The Last Five Years cleans up at TheatreFest 2019

Anyone who took in the two-night performance of The Last Five Years by the Moose Jaw Community Players might have had an inkling they were watching something a little bit special.

As it turns out, that feeling was bang on, and then some.

The production picked up no less than seven of the 12 awards on offer at TheatreFest 2019 last week in Regina, the annual celebration of community theatre in Saskatchewan.

“We were very, very happy,” said director Debbie Burgher. “I think when you’re involved with a show, any show, you always fall in love with it because you see it from its infancy to being on stage. You know the change that it’s come through so you feel really proud.”

The musical featured Keyanna Burgher and John-Mark Smith in the lead roles of Cathy Hiatt and Jamie Wellerstein, respectively, telling the tale of their failed relationship from their two perspectives – with Cathy’s story told in reverse from the end of their marriage to the beginning and Jamie’s story from the beginning to the end. The play – penned by Jason Robert Brown – has been performed Off-Broadway and in 2014 was made into a major film starring Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan.

The Community Players show played two nights in late April at the Mae Wilson Theatre and was exceptionally well received, leading the Players to enter it in Theatrefest.

The variables of performing competitively are many, not only from the aspect of packing up the entire production and moving it to a new venue, but just what the adjudicator might see that the director and actors might not.

For Theatrefest 2019 judge Kenn McLeod, well, you might say he liked what he saw.

Not only did The Last Five Years win the the Stan Danbrook Technical Merit and Best Visual Presentation awards, Tara Gish picked up the McIntyre Trophy for Best Characterization, Sophie Grajczyk was honoured with the Margaret Corbett Aspirant Award for Best Newcomer, Keyanna Burgher the Woodward Trophy for Best Actress and Debbie Burgher the Goodfellow Trophy for Best Director.

And to top it all off, the big one – the McIntosh Memorial Cup for the Winning Entry

“It was just nice to do well, that the adjudicator saw what we were seeing, which is not always the case,” Burgher said. “So we were just lucky it was the right place and the right time with the right person and it all worked out perfectly.”

The one drawback? Theatrefest marked the last performance of the show by the local crew.

“If I could I would put it on again and again, it was magical to watch at times. But sometimes you just have to let your baby go,” Burgher said with a laugh.

The Moose Jaw Community Players, on the other hand, will simply gear up for their next event -- the annual Fall Dinner Theatre at the Cosmo Centre at the end of November.