The Bite Magazine - Autumn/Winter 2019 - Issue 26

bite theatre atre, with the award going to Lynette Linton. Tobi Kyeremateng won Best Producer for Babylon Festi- val at the Bush Theatre, while Nadine Benjamin ac- cepted the Best Opera Production award for English National Opera’s Porgy and Bess at the London Col- iseum. For Best Choreographer, the nominees were Rachel Nanyonjo for Sleeping Beauty at the Theatre Roy- al Stratford East; Alexander Scutin for Boy Break- ing Glass at Sadlers Wells; and Shelley Maxwell for Equus at Theatre Royal Stratford East. This award went to Shelly Maxwell. Sadlers Wells did exception- ally well in being awarded Best Dance Performance in a Dance Production and Best Dance Production beating the Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House, Barbican Theatre and The Old Vic. Nominee Prentice Whitlow for Phoenix DanceThea- tre’s Rite of Spring at Sadlers Wells beat Carlos Acosta for the Royal Ballet’s Don Quixote at the Royal Op- era House and Precious Adams for English National Ballet’s Manon at Sadlers Wells for Best Dance Per- formance in a Dance Production. While the same production beat Ballet Black’s The Suit/Dream within a Midsummer Night’s Dream at BarbicanTheatre, and The Old Vic and Zoo Nation’s Sylvia at The Old Vic for Best Dance Production. Moving onto the Recognition awards, this was pre- sented by Kenneth Olumuyiwa Tharp CBE, a Brit- ish dance artist and former Chief Executive of The Place, and the current director of the Africa Centre in London. He trained at and also worked with the London Contemporary Dance Theatre as well as the Arc Dance Company. Tharp has worked extensive- ly as a choreographer, teacher, and director, and as Lead Artist & Artistic Advisor for The Royal Ballet School’s Dance Partnership and Access Programme. For the technical side of theatre, Tony Gayle won the Light and Sound Recognition Award, followed by Sadeysa Greenaway-Bailey who was awarded the Set Design Recognition Award. The other two categories had three nominees each of which were Arinzé Kene, Inua Ellams, and Debbie Tucker Green for the Book and Lyrics Recognition Award, which was won by Debbie Tucker Green and the Musical Director Rec- ognition Award went to Benjamin Kwasi Burrell who beat Michael Henry and Sean Green. The Plays section was presented by film, television, and stage actress Indra Ové and actor Danny Sa- pani. Indra trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama and has appeared in I nterview with the Vampire, The Fifth Element, Resident Evil, Holby City, Desmond’s, Soldier Soldiers, Bugs, and Othello. While Danny Sapani who also trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama has starred in Misfits, Doctor Who, Penny Dreadful, The Crown, Stars Wars: The Last Jedi, and Black Panther. The nominees for Best Supporting Female Actor in a Play were Cherrelle Skeete andMartina Laird for King Photography: Michelle Marshall