Nominees for the annual Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards have been announced

The panel of judges will base their decisions on having viewed close to 100 productions in several venues in and around the city. Each award carries a R15 000 cash prize as well as a silver medallion, making a Fleur du Cap one of the most coveted awards in the industry.

This year, the awards will be given in 12 different categories for musicals, comedy and drama productions. The Fleur du Cap Theatre Award judges are Marianne Thamm, Mariana Malan, Marina Griebenow, Peter Tromp, Len Ashton, Beverley Brommert, Wayne Muller, Herman van der Westhuizen, Zane Henry, Jill Makram and Denise Bester.

The nominees in the various categories for productions in 2011 are as follows:

Best Performance by an actor
- Chris van Niekerk for Dinsdae by Morrie as Morrie Schwartz,
- Nat Ramabulana for The Girl in the Yellow Dress as Pierre,
- Thami Mbongo for Woyzeck as Woyzeck and
- Warrick Grier for Blackbird as Ray.

Best performance by an actress
- Antoinette Kellermann for As die Broek Pas as Max/Ella Gericke,
- Jennifer Steyn for Molly Bloom as Molly,
- Liezl de Kock for Womb Tide as the wife and
- Robyn Scott for London Road as Rose.

Best supporting actor
- Bongile Mantsai for Woyzeck as Drum Major,
- Graham Weir for Waiting for Godot as Lucky,
- Guy de Lancey for Cosi as Roy and
- Owen L Sejake for The Train Driver as Simon Hanabe.

Best supporting actress
- Emily Child for Cosi as Ruth,
- Liz Szymczak for Endgame as Nell,
- Louise Saint-Claire for Boeing, Boeing as Bertha and
- Ntomboxolo Makhutshi for London Road as Stella.

Best Director
- Damon Galgut for Waiting for Godot,
- Lara Foot for Woyzeck,
- Malcolm Purkey for The Girl in the Yellow Dress and
- Marthinus Basson for As die Broek Pas.

Best performance in a one-person show
- Andrew Buckland for 1 man, 3 shows, 100 characters for various characters,
- Antoinette Kellermann for As die Broek Pas as Ella/Max Gericke,
- James Cairns for Dirt for various characters and
- James Cairns for The Sitting Man for various characters.

Best new SA script
- Afrikaaps: The Cast,
- The Girl in the Yellow Dress: Craig Higginson,
- London Road: Nicholas Spagnoletti and
- The Sitting Man: James Cairns.

Rosalie van Der Gucht prize for new directors
- Bo Petersen for Blackbird,
- Christiaan Olwagen for Woza Andries,
- Francesco Nassimbeni for Done London and
- Scott Sparrow for Cosi.

Best performance in a musical
- Angela Kilian for Evita as Eva Peron,
- Gina Shmukler for Mamma Mia! As Donna Sheridan,
- Ilse Klink for Mamma Mia! As Rosie and
- James Borthwick for Evita as Juan Peron.

Best perfomrance in a revue or cabaret
- Godfrey Johnson for The Shadow of Brel as Jacques Brel,
- Michele Maxwell for C'est la Vie,
- Moenier Adams for Afrikaaps as Monox and
- Pieter-Dirk Uys for FAK Songs and Other Struggle Anthems as Bambi Kellermann.

Best design
- Leopold Senekal for Aesop's Fables for Costume Design and Woyzeck for Costume and Set Design,
- Marthinus Basson for Anthony and Cleopatra for Costume Design,
- Craig Leo amd Emile Starke for Womb Tide for Prop Design and
- Faheem Bardien for Anthony and Cleopatra for Lighting Design.

Best student award
- De Klerk Oelofse from University of Stellenbosch (US),
- Johan Botha from University of Stellenbosch (US),
- Lerato Motshwarakgo from UCT,
- Nicholas Campbell from UCT and
- Pierre Nelson from University of Stellenbosch (US).

The Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards are an initiative of the Distell Foundation, which forms part of Distell's Corporate Social Investment programme, dedicated to sponsoring the performing arts.

Members of the public can now vote for their favourite production of 2008 by logging onto www.capetheatre.co.za.

Voting closes on 28 February and the winning production will receive the People's Choice Award, which will all be announced at the ceremony, together with the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Award for Innovation in Theatre. The latter will enable the judges to consider an individual, company or organisation in the theatre industry that has consistently created exceptional work, and may fall outside of the existing categories.

Tickets to this year’s Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards cost R150 per person and include canapés and Fleur du Cap wines. Limited seats are available to the public via Computicket or 021 421 7695 and all funds raised through ticket sales will be donated to further developing the Performing Arts.