote and publicise their achievement on items such as advertising materials, letterheads and funding applications. They will be presented with their awards at
The Stage’s New Year Party at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in
January.

Stage deputy editor, and chair of the judging panel, Alistair Smith said:
“Congratulations to all our winners. In all categories, our desire has been to recognise excellence – in all its forms – over the past
12 months. Although the quality of an organisation’s artistic output played a defining role, it was not the sole factor, with excellence in other areas such as education, outreach and operations all recognised.
“We hope that in the difficult times which are undoubtedly ahead for the sector, the recognition that the awards provide will help these superb performing arts organisations survive and thrive.”
The Stage, on 020 7939 8484 or alistair@thestage.co.uk
Notes to editors:
1. The judging panel for the awards comprised Stage editor Brian Attwood , deputy editor Alistair Smith (chairs the judging panel), critics
Mark Shenton and Aleks Sierz , Stage education/training editor Susan Elkin and former Theatrical Management Association president and Stage backstage editor AK Bennett Hunter .
2. The judges citations of the awards were as follows:
Royal Court
It has been a quite extraordinary year for the Royal Court and it was the judges’ unanimous choice for the winner in this category. The quality of work produced at the English Stage Company’s Sloane Square base has been exemplary, with the highlights of its 2010 season reading like a list of this year’s best new plays – Clybourne Park, Tribes, Posh, The Empire, Sucker Punch and Spur of the Moment. The latter – written by first- time playwright Anya Reiss – also illustrates the leading role the company plays in discovering and developing new talent through its Young Writers Programme. Reiss was only 17 when she wrote the play. Meanwhile, its work has also extended beyond its SW1 home. This has been in the form of West End and Broadway transfers, with the likes of Jerusalem and the forthcoming Clybourne
Park – but even more crucially through its Theatre Local season, which has seen the venue taking its work to a shopping centre in Elephant
& Castle. The Royal Court is the UK’s new writing powerhouse.
Northampton Royal & Dergate
In a hotly contested category, Northampton stood out for the artistic quality of its work and the connections it has forged with local audiences. Its Young America season scored a hit on home turf in 2009 and continued its success at the National Theatre in 2010, with
Laurie Sansom picking up the TMA Best Director Award. Back in Northampton, the Royal’s programme ranged from End of the Rainbow
(now in the West End) to an excellent Duchess of Malfi. Less high profile, but as important, has been the venues’ developing role in the town and region. Their Hometown festival encouraged locally born talent and theatre writing outside the big cities, such as DC Moore’s
Town. The theatres have also sought to encourage novices through their Youth Theatre, New Town strand, their work with the Theatre
Writing Partnership and as a partner in the biennial Linbury prize for stage design. Meanwhile, the Derngate offers a complementary programme, with a mix of touring musicals and one-nighters. November also saw the opening of the Core at Corby Cube, (managed by
R&D), offering yet more choice for Northamptonshire audiences. Between them, these venues offer an exemplar of a relevant, balanced, local offering while also managing to stake their claim at a national level.
Finborough Theatre
Last year, the Finborough Theatre near Earls Court in west London marked its 30th anniversary with a season boasting 44 premieres of new plays and musicals. This would be a staggering achievement for a well-funded subsidised rep, but for a diminutive fringe venue above a bar, it is nothing short of staggering. New writing highlights have included James Graham’s The Man, Anders Lustgarten’s Day at the
Racists and Peter Nichols’ Lingua Franca (which went on to transfer to New York), while it also managed to attract a little star power on to its stage with Janet Suzman appearing in Dream of the Dog earlier in the year, which went on to secure a transfer to Trafalgar Studios. And it isn’t just new work that Finborough has helped to discover, with a season unearthing lost classics from the likes of Graham Greene,
Walter Greenwood and Ronald Gow, alongside Rodgers and Hammerstein’s State Fair (another Trafalgar Studios transfer). It is quite remarkable what this theatre achieves on a shoestring and without state support. Ongoing problems with the bar below appear to be sorted, with the opening of the new Finborough Wine Cafe and there’s even talk of air conditioning being installed. Hurrah.

English Touring Theatre
This was another hard-fought category, with a number of excellent independent producers and production companies from both the commercial and subsidised spheres vying for the title. After much deliberation, the panel plumped for English Touring Theatre. ETT is the
UK’s only touring company specifically subsidised to produce work for larger theatres across the UK and it is precisely this kind of work – high quality, large-scale touring theatre – that will be most under threat with cuts looming across the country. Under the guiding hand of
Rachel Tackley, its programme last year ranged from the swashbuckling The Three Musketeers and the Princess of Spain to the intimate
Lovesong by Che Walker. In between, ETT has given us Canary by Jonathan Harvey, a new play by Simon Stephens and the Caribbean flavours of Rum and Coca Cola. On all these projects, ETT has been a key driver in both getting them made and getting them seen by as many people as possible in venues ranging from the Edinburgh Traverse to the Theatre Royal Brighton. This role – as an enabler – is something that, in the coming times of austerity, is going to be even more crucial.
Sylvia Young Theatre School
Founded as a full-time school for ten to 16 year olds in 1981, Sylvia Young Theatre School has trained and educated large numbers of children who have appeared in West End shows for nearly 30 years. Indeed, it is rare to see a West End programme not featuring one of its alumni. Former pupils include Denise Van Outen, Emma Bunton and Matt Di Angelo. Despite fitting the academic curriculum into just three days per week – leaving time for vocational work – in 2009 all 28 of its 16-year-old leavers (selected for performing, not academic ability) achieved five or more GCSE passes at A*-C. After 27 years in cramped conditions, last year SYTS completed its move into spacious new premises with ten studios, two academic floors, canteen and gardens. This multi-million pound project was financed partly by
Young herself, now living in a flat over the school, and partly by loans. The new home will allow student numbers to increase by around
20%, with the possibility of a sixth form being introduced.
Meanwhile, part-time classes for adults start this month and children’s part-time classes and summer schools are flourishing. The school is generous with scholarships, one of which is sponsored by The Stage , in order to make SYTS affordable to as many families as possible. In the panel’s view, Sylvia Young Theatre School is an outstanding example of what can be achieved in and by a stage school. It is a leader in its field of performing arts training.
3. The Stage is often referred to as the theatre industry or actors’ bible. Laurence Olivier once said of the publication, “The stage would not be the stage without The Stage ”. Founded in 1880 by the Comerford family and still owned and run by them, it is the only trade paper for the performing arts and entertainment industry in Britain. It is published weekly on Thursdays. The newspaper’s website, www.thestage.co.uk
, attracts 350,000 unique visitors and two million page impressions every month.