Pat Wilhelms accepts award
from Roanoke President Mike Maxey

An Homage to Roanoke Valley Theatre

Todd Ristau

I was delighted last night to see Roanoke's live theater excellence honored with Perry F. Kendig Awards at Roanoke's Olin Hall (which also won an award as a venue).

The selection of Todd Ristau and Pat Wilhelms--a couple of theater veterans who have helped form the Roanoke Valley into a theatrical powerhouse--was gratifying to anybody who has watched the gradual growth of quality and depth of the region's players, from cleanup crew to star performer.

Todd worked for years with guru Ernie Zulia (who retired after last year's Hollins term ended) turning out writers at the Hollins Playwrights' Lab and built quite a bench of writers and performers with his unusual No Shame Theatre, which gained a national following. Pat, who has always been appreciated as a directorial and teaching professional, was nevertheless fired by Mill Mountain Theatre and Roanoke Children's Theatre in disputes with artistic directors (one of whom was later fired), but she came back in each case dramatically with yet another version of children's theater. 

This night was a triumph for local theater groups, all of them, because they are damn good and the atmosphere for theatrical production--even during the pandemic--is great. I mean, Showtimers last spring, struggled back with an awful, outside, on the spot play that was deeply appreciated by everybody involved. It wasn't about quality. It was about the show going on and it continues to do that in Roanoke, where even bad theater is appreciated.

Dwayne Yancey

The two guys who didn't take home the glass trophies in the individual artist category last night were journalist Dwayne Yancey and blues singer Kerry Hurley. Journalists don't usually make a dent in arts awards presentations (though I have two Kendigs, neither for the quality of my writing), but blues singers? Kerry is a guy who is internationally known and is an enthusiastic carrier of the message. He dresses like the Blues Brothers and sings like ... well, like Kerry Hurley, full-throated and soulful.

Dwayne, of course, is not just a much-honored journalist (Virginia Communications Hall of Fame, for example), but also a playwright, whose work has appeared all over the world (and who wrote the aforementioned Showtimers' play on the spur of the moment). Dwayne is not just good at both professions, but he is almost unimaginably prolific and recently, he left The Roanoke Times after 39 years to help roll out the Cardinal Press, an online-only publication that's heavy on coverage of rural Southwest Virginia. 

Kerry Hurley gets his award.

These awards covered the past two years because last year's ceremony was postponed by the pandemic and I will note that I nominated three of the individual finalists and that I have for years pushed for the inclusion of Hollins University and Roanoke College employees to be eligible (which they weren't because of the possibility of conflict of interest). 

This one, top to bottom, was rewarding on every level, but I suspect the theater arts crowd is still partying at the result.