Joe Vago

The New Hampshire Theatre Awards (NHTA) Board of Directors proudly announce that Joe Vago will lead the creative team as Director for the 13th Annual New Hampshire Theatre Awards Show. Vago, a former NHTA Executive Director, has also served NHTA in myriad capacities for several multi-year terms. He has been involved in New Hampshire theatre for more than 23 years—as actor, director, technical director, and producer—and has participated in more than 70 theatrical productions. Vago also served New Thalian Players (NTP) as an incorporating Board Member, and as their First Vice-President, as well as having worked on more than a dozen of their productions. Vago is also a past President of Londonderry’s Music & Drama Company, and served as Technical Director for The Actorsingers of Nashua.

Joining Vago is Joel Mercier, who returns, for his seventh year, to tickle the ivories and wave the baton as NHTA’s Music Director. Mercier is a New England-based composer, director and music director, with credits from all over the country and with nationally recognized theatres, including Palace Theatre, New London Barn Playhouse, Northern Stage (VT), Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Great Lakes Theater (OH), and Goodspeed Opera House (CT). In New York City, Mercier has worked at The Duplex, Westbeth Theatre (Off-Broadway), and Nokia Theatre Times Square (Broadway). A graduate of The Hartt School of Music, Mercier served as Artistic Associate at New London Barn Playhouse for six seasons, a Guest Artist at Dartmouth College for the past four, and is currently the Artistic Director of the newly-founded NH Theatre Factory in Southern New Hampshire.

Joel Mercier

States NHTA Executive Director, Bryan Halperin, "We're very excited to have the show in the creative hands of Joe and Joel, who both have a lot of experience working on our Awards Shows. The NHTA team looks forward to bringing our entire theatre community together in celebration of New Hampshire's 2014 theatre season."  

Adds NHTA President, Gina Carballo, "My thought, when I look at who is at the helm, steering this ship toward our Awards Show gala, is that we have the perfect trifecta of talent in place. It's essential for me, as President, to be very clear, with anyone stepping into the creative positions for this show, about the course I want to take, and the desired end result. At the outset, Bryan, Joe, and Joel have been on board with my philosophy—that the NHTA body of membership is our primary focus always. I want our Awards Show to be a meaningful, positive and joyful experience for our members. It's not just about the awards; it's about our community.  Bryan, Joe, and Joel are each outstanding at what they do within this organization. They’re accomplished leaders who are driven and talented, each in their own right. To see them work, plan, and execute together is special, indeed. They're talented professionals who are eager to work hard in order to create something truly unique. It's inspiring to be around them individually, and even more so when they're together. As an organization, we're very lucky.”

NHTA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, registered with the Division of Charitable Trusts and Secretary of State. The NHTA has been formed and operates pursuant to and in accordance with RSA 292. The purpose of this organization is to provide professional and community theatres in New Hampshire the opportunity to showcase entertainment to audiences of all ages. For additional information and to learn more about the Awards presentation, contact us at Admin@NHTheatreAwards.org, or visit our website at www.NHTheatreAwards.org.

New Hampshire Theatre Awards (NHTA) has elected Bryan Halperin as their new Executive Director. Halperin, a founder of and Executive Director of The Winnipesaukee Playhouse since its inception in 2004, comes to NHTA with a vast palette of experience. Halperin is involved with all facets of the Playhouse’s operation. In addition to running its day-to-day operations, Halperin also writes directs, produces, and performs in its plays and musicals. His children’s musical series on environmental education has toured elementary schools throughout the state. He has won several New Hampshire Theatre Awards for directing, and received multiple Finalist nods in the playwright, director and actor categories. Halperin is also the creator of the Playhouse’s Playwriting Project, for which he teaches, in the fall, teens and adults how to write a one act play, and then produces and showcases, in the spring, a new play festival. For the past seven years, Halperin has also served as Producer/Director (and occasional actor) for the Winni Players’ Annual Holocaust Remembrance Day Staged Reading. 

"I'm thrilled to be getting involved more formally with the NH Theatre Awards at this exciting time in its development.” Halperin says. “For me, theatre is all about community building and I see the NHTAs as an opportunity to expand that objective to a larger, state-wide community.  Having experience producing and directing theatre on the youth, community and professional levels in NH allows me to reach out to and relate to all the participating groups at the various levels and understand the challenges and opportunities they face and figure out how the NHTAs can support and enhance what they do."

States NHTA President, Gina Carballo, "Our Board of Directors and Operations Committee have a great deal of admiration and respect for Bryan. He is our top choice for the Executive Director position. He is a natural leader and possesses the vision, fortitude, and comportment required to implement NHTA’s goals, now and in the future.  Bryan and I share a parallel vision about this organization—our members must always be our top priority, and we must execute our initiatives with utmost integrity. Having a like-minded person lead this organization with me, with the bonus of Bryan's credentials, excites me about the bright future of the New Hampshire Theatre Awards.” 

New Hampshire Theatre Awards (NHTA) Board of Directors Seeks New Executive Director 

SEARCH EFFECTIVE THROUGH MAY 19, 2014 

The NH Theatre Awards Board of Directors currently seeks applicants for the position of Executive Director. The position encompasses statewide prominence and high visibility in the theatre community, and beyond. The term is one year and multiple terms may be served. This is a paid stipend position. 

Responsibilities:

• Attend all monthly Board of Directors (BOD) meetings 
• Oversee and manage Operations Committee (OC), including overseeing all meetings and reporting activity to NHTA BOD, liaise with Board President and Treasurer on all NHTA business, as needed, and oversee with OC the Adjudication process and training modules.
• Manage relationships with all participating and non-participating theatre groups (Professional and Community)  
• Oversee Awards Night planning and logistics, including pre- and post-Awards events, and VIP arrangements and seating
• Manage and track, with OC, all subcommittee activities 
• Work with OC on development of policies, procedures, and best practices  
• Ensure website functionality, content accuracy, timeliness of updates, and update technology as needed 
• Address with timeliness communications between OC and participating theatre companies 
• Manage, track, and maintain fiscal budget within BOD and Treasurer parameters 
• Maintain current, and solicit new, relationships with Awards Night vendors 
• Comply with all set benchmarks for Awards Night schedule/calendar of events, and After-party

Qualifications/Experience required:

• Organizational spokesperson
attributes, with outstanding personal and presentational skills
• Ability to define and productively interact with broad-range audiences  

• Staged productions, including large-scale special and/or theatrical events 

• Productive nonprofit board relations
• General marketing 
and public relations concepts and practices as applicable to theatre organizations
• Positive volunteer relations and leadership initiatives

How to Apply: 

Interested applicants may email a cover letter and résumé to:

Gina M. Carballo

President, New Hampshire Theatre Awards

ginacarballo@nhtheatreawards.org

Interviews with the Board of Directors will be held on Monday, May 19th, 2014 at 7PM at the offices of New Hampshire Magazine, 150 Dow Street, Manchester, NH.

To be considered for this position, attendance on this date is mandatory.

The NH Theatre Awards held its 2014 Annual Meeting with the public on Saturday March 22nd and had several announcements:

Board elects Gina M. Carballo as President of the NHTA.

The NHTA Board of Directors has announced Gina M. Carballo as President of the NH Theatre Awards.

"The tangible contributions Gina has brought to our organization have been without equal," Gregg says.  "This succession plan has been in place for quite some time, and the entire Board is thrilled to have her as our President."

"I am honored to be chosen as President of this organization," Carballo says.  "It is my hope that we can empower our committees and volunteers to continue the great work they do, and to recognize them for their dedicated efforts."

In addition, Matty Gregg has been elected to the role of Vice President.  Mo Demers will be staying with the Board in her capacity as Treasurer, and Katie Collins as Secretary.  There were no changes to the "At Large" membership.

Fundraising Subcommittee Formed, Matty Gregg elected Chair

Because of the successful results from focused efforts to improve adjudication and the event, The NH Theatre Awards formed its first Board subcommittee today.  The focus of this subcommittee will be on fundraising.

"We realize the importance of continuing to grow our organization," Carballo said. "We have made fundraising a main priority, and have asked Matty to make it his key focus for 2014."

"Adjudication and the Event have a dedicated body of people striving to improve them," Gregg said.  "Fundraising is such an important part of what we do, and I am honored to lead this priority.”

The NH Theatre Awards Board of Directors invites all participating theater companies, liaisons, and adjudicators to attend our Annual Meeting on Saturday, March 22nd, 2014 at NH Magazine's Office in Manchester NH.
 
The Annual meeting will begin promptly at 2:00pm and conclude at 4:00pm. There will be a wine and cheese reception immediately following the Annual Meeting.
 
During our Annual Meeting there will be updates from our President Matty Gregg, our Executive Director Bob Frasca, and our Treasurer Mo Demers.
 
We will also discuss this years Areas Of Focus and conclude with an Open Forum.
 
NH Magazine's offices are located at:
McClean Communications   
150 Dow Street
2nd Floor, Entrance #1
Manchester NH, 03101
 
We look forward to seeing you Saturday afternoon!
 
Gina M. Carballo
Vice President NH Theatre Awards

Thanks to Arnold Imaging for taking these great photos at the NH Theatre Awards photo station for the 12th Annual NH Theatre Awards.

Please visit their website to view the Photo Station images at

www.arnold-imaging.com/nhtheatreawards

Please consider purchasing your pictures to help keep the Photo Station photographers available for the awards show.  The prices are quite reasonable!

• 5" x 5" Print    $1.50
• 5" x 7" Print    $1.50
• 8" x 10" Print   $4.95

Liaisons for NHTA season "12" are now able to retrieve Adjudicator Comments from the NHTA 12 (2013) Adjudication Website

Please help us improve the Award Show by answering some questions on the 12th Annual NH Theatre Awards show.

Answers will be kept confidential within the NH Theatre Awards Operations Committee and Board of Directors.

This survey will close on March 15th.

Thank you for your willingness to help the NH Theatre Awards continue to improve!

Take the Survey