Curtain Call Awards - 2025

 This post is the special bonus post ALL about the Curtain Call Awards held on Wednesday, April 9th 2025. I have so much to say about that event that I wanted to give it the space and dedication it deserved. 

First of all I want to talk about why I wanted to be involved with the committee that helped put the event together. I've always liked theatre. I still remember plays that I went to as a kid. The Wizard of Oz at the Salt Palace when I was about four. Midsummer's Nights Dream at some sort of community theatre also when I was four. A production of Oliver that I feel like was done at South High School when it was still a highschool, but also might have just been done at my elementary school. 

As I got older there were productions at my Jr high and High School. When I went to college I went to see plays put on by the college. I saw so many at Snow College: Don't Drink the water, Elephant Man, Peter Pan, Steel Magnolias, and possibly one or two more. At Utah state I saw Anything Goes and Tartuffe. Brandon and I saw a few community theatre plays in Logan like Midsummers Nights Dream and one that I can't remember (It might have been another production of Don't Drink the Water.)

I was always enchanted by each play. There is something magical about watching everything live. 

I'm pretty certain I would have discovered the Twin Falls theatre scene if Brandon hadn't started being in plays. I'd already been following the Orpheum on facebook and was thinking about starting to go see plays again. Our kids were old enough I felt I could leave them for a three hour play. Brandon and I saw The Play that Goes Wrong before he was involved with Guys and Dolls and I loved the play. I thought it was great and I'm sure I would have come back even if Brandon wasn't in Guys and Dolls. 

But of course he ended up in Guys and Dolls and our lives were forever changed. Brandon found a group of friends - something he never really had before. And those friendships extended out from the theatre into our every day lives. 

And then I ended up in a play and it was just beautiful. I'm still so honored that I was involved with Cinderella. I just love that I could do something so meaningful and enjoyable. Sometimes I think I fall into the trap of thinking that all the fun stuff in my life was confined to high school or college or that summer in Yellowstone. But being in Cinderella reminded me that fun stuff is always available. 

So I wanted to celebrate that community theatre has been incredible for my family. And I also wanted to celebrate how cool the Twin Falls theatre community is because this place is actually really unique. There are three different theatre companies in the community. The Magic Valley Repertory Theatre is at the Orpheum and does the most shows. There's also the Dilettantes that do one show a year and preform at CSI. And last year the Twin Falls Theatre Collective was formed. They do one show a year and preform at a little building in Filer.  People aren't stuck with just one group. They audition for the shows they want to do and so you'll see people in Dilettantes in one show and later see them at Magic Valley Rep.   

And I think that's amazing and I wanted to help honor the people who make these plays happen. So when I saw that the Curtain Call Awards needed committee members I knew I wanted to volunteer. 

In a demonstration of HUGE personal growth I didn't immediately send a message saying I was available. I actually thought about it for a few days and when it hadn't left my mind after about 5 days I reached out. 

I went to the first committee meeting and volunteered to help Chris count the votes. My friend Breeane also helped count the votes. We met up over spring break and went over the votes and figured out the winners. 

Breeane took care of printing the names of the winners on fancy paper and putting them in fancy envelopes. 

I was in charge of the awards table on the night of the event. That meant I would be back stage the whole night. Diane, the lady who had originally started the curtain call awards many years ago and was helping bring them back after a decade hiatus, suggested I find three girls to help take the awards to the presenters. I was like, "Oh I have three daughters."  So my girls were roped in. (And they all agreed when I actually asked them about it.)

And then I volunteered Brandon for a presenter roll. At first it was just him presenting, but that morphed into the idea of having him present as The French Taunter from Spamalot. But then it felt odd to have this one silly presenter. So they moved him to introducing a video highlighting the make up of all the plays. (Someone forgot to make that an award category, so the slide show was a next best thing.) We kept his role quite, but a few people found out about it and they were all like, "OMG this is going to be hilarious."

On the night of the awards we took two cars to the theatre. Brandon went in the back door and dropped off his French Taunter helmet and gloves back stage. I went in the front door with the girls. There was a red carpet in the lobby and people could take pictures. It was very fun. 

Here are Brandon and I. I'm actually not that much shorter than him. But we were standing on the slanted lobby floor. 

And here are the girls. Veronica is wearing a black shirt and pants with a jacket we borrowed from my friend Rachel. Lydia is wearing a blue dress also borrowed from Rachel. Charlotte is wearing a dress borrowed from my friend Macey. 

Then we moved into the theatre. I went back stage and dropped off my bag of supplies. I was really nervous about getting the awards mixed up so I'd written out a sticky note for every award category. Instead of writing out "Best Performance by a lead actor in a non-musical."  I wrote 

Lead

Actor

Non-Musical.

That way it was easy to read quickly. 

The trophies would be on one side of the table. The other side of the table was where the presenters would pick up the envelopes with the names of the winners inside. I'd written out a list of the awards so that we could cross them off as the envelopes were given out. 

The girls came with me back stage and I very quickly explained how they would walk out on stage with the trophy AFTER the name of the winner was announced. So they would walk out and give the trophy to the presenters while the winner was coming up from the audience. Then the presenter would had the trophy to the winner. 

Here's the drawing I shared in my last post showing how the people would move around the stage. 

The presenters would come up from the audience through the door that led from the house to back stage. They would stop at my table for the envelope that had the winner's name printed on the inside. Then they would walk around the back of the screen and wait in the wings on the other side. 

When it was the presenters turn they would cross the full stage (and show off their outfits) and come to the podium. They would read the names of the nominees and then open the envelope and announce the winners. 

The winners would come up from the audience and accept the award and then everyone would exit down the stairs.  

After we were done on stage we went back out to mingle. It was so much fun to see everyone in their fancy outfits. If there's one thing I've learned about Southern Idaho it's that people here love to dress up. Everyone looked fabulous.

Here's a picture of my friends Tim and Rebekkah. Tim would be the emcee for the night. He'd played Sebastian in Cinderella. Rebekkah had been the step mother. 

There was a QR code that you could scan and it took you to a group photo album where people could share photos. I never got access to that because I turn into a confused 90 year old any time a QR code is involved. So instead I'm poaching pictures from my friends facebook posts. 

The event started at 7:00. At 6:55 we went back on stage and all three girls helped me move the table with all the trophies from where it had been at front and center to our spot on stage right. We'd decided to have it off stage so that we wouldn't have to be smiling and poised all night. I'm so glad we made that decision because it was kind of crazy at that table sometimes. 

The trophies had been in a very fancy triangle arrangement. But we quickly put them in order of the set list. So I had a row of the first five trophies that would be given out. Then I started a new row because there was going to be a pause for a memorial and a musical number. That helped us keep track of where we were. 

Here's a picture someone took of our table back stage. 

We also went through the envelopes and put them in order. I'm so glad we did that because we realized we were missing one. It was the one for Best Director. Thankfully that category wasn't until the second half of the show. So we had some time to figure it out. Chris ended up writing the winner on a piece of paper and we put in an extra envelope that we happened to have on hand. The audience never even knew about that minor problem.  

A little after 7:00 the show started. Chris and Diane came out to do a little intro into why they wanted to bring back the Curtain Call Awards. They wanted to celebrate the theatre community. Here they are.

Then they brough out Tim Hafer who would be the Emcee for the night. Here he is back stage.

Tim was BORN for this. He was funny at times and dignified at others. He had something special written to introduce each category. 

I'm going to take you through the set list so that we don't miss anything. I'll mention any special things about each award along the way. 

The first category was Best Performance by a lead actor in a musical. It was presented by Danny and Heidi Laoughmiller. I didn't know them. They were back stage and I gave them the award envelope before the show even started. Here's a picture of them in the lobby. 

The award went to Joseph Bosteder who played Tarzan in Tarzan. I didn't know him either. My family missed seeing Tarzan last year because it was in March and we were saving all our fun money for our trip to Texas in April. I really wish we had seen it because everyone says it was incredible. 

I'd assumed that Charlotte would be the first to go out and give the award to the presenter. But she and Lydia had a little attack of the nerves. Neither wanted to be first. Veronica was like, "Sure, I'll do it."  That girl was not afraid of the stage at all. She was completely comfortable on it all night.

Award #2 was Best Costumes. This was presented by Palmer and Chris Ayers. Chris was the Chris that had pulled all this together. Palmer was his teenage daughter.

The award went to my friend Britt Moffitt for costuming Little Women. She's the lady that puts together the Living Nativity. I'm so glad she won this award. The costumes had been my favorite part of Little Women. Britt wasn't there. She's actually really hard to get ahold of. She's also not really on Facebook. Chris said, "Did she even stalk Mitch's (her husband's) facebook enough to know this event was happening?" Then he said, "But I'll make sure she get's this."

Award #3 was Best performance by a supporting actress in a Musical it was presented by Breeana Wright and Whitney Majors. Breeana was Marian the Librarian in Music Man. Whitney is actually my boss Michael's sister in law.

The award went to Sarah Manning for her portrayal of Marmie in Little Women. But honestly, I think she deserved this award for performing as the Lady of the Lake in Spamalot in September and then turning around and performing as Marmie in November. She'd also been Adelaide in Guys and Dolls. She's a powerhouse singer and actress and I'm honored to call her my friend.

Here's picture of Sarah and her husband Uriah. (He was Lancelot in Spamalot and Mr Bhaer in Little Women.)

Award #4 was for Best Female Solo Musical number. It was presented by Ivan Hardcastle and Brent Hanchey. They came out from opposite sides of the stage and yelled, "Brother."  Then linked arm and skipped to the podium. This was a call back to either 7 Brides for 7 Brothers or Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I don't know which one because both were before we lived in Twin Falls, but I've seen them do this bit before. 

It was won by Ellie Mae Glendenning for her song Astonishing from Little Women. (I saw this play, but I have no memory of this song.)

Back stage things were going mostly smoothly. It was a little hard to balance handing out the envelopes while also keeping track of the awards, but we were figuring out a groove. The girls liked me to put my hand on their back while the award nominees were read. When the winner was announced I gave them a gentile nudge to go on stage. 

Lydia slowly took over the list of award envelopes. I could recognize at least one of the award presenters so I'd point them out as they came back stage or tell her who to be looking for. 

Award #5 was for best performance by a supporting actress in a non-musical presented by Dusty Blackburn and Alexandra Nelson. I don't know Dusty. I do know Alexandra. She works for the Orpheum coordinating a lot of the schedule. She's also in charge of the prop library. She was the assistant director for Music Man. She was in Treasure Island and Spamalot. She will be directing Much Ado About Nothing this summer. She's really cool. 

The award went to Sara Wood for her role as Georgia Merry in Treasure Island. I'm so happy she won this award. She was incredible in that role and was so scary. 

In her acceptance speech she said it was so fun to play someone who was so different from herself. 

Here's a picture from her in Treasure Island. 

And Brandon took this picture of her and her husband Madsen after the show was over. 

After Sara's award Diane and Dusty came back on stage and did a Memoriam for someone named Danny Marona. He'd passed away the week before. I don't really know who he was, but he apparently was a fixture of the theatre scene for years. But honestly I wasn't really listening because I was making sure we were ready to go for the next set of awards. 

After the memorial Tim annouced that the cast of Tarzan would be singing "OOOHHHH EEEAAAHH OOOOH - Or for those of you who don't speak monkey - You'll be in my heart." It was a hilarious intro that brought the mood right back up from the somber memorial. My friend Heather had played the mother Gorilla in that play so she was singing most of that song. It was really pretty. 

But again, I was only half listening because I was trying to figure out who to give envelope #6 to. The set list had Mike and Heather Etcheverry listed. I've met Mike in passing before so I was pretty certain I could recognize him, but I couldn't see him anywhere. Finally I was whispered to Tim, "I don't see Mike."  He was like, "Oh he's not here, I'm doing it."  I was like, "Well then here's the envelope." and he was like, "Oh right."

It was actually hilarious what Tim did. He came out all dignified to the podium like he had for every other award he said something special like, "celebrating our leading ladies, the award for Best Lead Actress in a  non-musical will be presented by Timothy Hafer --- Oh no!"  

Then he acted all flustered and ran off stage. He made extra exaggerated stomping noises as he ran behind the screen. Then he entered the stage as a dignified presenter and read everything off like nothing had happened. 

The award went to my friend Rachel Stokes for her role of Gwendolyn Fairfax in the Importance of Being Earnest. This was another well deserved award. She's the one who let Lydia and Veronica borrow fancy clothes for that night. 

Here's one of the promo pictures from that play.

When she came on stage she didn't give a speech. She just took the award and said thank you and then went back to her seat. 

Award #7 was Best Ensemble Musical number presented by Crayson Jenks and Dakota Davis. Dakota had been in Tarzan and I knew he really wanted Tarzan to win. You could hear the disappointment in his voice when he had to read that it was won by Little Women for their song, "Five Forever."

Award # 8 was for Best Choreography presented by Sarah and Uriah Manning. It was won by Lauren Hilverda for her work on Little Women.

She later put up a post in Facebook that had a lot of the same things that she's said in her acceptance speech. Here's what she wrote:

I choreographed Little Women while nine months pregnant, and then taught it immediately postpartum with a newborn baby. AND I filled in for an ensemble member who couldn’t perform. AND I got to perform with Jeremy and Rowan, in both of their first experiences on stage. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It’s also the body of work in theater I’m the most proud of. Our production team was entirely women, and our cast/crew consisted of two pregnant women, five mothers AND their children, four married couples, and five real-life siblings. Little Women is a show about families, sisters, motherhood, and marriage, and it was the most heart-warming opportunity I’ve ever had to bring this show to the stage. Thank you Mollie and Cassie for this incredible experience. And thank you to EVERYONE involved, this will forever be my favorite theater memory.

And here's her picture with her award outside the Orpheum. 

Award #9 was for Best Set Design. It was presented by Daniel Gardener and Seve Isaacs. Daniel came out in gym clothes acting all confused and Seve explained to him why set design is important. It was a funny bit. (It's even more funny when you know that Daniel actually teaches Drama at Derrick's middle school.)

This is the award that Brandon was nominated for for his work on the Little Women set. He was honored to be nominated, but it was kind of a fluke because he didn't really design anything. He just built some sturdy platforms and everyone LOVED him for it. He was hoping he didn't win. And he didn't he came in second place. (He's the only one I kept track of the second place winner.)

The award did go to Crayson Jenks for his work on the Tarzan set. He's actually subbing for Daniel Gardener while he's on Paternity leave. And he'll be teaching the Production Design Camp that Charlotte and Lydia are doing this summer. 

When Crayson gave his speech he thanked his dad who was in the audience for his help with the set. I thought that was sweet. Crayson's parents are in my ward. They are the ones who host Pie night every Thanksgiving. 

There was another break in the awards for a musical number. This was the song "Where Did the Rock Go" from School of Rock. That was a play put on by Dilettantes. We didn't see it because it was also in March and we were saving our money for Texas. The song was a solo sung by Breeana. I wasn't familiar with the song. Here's a link to it on Spotify. 

Award #10 was Best performance by a supporting actor in a Musical - presented by Andrea Blackburn and Tim Yenne. There are two Tims in Magic Valley Rep. Tim Yenne is Big Tim. Tim Hafer is Little Tim.

The award went to Jared Jared Johnson for playing Kerchak in Tarzan. He said he was honored because Tarzan was one of his favorite productions ever. 


Award #11 was for Best Musical Direction. It was presented by Sosana Carpenter and Lauren Hilverda. It went to Kristina Bowden for her work on Little Women. She was Sarah in Guys and Dolls and was always super nice to Brandon. She's one of the people he missed the most when that play ended. She just had a baby make it out of the NICU so she couldn't make it to the awards, but this is what she wrote on Facebook later:

Still soaking in the honor of receiving the “Best Musical Direction” award for Little Women. This show—and this team—meant the world to me. Getting to work alongside such an incredibly talented, all-women creative team was powerful and deeply inspiring.

I was so happy that baby Desmond got to hear all of this beautiful music over and over again as I was pregnant during this process. What a gift to share that with him even before he arrived.

One of the greatest joys of this experience was growing close to each cast member and witnessing their dedication as they brought this musically challenging show to life.

I sobbed uncontrollably the night I saw it all come together—not because of anything I did, but because the story was told so beautifully, and the music was so moving. It was magic.

Thank you to everyone who made this experience possible. I’m honored—and sad to have not been able to accept my award in person.

Award #12 was for Best performance by a supporting actor in a non-musical it was presented by Joseph Bosteder and Elli Mae Glendenning. It went to Tim Yenne for his portrayal of Long John Silver in Treasure Island. This was a well deserved award. Tim is incredible in everything he does. He was mayor Shin in Music Man, Chef Louis in Little Mermaid, Mr Lawrence in Little Women, and directed Treasure Island. (And that's just the stuff I saw.) I was so happy he got this award. 

I can't find an individual picture of him as Long John Silver. So here's the promo poster. He's the one in the big red hat. (Which I'm like 90% sure actually belongs to Ivan.)

We were more than halfway through the 22 awards so it was time for Intermission. My phone had disappeared under the table so I found it and took some pictures of the table. Here's how we had the trophies organized with the sticky notes under them. And that's the envelop list on the clipboard. 

Here's a look at the whole table. You can see the sticky notes for the trophies we'd already given out. 

I went out to the house and talked to a lot of people. Kerri told me that the cast of the Importance of Being Earnest had a theme. As far as I could tell the theme was Eccentric because everyone was dressed over the top with head pieces and lots of accessories. So I went to find out what the theme really was. They told me it was Hunger Games. They were dressed like how people at the Capital would have dressed. 

I can't find a picture of the whole cast, but here are the ladies. This is Alyssa, Makeesa, Rachel, and Kerri. Not pictured are the butterflies on Kerri's shoes. 

Intermission was only supposed to be 10 minutes, but I think it was closer to 20. When the show started again Tim said, "Wait, the Judge ordered that this cast can never appear on this stage again. Not after what we did with that cup."  And then he said the cast of Spamalot would be singing Find Your Grail. This song heavily featured Sarah Manning as the Lady of the Lake and Nate Betterman as King Arthur. Here's the spotify link. (Sarah Manning sings it better.)

I loved watching Brandon sing this song with his friends. 

I also turned the camera around and got a selfie with the girls. We were having a great time. 

But things got a little crazy. There was a couple in the wings on the other side of the stage. I thought they were Dale Laughlin and Amy Wilkenson who were there to present best props. So I had one of the girls run the envelope over to them. 

But as that was happening I realized that the people on the other side were actually Natalie and Ryker Harris who were there for Best Sound Design. I couldn't see Dale or Amy anywhere. 

So I sent one of the girls over with the Best Sound Design envelope for Ryker and Natalie. But I was still trying to figure out what to do about Best Props. And before I figured it out Tim was on stage announcing it and I had no idea where the presenters were. 

To make things worse, the whole cast of Spamalot was trying to exit and so even if a presenter was trying to get back stage they wouldn't be able to because all the people were in the way. 

Tim handled it all really well though. I'm not sure if Dale was ever even there - maybe he entered from the stage stairs. Amy was not there, but Diane came out. Tim said in an overdramatic whisper, "The part of Amy Wilkenson will be played by Diane Stevens."  And that little joke covered it all. 

Ryker very calmly walked on stage and handed off the Best Props envelope and we were back on track. I'm not sure the audience even noticed that little hiccup. 

Award #13 for Best Props went to Mollie Harmison and Cassandra Campbell for Little Women. They were not there because they had other commitments.  Mollie's son Preston got up and accepted for them. He played Laurie in Little Women and was back stage for the ensemble musical number that was about to go on. He thanked everyone who let his mom and Cassie borrow their stuff. He added, "I hope everyone got their stuff back."

Award # 14 was Best Sound Design. It was presented by Ryker and Natalie Harris. It went to Luis Vargas for his work on Once. 

Here's Ryker and Natalie posing in the lobby before the show. Natalie helps Sarah Manning with the 4th Wall Night. She always has really stunning gowns. 

Then we had another musical number break. This one was Five forever from Little Women. I have no memory of this song from the play or the award ceremony. But here's the link to it on Spotify. 

One reason I wasn't paying attention was because Brandon was in the wings on the other side of the stage. He'd stayed on stage after the Spamalot number and was now in his French Taunter Helmet and Gloves. 

Award #15 was for Best performance by a lead actor in a non-musical. It was presented by Jarod and Emily Johnson. Here's what they looked like in the lobby. 

That is not what they looked like on stage. Well Emily looked about the same. Jared came out in shorts. Emily was giving a whole little speech about, "can you believe we all got dressed up on a Wednesday night? I'm even wearing nylons."  And Jared kind of stood there like, "Um sure."  It was funny. 
 

The award went to Archer English for his role as Jack Worthing in The Importance of Being Earnest. He'd done so well in that role. Archer was the revolutionary Jean-Michel in Cinderella and he was also good in that role. 

Award #16 was Best Male Solo Musical number presented by Kaishon Hamann and Brendan Rowlands.  Brendan directed Guys and Dolls and Brandon thinks he's the best director he's worked with. He's also writing a version of the Three Musketeers that might one day be on stage at the Orpheum. (I never thought I'd be friends with playwrights, but now I know like five.)

The award went to Joseph Bosteder for singing “Everything That I Am” from Tarzan. In his exceptance speech he said was was really honored to win, "because that song was hard." 

Award #17 was for Best Duo/Trio Musical number presented by Jr and Kim Clark. Jr was the narrator in Treasure Island and had me in tears at the end of that play. He also played King Triton in the Little Mermaid and I might have a little crush on him for the way he sang, "If Only."

The award went to Kailee Mulberry and Luxie Graham for their song “Some Things are Meant to Be” from Little Women. They played Jo and Beth and the song is sung before Beth dies. (I think, I honestly cannot remember the music from that play. I guess I was just so in love with the costumes.)

After that award was given Tim didn't come out on stage to announce the next presenters. Instead Brandon popped his head out from behind the curtain. There were a few giggles from the audience. 

 Then he kind of snuck across the stage. As people noticed him he got more and more laughs. 

He went up to the microphone and said in his French Accent:

Bonjour you fancy dressed American pig dogs. 

I am here to announce the award for best accent to you empty headed animal food trough wipers. 

The nominees are: Moi! Of course. I did a very good job.

And, oh no she was not good . . . And not him either . . .

Oh nevermind. The award goes to me. 

Oh thank you, thank you! I will put it in the salon next to the Renoir and the large wooden rabbit. 

Uhm where is my award? 

[He looked around for a second]

You silly people can do nothing right. 

I’m going to look backstage to look for it. While I am away watch this video celebrating the silly makeup you put on your oily American faces.

It was absolutely hysterical. So many people said that they were laughing super hard at his part. Some people said it was the best part of the show. A lot of people appreciated how it broke up the rhythm of award after award. 

10 years ago if you had told me that Brandon would bring down the house at an award ceremony for community theatre - I would not have believed you. Life is so funny sometimes. 

The make up slide show played. Brandon came back stage and hung out with me and the girls during the video. Here's a selfie of the two of us together. 

We were feeling a lot more relaxed. Most of the envelopes had been picked up by the next few presenters and we getting toward the end of the trophies. The girls had warmed up to the stage and no one was really scared to walk out anymore. 

Award #18 was for Best performance by a lead actress in a Musical. It was presented by Sara Wood and Brooke Woods. They did a little bit where Brooke said, "Sara would you like to read the nominees."

The award was won by Cassandra Campbell for her role as Jane in Tarzan. I've been a Cassie Campbell fan since I saw her play the stage hand turned leading lady in The Play that Goes Wrong. So I was really happy she won this award. She couldn't be there to accept it, but this is what she wrote on Facebook. 

I wasn’t able to attend Curtain Call Awards but I was so grateful to be nominated along so many talented people, and even more honored to have received this award Tarzan was such an amazing experience and it simply wouldn’t have happened without the creative team behind it who I learned SO much from. Big shout out to Crayson Jenks for his vision and all his incredible guidance throughout the process, Cameron Nathaniel Secaur for his musical expertise and unlimited patience with me, and Suzy Stokes for being a great mentor and friend! You guys rock And always a big thank you to the Orpheum Theatre for providing a space for community theatre

Way back when I saw her in The Play that Goes Wrong her bio said something about how she encouraged everyone to think about auditioning for a play. At the time we were thinking that Brandon would try to be in Guys and Dolls. But I had NO idea that I'd end up auditioning for something too. 

Award #19 was for Best Lighting Design it was presented by Linda Golding and Sarah Harmon. The award was won by Jared Johnson for Tarzan. He was wearing pants when he accepted the award. 

Award #20 was for Best Director and was presented by Jennifer Miller and Delanie Blackurn- Woolstenhulme. They did some sort of puppet thing that was a call back to something they'd done in Tarzan. (Yes, I'm kicking myself that I didn't see that show.) 

It was won by Mollie Harmison and Cassandra Campbell for their codirection of Little Women. Preston came up and accepted it again. Everyone who won for Little Women kept mentioning how the whole creative team was made up of women. I kept saying under my breath, "Except for Brandon Illguth."  But he was never actually part of the creative team so I guess it counts. 

Award #21 was for Best Ensemble performance. It was given out by Nate and Kerri Betterman. Kerri made sure to turn on her LIGHT UP headband before they walked out.

The award went to Little Women (again). And we really need to talk about that. The voting for the awards was done with a link to a Google Survey. And the cast of Little Women had been very good at getting that link to as many people as possible. Did they win a lot of awards they deserved - yes they did. But there were some awards that maybe would have gone to other shows if the voting hadn't been mostly a popularity contest. And this is one of the categories where I wasn't so sure about the winners. Personally I think it should have gone to Treasure Island because EVERY character was incredible in that show. 

There was one last song before the final award. 

The cast of Once came out and sang Gold. 

I knew very little about Once. This was the play done by the newly formed Twin Falls Theatre Collective. They performed in a tiny space that only held about 50 people. I wasn't able to see it. 

I knew that Ivan was in the play and had dusted off his guitar and played that in the show. Chris was the lead. I knew Tim had been in it too. And I thought there were like maybe 3 other people in the cast. 

I'd read a small reveiw of the play so I knew it was about a song writer falling in love. But I didn't know any of the songs. 

I was surprised when about 15-20 people came on stage. Most of them were holding instruments. Ivan was there with his guitar. So was Joseph Bodester. I had no idea who he was at the beginning of the awards show, but by now I was feeling like I knew him. I could also see someone with a violin. Earlier I'd seen a cello case so I assumed there was a cello on the stage somewhere. 

During most of the songs from that night I'd been preoccupied by worrying about the upcoming envelopes and trophies. But we'd given the last envelope to the presenters and we only had one more trophy to worry about. So for the first time all night I was able to just be present. 

And I'm so glad that I was present to listen to this cast sing Gold. It was so special. 

They started by singing acapella and I was like, "Wait what is happening?"

It was captivating. 

Then they started playing. The violin was especially good. It played a lilting Irish Melody that gave me goosebumps. 

I was only like 10 feet away from Ivan and Joseph and the other musicians. I loved watching them play and sing. During certain parts of the song they'd stop their feet on the ground. It's like I could feel the vibrations. 

I felt like my DNA was altered by hearing that song. The whole evening had been special, but this was transcendent. I was like, "Wait, am I having a spiritual experience?" 

I've tried to find a recording of the song that lives up to what I experienced back stage. But so far I haven't had any luck. 

You can listen to the acapella part here.  And the instrumental part here. But nothing compares to hearing both of them together live. 

I've been obsessed with the lyrics. Some don't make sense like

And if a door be closed
Then a row of homes start building

or

Cause if your skin was soil
How long do you think before they start digging?

But others are so hauntingly beautiful. Like this one that makes me want to cry every time I hear it.

And tear your curtains down
For sunlight is like gold

or these that feel like a call to something more

And you better be you
And do what you can do
When you're walking on moon beams
Staring out to sea

I've ordered the movie version of Once from the library so I can figure out the context of this song because it's been like half my personality for the last week. 

Anyway, back to the Award Ceremony. It kind of felt like the Cast of Once had just come out and showed us who should have won Best Production of the Year. But we still had to do an official presentation. 

Heather Bankston and Archer English came out to give out award #22 for Best Production of the Year. To the surprise of no one who had been paying attention to who had won half the awards that night it was won by Little Women.

The whole cast came on stage for that award. Even though I had my opinions about who should have won it was cool to see that cast celebrating. I love this picture of them with their trophies. (And check out little Payton. She'd had a little 5 minute part as a Troll in a part of the play where they acted out one of Jo's stories.)

Kerri later wrote this about the show: 

Peyton did her very first show on her own this year, Little Women. Last night the theatre community held a Red Curtain Awards ceremony, and let's just say, Little Women swept the awards, including Best Ensemble and Best Production. Pey was only in it for one scene for about 5 minutes, but the way that cast loved her and took her in as a little sister was just amazing. She was so proud and cheered for them all night.

Mollie, who co-directed the show, later wrote this on Facebook:

I’m very honored and grateful for the support from the theatre community of the Magic Valley. I was given the awards, along with @itscassienotcaseyduh, of Production of the Year, Best Director and Best Props for our showing of Little Women. Our incredible cast and Production team were given slew of other awards that were so well deserved. This community has such an abundance of talent and so many other shows last year that were in the runnings for awards, that this makes this that much more of an honor, just to be put in the same spotlight as the other productions. Thank you Thank you Thank you for loving and supporting our vision and production. Thank you @mvrep for the opportunity, our entire production team, @heathharmison and @upsam_i_am for your help and support and to all the cast, crew and people who auditioned, and those of you that helped us with things on the fly that came up. It took many hands and lots of hard work. We appreciate all of you who voted and all those that put the Curtain Call award show together. I was unable to attend the actual event but everything I hear about it, was absolutely amazing. Thank you @presto_harmi for accepting the awards. Job well done to all! And thank you again so much!

I've chosen to highlight what people were saying on Facebook because it was so fun to see people respond to the awards. These meant so much to people. 

Every single play I've seen has changed me - even just a little bit. I've so glad that I was able to help honor the theatre community of Twin Falls. These people put so much time and dedication into their shows. They deserve to be celebrated. 

The show ended and I packed up our stuff and made sure the table and table cloth were put away. We all left the stage. For a second or two I thought about how I NEVER thought I'd stand on that stage. And now here I was comfortable backstage. 

I'm looking forward to many more chances to be back stage - and front stage at the Orpheum. Joining the theatre community has really been one of the best things that ever happened to me. 

Thanks for letting me talk about it in depth. 

Back to our busy lives - Derrick's 13th birthday and the Curtain Call Awards

This post almost turned into a one million word essay on why I love the Twin Falls theatre community.  We had the Curtain Call Awards this week and they were just amazing. I have so much to say about the event. But as I wrote this post I realized that I needed to separate my commentary about the awards ceremony from the rest of the post. Otherwise it would completely dominate the post. 

Also Derrick turned 13 this week. and that's a big deal. I want that day have the space it deserves. (Even if it was rather overshadowed by the award ceremony.)

So read this post for the run down of our comings and goings of the week. And then look for the next post which will be a VERY detailed account of the Curtain Call Awards on Wednesday Night. 

First we have to back up a bit to Sunday. Brandon made copy cat Krispy Kream donuts during conference. They were delicious. (You can see my screen where I was working on my blog post in the background.)

Sunday night I curled up in bed and read the last 150 or so pages of Wind and Truth. The end of this book was so so so so so good. And really deserves a lot more attention, but I have so much to say about the Curtain Call Awards that I just don't have time to do that here. I'll just say I'm so glad I did that reread because it all came together so well.

Monday was a busy day. Right at 9:00 I logged into the Ovation Theatre programs website so I could sign the kids up for their summer theatre camps. Veronica will be doing Matilda Jr in June. They will rehearse every day for 3 hours for two weeks, do their tech week, and then perform 3 times over two days. When I told Veronica that rehearsals would be three hours a day she was like, "Oh yes!"  She loves theatre so much. 

Charlotte and Lydia will be doing a production camp on Thursdays in July. Our friend Crayson (Lord Pinkerton) will be teaching the class. They will be learning how to design sets. The class ends with a building day where they will build the set for the teenage groups production of Hadestown. When our friend Kota found out that the girls would be in that class he said, "Oh I feel sorry for the other students in that class if the twins are in there."

 After I took care of getting the kids signed up I focused on work for several hours. Did I mention we have FIVE new clinicians started soon. Two are students who recently graduated and will be taking insurance. One was a surprise hire. And two more are joining us soon. It's a lot of work to get them all ready to bill insurance.  

After Veronica was out of school we went to DI to try to find her stuff for the Curtain Call Awards. My friend Rachel was letter her borrow a jacket. We were looking for nice black pants and a black shirt to go under it. I was also hoping to find some black shoes that would work for this outfit as well as be good stage shoes for when she does Willy Wonka next week and Matilda in June. We were lucky and found everything. That was a load off my mind. 

That evening I went on a walk on the canyon rim. Here's the view of Shoshone Falls.  

And look at that beautiful view. 

Monday night when I was telling Derrick it was time for bed he said, "Tomorrow is my birthday and I'll wake up to balloons!"  And I was like "oh right."

So after the kids were in bed Brandon and I drove to Walmart and bought balloons. Then we blew them up with help from Veronica who was still awake when we got home. 

Derrick really appreciated the balloons when he woke up in the morning. He came with me when I drove Veronica to school and then we went to smiths and picked out donuts for his class. He was so excited to walk into school with the big box of donuts. 

I had a lot of work to do during the day. But it was nothing compared to that evening. I was joking that April 8th was somehow the nexus of space and time because it felt like EVERYTHING was happening that evening. Here's the schedule I made to keep myself on track.

First up was taking Veronica to her last regular rehearsal for Willy Wonka. They started out upstairs, but finished the class on the stage. Veronica said it was fun. 

Then I came home and picked up Charlotte and Lydia. I drove them to Tubbs Berry Farm where they had job interviews to be on the summer work crew. This is a really cool work opportunity for teenagers as young as 14. My bosses kids have worked here for a few summers. They do thinks like hoe weeds every Wednesday morning for 3 hours. 

Its basically set up to teach kids how to have a job. So they have an application that the kids are encouraged to fill out themselves. Then they come in for an interview. It's scary for the kids, but as long as they do the things they are usually offered a job. 

So I wasn't surprised when Charlotte and Lydia were given job offers after a short interview. Heidi Tubbs had them come over to where I was so she could talk about the documents they'd need while I was there to listen.   

Charlotte and Lydia are really excited about this job. There aren't a lot of jobs for 14 year olds so this is great. They'll make $8 an hour and they'll get a few raises through the summer. (Like I said, it's designed to teach them how to have a job.)  Charlotte is also super excited about working on a farm. They have goats and she's really excited to see the goats every week. 

After we were done at the farm we drove over to the Orpheum and picked up Veronica. Brandon was supposed to do that, but Derrick's bus was late getting him home and I was closer to the Orpheum anyway. 

Then we all met at McDonalds. When I'd asked Derrick what he wanted for dinner on his birthday I was actually super relieved that he wanted McDonalds. We literally had an hour free and there would not have been time to make anything. So fast food was great!

We had a nice time eating and talking. Driving around the city had been ridiculous for me all day. It felt like there was construction everywhere. It was nice to just sit and relax. 

Then we drove back to the Orpheum for the rehearsal for the Curtain Call Awards. The award ceremony would feature songs from the 5 musicals that happened in 2024. Each group had 30 minutes to run through their song. Brandon needed to be there for the Spamalot time slot. 

I needed to be there for lots of things. Mostly I needed to know where the awards table should be. I was talking it over with Tim who was the Emcee, Diane who started this whole thing years ago and was helping to bring it back, and Alexandra who works for the Orpheum. 

We needed to decide if the table should be on the stage all night or if it should be back stage. We all had various opinions, but we ultimately all agreed it should be back stage. The deciding factor was when I realized that my girls - who were helping give out the awards - would not be interested in standing up straight and looking presentable all night. So back stage it was!

Chris arrived with a big box of trophies. He turned it over to me. Derrick LOVES trophies so he happily came back stage and helped me unwrap every trophy. Then he and Veronica helped me put them in order based on the set list.  

I was realizing it was really hard to keep track of the difference between "Best Supporting Actor in a Musical" and "Best Supporting Actor in a Non-musical." 

The cast of Tarzan came on the stage to rehearse "You'll be in my heart." Derrick was smart and he had his headphones. He put those on and was find being back stage while they sang. 

Breeana Wright (who played Marian in Music Man) came on stage to sing her solo from School of Rock. Derrick was hanging out with me and she talked to him for a minute. I mentioned that it was Derrick's birthday.  So when she was done with her rehearsal time she told everyone in the audience to sing Happy Birthday to Derrick.  Derrick didn't want to come out, but he could hear everyone. When the song was over he opened the door to the audience and everyone clapped. 

Derrick and I walked around the theatre a bit. Here we are in the lobby. I wanted to get a picture of how much taller he is than me. A year ago he'd reached my same height. 

We realized that the sound was a little quieter back stage so we went back stage. Brandon was on stage with the ensemble for Spamalot. It was fun to see him with his friends. 

Tim gave me a print out of the full set list. I decided to arrange the trophies in two groups. One for the first half before intermission and one for the second half. Then I put them in rows depending of how they would be given out. So for instance, the show started with 5 awards followed by a slide show. Then four more awards followed by the Tarzan song. 

Derrick and I went back to the audience and sat with Charlotte, Lydia, and Veronica (they had been playing on phones.) Here's the spamalot ensemble still doing their rehearsal. 

When they were done we all went home and Derrick opened his presents. He wanted all the recent Godzilla movies on DVD. (We'd borrowed them from the library when we'd first watched them. He also got a King Kong action figure and a Godzilla poster. 

At 9:00 Brandon and I went back to the Orpheum for the presenters rehearsal time. Tim had worked out how he wanted people to be walking around the stage. He had the presenters come up from the audience through the door that lead from the house to back stage. They would stop at my table for the envelope that had the winner's name printed on the inside. Then they would walk around the back of the screen and wait in the wings on the other side. 

When it was the presenters turn they would cross the full stage (and show off their outfits) and come to the podium. They would read the names of the nominees and then open the envelope and announce the winners. 

The winners would come up from the audience and accept the award and then everyone would exit down the stairs.  Here's a crude drawing for reference of what in the heck I'm talking about. 

Tonight was just a walk through to get the presenters comfortable with the flow. I didn't have the envelopes so as they came by my table I'd say, "Here's your fake envelope."

The presenters came out in pairs. They practiced who would say what and made sure they knew how to pronounce the names. But a lot of them took advantage of their 2 minutes in the spotlight to ham it up. They would read off the names and then say things like, "And the winner is  . . . John Cena!"  Or give the awards to themselves. 

Nate was supposed to present with his wife Kerri, but she stayed home with Payton. So Nate had a picture of Kerri on his phone and was pretending to do her voice for her parts. It was really funny.

The audience of other presenters was also adding good natured heckling. When Brandon walked out for his part Jared yelled, "Hey, didn't that guy die in Treasure Island."

After all the presenters were done Diane found me a table cloth for the table. (She's in charge of the costumes owned by the Orpheum. So she just had to run downstairs to get it.)

Brandon and I moved the table out to the front center of the stage. We arranged the trophies in a cool triangle shape. 

I took some pictures - though everything looked a little bit like devils in hell. 

They did look cool with all 22 awards arranged like this. We wanted people in the audience to see the trophies before we moved them back stage at the beginning of the show on Wednesday. 

The trophy for best production was front and center. It would be the last award given out. 

Here's what they looked like from the audience. 

And guess what? I already knew who all the winners were. Chris, Breeane, and I had got together to tally votes during Spring Break. I'd been keeping the winners a secret, but it was hard. So it was easier to just pretend I didn't know. 

As we were leaving I stopped to talk with Ivan and Chris. Ivan was thanking me for fixing a billing error he'd made. Then Chris was like, "hey are you able to do book keeping. Because Jump Company is hiring a book keeper."  He wanted me to message him my hourly rate and a few other things. I don't know if I'll get the position - it's a little out of my wheelhouse - but it's cool to be asked. 

Brandon and I left the theatre smiling so much. We'd had a blast with that silly little run through. 

The kids were supposed to put themselves to bed at 9:30, but they'd lost track of time so they were still awake when we got home around 10:00. So everyone hurried to get into bed. Brandon and I stayed up in bed talking about how funny everything had been and how fun it had been to see some of his old castmates again. 

Wednesday was CRAZY. It was my day off, but it did not feel like it. I had a busy morning getting everyone up and ready for the day. I kind of needed a shower, but since I'd be getting ready for the award show later in the day I didn't really see the point. Also I didn't really have time. And my pajamas looked enough like real clothes that I decided to just wear them for a while that morning before changing. 

I started out the day dropping everyone off at school. Then I did a real quick grocery run. And I mean real quick. I drop Derrick off around 8:45 and I had to pick Veronica up at 9:45. So I bought stuff, brough it home, put the perishable stuff away, and was at the school in time to get Veronica. 

She had therapy for the first time in about 6 weeks. We'd had to cancel therapy in March because we were dropped from Medicaid and it took me a while to get us coverage on the marketplace. I finally did that and our coverage started April 1st. 

I went into the office and gave the receptionist our new insurance card. She asked me, "do you know what your copay is?"  I just started laughing and was like, "I should!"  I verify insurance ALL THE TIME at work. I'm constantly looking up copays and deductibles and doing all the things. But could I tell you any of the details of my own plan. No.

So she looked it up for me. And then we talked about insurance and I was trying to prove that I do actually kind of have my life together. But since I was wearing basically my pajamas and no make up I'm not sure she really believed me. Honestly, this lady sees "day off Valerie."  She has seen me fall asleep on the lobby couch. I'm sure she would be shocked to meet the professional version of me. 

Veronica's therapist is due to have a baby next month so we are pausing services for the summer a little early. She'll come back from maternity leave around the time that Veronica starts middle school so we will for sure be back in the fall. But for now we are done. 

I took Veronica back to school and then I had about 20 minutes before I needed to pick up Charlotte. I thought about actually getting dressed, but I didn't see the point by this point.  So I kept running around town in my sweat pants and my hair in a messy bun.  

I was picking Charlotte up from school so she could try to find chicks. This was the third Wednesday we were trying to get chicks. Charlotte had to take one of the ISAT tests that morning. The testing time was over at 11:20. I was there right at that time and checked Charlotte out. 

First I called Valley Country store in Buhl to see if they had chicks. They said they had assorted bantams. That kind of chicken wasn't high on Charlotte's wish list so we went to D&B to see what they had. They either didn't get a shipment or were already sold out because they didn't have any chicks. 

So then we drove out to Buhl to see if those Bantams would be cute. And thankfully they were! Charlotte decided to get four of them and I was so happy because chasing all over the valley for chickens every Wednesday was getting kind of old. 

We bought them and then brought them home and Charlotte got them all situated in the brooder that she'd put together two weeks ago. They huddled together for warmth under the big light. 

Charlotte had thought she might go back to school. But she decided not to. She told me she was on maternity leave.  I emailed Kerri who is the attendance secretary and told her that. She said she laughed out loud at the maternity leave joke. 

As the kids came home from school Charlotte let them hold chicks and told them which one was theirs. (Or at least pretend theirs.)  Eventually they figured out names. Charlotte's is Raspberry. Lydia's is Lily, Derrick's is Sunny (because it's bright yellow), and Veronica's is Seed. 

I'd taken a shower while Charlotte was bonding with her chicks. After Veronica had a chance to see the chicks it was her turn for the shower. Charlotte and Lydia eventually went through as well. 

At 5:45 we started getting in our fancy clothes. And at 6:15 Brandon took Derrick over to my friend Chandler's house. Chandler's son Finn is Derrick's age. So it worked well for Derrick to go over there and then they could go to Young Mens together. That was all so much more fun for Derrick than the Award's ceremony would be. 

I was really happy about all of our outfits. Veronica's jacket PERFECTLY matched some earings that Jori gave her when she pierced her ears. 

I pulled Veronica's hair back to show off the earings. (And to make her look a little more put together.) It was like she aged 5 years in a second. She looked so professional!

I'll talk about the details of the night in the next post. But here's a sneak peak. This is Brandon after he did his French Taunter bit. 

The night was incredible and we will talk about it all later. It ended with me and Brandon laying in bed talking about all of our favorite moments. 

The only downside to the evening was that it was only Wednesday. It felt like a Friday so it was a little unfair that we still had to get up and go to school and work on Thursday morning. 

As it was, I let Veronica sleep in a bit. I dropped her off between taking Charlotte and Lydia to their middle school and taking Derrick to his. 

I made it through all my different billing jobs for the day. 

That evening Brandon was working at CSI. The kids and I wanted to get out of the house because the weather was beautiful. At first we tried to go to the Red Park, but there were a ton of soccer games going on. So we didn't even bother stopping there. Instead we went to Centennial Waterfont Park on the Snake River. 

We started out on the big rock. 

The view of the bridge was so pretty. 

Then we went down to the waters edge. 

The water levels are still low enough that we could walk out on the rocks. 

We could see deer across the river. 

It was a really nice evening. 

Friday was a good day too. We were hosting Derrick's birthday party that night. And I was all sorts of blase about it. So much so that I didn't realize I hadn't bought any snacks for it until Friday morning. Why we didn't go shopping on Thursday when we had sooooooo much time, I'll never know. 

But it wasn't that big of a deal to stop at Walmart after dropping Derrick off and before I went to work. Work was good. And then I came home and cleaned the house. But it was more in a "hey, I should probably straighten up around here because I've ignored it all week."  And not in a "OH NO WE HAVE COMPANY COMING TONIGHT" sort of way. 

I went outside and took pictures of all the lovely spring things like the blossoms on my peach tree. 

It's so pretty. And the plum tree behind it is also blooming. 

I have tulips blooming along this wall.

And Hyacinths in the front yard. 

I love how they look with this log. I found this log at the park. City crews had trimmed a tree and just left this log. I'm sure they were coming back for it eventually - but I put it in my car and took it home. 

Look at this pretty hyacinth from my side yard. 

When the kids came home from school I had them clean up the basement. Then we started setting up the table. 

We moved Godzilla out so he could come to the party. 

I picked up pizza for everyone. 

Four boys came over. Finn N, Finn J, Logan, and Cayson. Derrick is so lucky to have a lot of cool boys his age at church. They genuinely like to hang out with him.

The had fun watching Godzilla. About halfway through it we had them take a break and come have some cake. Brandon had picked up an ice cream cake at Dairy Queen. (He was in charge of the cake and there was NO time to make one this week.)

He put sprinkles on it and then added some of Derrick's action figures. 

Here he is with his cake. 

Derrick really liked his birthday. 

On Saturday when we woke up I asked Brandon, "So do you feel like having friends over for a fire tonight?"  All week I'd been toying with the idea of having people over and doing a fire, but I didn't want to over commit during an already busy week. 

But we did feel like doing it. So I put a message out in our ward mom's chat to let people know they could come over for a really chill hang out. No food, no special event. Just a fire and adults talking while the kids ran around the yard. 

And then that motivated me to get up and clean off the patio. 

Brandon spent the day working on the other set of shelves in the living room. And some how this is the best picture I took of them. 

Charlotte and Lydia worked on another lego amusment park. 

Oh wait, I did take a better picture of the shelves. Here they are. I'm like 95% certain I'm going to stain them. But I'm still kind of debating doing paint instead. 

At 7:00 we had a few families show up. My friend Hannah came with her two boys. Jori and Tim came with their four girls. And Lindsey and Jeff came with their four kids. We all had a great time hanging out while our kids ran around. It was exactly what I wanted. 

And this is the only picture I took. I think it was Derrick doing something with the coop. 

Sunday was a good day. I totally forgot to talk about a funny thing that happened another week at church so I'll put the story here. 

I bought breath mints to use during the play. I wanted to try a different flavor so I bought some strawberry lemon ones. I thought they were super gross. They didn't feel like they left my mouth cleaner because they weren't mint flavored. 

Anyway, I still had some left over after the play so I put them in my church bag. I always give my kids mints after the sacrament. So after the sacrament was over I started handing them out like nothing was different. Derrick was like, "MOM, WHAT WAS THAT?"

Veronica thought the mints were gross too, but that didn't stop her from giving one to Brandon and seeing his surprised reaction. 

Anyway, we used up those mints so we were back to regular mints this week. The kids were all grateful for that.

And I think that's a good spot to stop for this post. Keep an eye out for the next post ALL about the curtain call awards. 

Thanks for reading.