2025/2026 ACTCO FESTIVAL & THEA AWARDS
Wednesday, October 15, 2025 - Sunday, April 19, 2026
RESULTS
ADJUDICATORS
2025/2026 DOCUMENTS
Festival Package
Package PDF
Package docx
Festival Entry Form
Entry Form PDF
Entry Form docx
Festival Awards
Awards PDF
Awards docx
  
ADJUDICATION SCHEDULE and SHOWS
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FESTIVAL & THEA AWARDS NEWS
No Festival or Gala News Today
 
 
WHAT IS FESTIVAL
The ACT-CO Festival is a celebration of Community Theatre across our Region. Community theatres from Toronto, York, Durham, Peel, Halton, Dufferin, Simcoe and Muskoka are eligible to participate.

The Festival is divided into three categories: Comedy, Drama, and Musical. Each category has a single adjudicator who will see all the productions in that category. The Adjudicator is hired by ACT-CO. An adjudicator is an experienced theatre professional and teacher, who is knowledgeable regarding community theatre.

When a group enters Festival, the Adjudicator will come to your theatre for one of your scheduled performances and provide an adjudication of that evening’s performance. After the performance, if you choose, the Adjudicator will give a 10-15 minute “public adjudication” to the audience, providing them with some insights about the play, your production, and the challenges and achievements of that evening’s performance. After the audience has left, the members of the group receive a more detailed “private adjudication.” The private adjudication is 60-90 minutes long. The Adjudicator and the members of the production will have a thorough dialogue about all the areas of the production: the acting, the direction, the design, and the technical elements. The Adjudicator will provide praise, constructive criticism, and useful techniques to help you with future productions. The members of the production can ask questions and engage the adjudicator’s expertise.

At the end of the Festival, each Adjudicator chooses nominees and recipients of awards, called “Theas”, presented in categories recognizing a variety of artistic achievements, including Best Production. These awards are announced and presented at the annual ACT-CO THEA AWARDS event (formerly "The Gala").

If you have any questions about Festival, including the specifics of an adjudication and the complete list of awards, please contact ACT-CO Festival Chair, at festival@actco.ca.
 
ACT-CO Theatre Ontario Festival Entries
THEATRE ONTARIO WAS DISOLVED IN 2020
Each year, until 2019, ACT-CO Adjudicators, selected a Best Production in each of the Comedy, Drama, and Musical categories. They then chose one of these to be ACT-CO's entry in the Theatre Ontario Festival. If none of the three Best Productions chose to take their show to the TO Festival, the Adjudicators, at their descretion, chose an alternate.
Click here for the chart of past TO Festival entries.
 
History of the THEA award

At the Fourth Annual Theatre Arts Ball ("The Gala") on April 12, 1980 (at the Grand Ballroom of The Sheraton Centre in Toronto) the THEA award statuette was débuted. The THEA was designed by Michael Beatovich and was cast in aluminum by Dominion Regalia in Toronto (and has been cast and produced by them ever since).

Until the 2011/2012 Season, ACT-CO awarded 44 THEA's every year at the Gala.
Beginning with the 2012/2013 Season, a Stage Management THEA was added, and an additional THEA was added to the Best Producton (one statue for the Group, and one for the Producer) in each of the three categories, bringing the total to 50.
Beginning with the 2024/2025 (post COVID-19) Season, 47 THEA's will be awarded (see below).


Our cost to cast and produce each THEA:
1980: $15.00
1991: $32.20
2000: $47.00
2006: $51.47
2011: $65.82
2015: $78.93

We have no record of how much the original mold cost, but it is now (Oct 2025) showing quite a bit of wear (having been used to cast over 2150 THEA statuettes) and will have to be replaced sometime soon.

  AS OF 2024/2025  
  THEAs are awarded in the following way:  
      Comedy Drama Musical  
  Best Production x x x  
  Best Director x x x  
  Best Musical Director     x  
  Best Choreographer     x  
  Best Stage Manager x x x  
  Best Set Designer x x x  
  Best Lighting Designer x x x  
  Best Sound Designer x x x  
  Best Costume Designer x x x  
  Best Hair & Makeup x x x  
           
  Best Performance in a Leading Male Role x x x  
  Pest Performane in a Supporting Male Role x x x  
  Best Performance in a Leading Female Role x x x  
  Best Performance in a Supporting Female Role x x x  
  Best Ensemble x x x  
  Best Newcomer or Best Youth (under 25) x x x  
           
  Adjudicator Award x x x  
 
  Award Categories: 17   THEAs Awarded: 47    
             
 

1. Adjudicators shall nominate three individuals or collaborative (e.g. a set designed by two individuals counts as a single nomination shared by both designers) for each award. For acting, the Adjudicators shall nominate three individuals (there is no collaborative).

2. The nominations and awards shall be provided by the Adjudicator in the format requested by ACT-CO.

3. With each award, the Adjudicator shall include a statement for publication to explain why this achievement was chosen as the award recipient (what made it particularly worthy).

4. Number of Nominees in a Single Nomination: No more than four persons shall be named individually or as members of a collaborative. If the achievement that is being recognized was completed by more than four persons, the nomination shall be for a single collective (e.g. for “The Ensemble of…”).

5. Adjudicator Awards are for achievements in the public presentation of the play, given as either a single award for a unique achievement, or as an “award category” not covered by the other awards. If nominations are used, they are subject to the same rules regarding nominations as outlined in #1.

6. “Best Production” THEA is presented to the Producer(s) of a production.

7. Only one THEA is presented by ACT-CO for each award. Additional THEAs are available, under the terms of ACT-CO’s “Supplementary Award Policy”: If more than one person is named explicitly as the recipient of a single Festival award (as outlined in #4), each of those named shall be eligible to purchase supplementary THEA trophies to a maximum so that every named individual may have a single trophy that symbolizes the achievement. Refer to the ACT-CO Website for the supplementary THEA form.

8. If a Youth Production is entered into Festival, there will be no distinction made in selection criteria for a Youth vs. Adult production. In other words, there are no concessions made for youth productions.

  
             
  PRIOR TO 2024/2025 SEASON  
  THEAs are awarded for Best in the following way:  
      Comedy Drama Musical  
  Production xx xx xx  
  Director x x x  
  Musical Director     x  
  Choreographer     x  
  Stage Manager x x x  
  Set Designer x x x  
  Lighting Designer x x x  
  Sound Designer x x x  
  Costume Designer x x x  
           
  Actor - Leading x x x  
  Actor - Supporting x x x  
  Actress - Leading x x x  
  Actress - Supporting x x x  
           
  Adjudicator Awards xxxx xxxx xxxx  
             
  Award Categories: 14   THEAs Awarded: 50  
             
Festival & THEA Awards PDOVers. 4.0 Oct 04, 2025 [JBW]