Haddonfield Plays & Players Wins NJ Community Theater Of The Year

HADDONFIELD, NJ — Haddonfield Plays & Players was named Community Theater of the Year at the 2019 NJACT Perry Awards, the theater announced on Monday. The awards show, which has been honoring community theaters for more than 40 years, was held on Sunday at The Union County Performing Arts Center in Rahway.

“This award is for all of us, those who are here now and those who have given their time and their hearts across all the years to bring HP&P to where we are today,” Haddonfield Plays & Players President David Stavetski said.

Each year, more than 400 trained NJACT volunteers review more than 200 shows produced by theater companies across New Jersey as part of the evaluation process. The Community Theater of the Year is a special Perry Award given to a New Jersey theater organization that has made a significant contribution to its community.

In all, Haddonfield Plays & Players was nominated for nine awards for its 85th main stage season. (See list below). In 2018-19, Haddonfield Plays & Players celebrated the 20th anniversary of its groundbreaking “Number the Stars” Holocaust education program that has reached approximately 20,000 K-12 students through the years. That anniversary was observed by Newbery Award-winning author Lois Lowry.

Haddonfield Plays & Players’ production of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” also won the 2018 Broadway World New Jersey Award for Best Play.and it received $87K in grant funding from the Columbia Bank Foundation to support capital improvement initiatives at the theater.

Deb Mitchell nominated the theater after fellow theater member Jennifer Kopesky-Doyle told her about the award.

“I thought it would be difficult to put into words why HP&P deserved the award this year,” Mitchell said. “As I began to gather information for the nomination, I realized how much the theater meant to me and my family over the past 20 years and how proud I am of its long history of achievements and contributions to the community, including its mission to keep its quality programming diverse and affordable, its generosity toward other groups needing theater space, and its dedication to education and the Number the Stars Holocaust Education Program,” Mitchell said. “Speaking from the heart, the words just flowed.”

With Haddonfield Plays & Players, children can begin learning about the arts as early as age four as part of the StageTeenies group. From there they can move up to StageKidz, Haddonfield Plays & Players’ longest-tenured program.

“Every year we produce engaging, enjoyable shows and offer enriching educational programs like Stage Kidz and Number the Stars,” Stavetski said. “We are a home for so many artists, and we open our home to friends in our community—Bancroft, Brandywine Living, and the artists of Shining Stars.”

Shining Stars, presented in partnership with Amazing Transformations, offers teens and young adults with Autism, PDD, Aspergers, Downs Syndrome, Fragile X, and other developmental disabilities an opportunity to show off their talents, expand their social skills, develop friendships, and build self-esteem.

In addition to the Community Theater of the Year award, Haddonfield Plays & Players was also nominated for the following awards:

Outstanding Lighting Design of a Play
Chris Miller, A CHRISTMAS STORY, Haddonfield Plays and Players

Outstanding Sound Design of a Play
Pat DeFusco, A CHRISTMAS STORY, Haddonfield Plays and Players

Outstanding Properties in a Play
Dave Stavetski, Donna Scherz & Lisa Stickel, A CHRISTMAS STORY, Haddonfield Plays and Players

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical
Vinnie DiFillipo, HIGH FIDELITY, Haddonfield Plays and Players

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical
Faith McCleery, HIGH FIDELITY, Haddonfield Plays and Players

Outstanding Youth Actor in a Play
Zach Johnson, A CHRISTMAS STORY, Haddonfield Plays and Players
Kevin Stickel, A CHRISTMAS STORY, Haddonfield Plays and Players

Outstanding Youth Actress in a Play
Emma Scherz, A CHRISTMAS STORY, Haddonfield Plays and Players

For more information about the theater, visit haddonfieldplayers.com/about.