SPRING AWAKENING Tops Barn Players' 2014 Barney Awards

The Barn Players Community Theatre held its annual Barney Awards Celebration Saturday evening, February 1st, to a full house despite the weather. Founded in 1955 by Earl Altaire, a Kansas City interior designer and theatre devotee, the theatre is nationally recognized and the new 2014 season will be The Barn Players 59th consecutive season. The Barn Players are located in their own theatre at 6219 Martway in Mission, Kansas.

The Barn Players thanked its actors, musicians, production teams and volunteers with appetizers and wine courtesy of Rimann Liquors. There were highlight performances from the past season as well as a teaser from "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson" the 2014 season's first show. The Barney Awards were handed out by Vida Bikales and co-host John Rensenhouse.

Ms Bikales said: "The Barn Players had 278 people who worked on 11 productions in 2013. This evening is our way of saying "Thank You" to those who gave their time and talent throughout our 2013 season". She added, "The Barn Players was named 'Kansas City Theatre of The Year' by BroadwayWorld.com and our actors and directors won 7 of the organizations 12 Kansas City theatre awards."

Named Volunteer of The Year was Michael Ong. Mr. Ong is a graphic designer at Hallmark and over the past year led the organization through a re-branding process including new graphics and website.

Barney Award winners were:

Best Actress - Maggie Gremminger in "Spring Awakening"
Best Actor - Bobby Turnbough in "Spring Awakening"
Best Musical Direction - Martha Risser for "Chess"
Best Direction - Eric Magnus for "Spring Awakening"
Supporting Actress - Samantha Agron in "Chess"
Supporting Actor - Kipp Simmons in "Chess"
Best Technical Design - Chuck Cline for lighting "Spring Awakening"
Judges Cameo Favorite - Devon Barnes in "Dangerous Liaisons"
Best Show "Spring Awakening"

The 59th 2014 season opens February 28th with the award winning musical "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson". Tickets are $18.00 and may be ordered by calling 1-800-838-3006 or on the theatre website www.thebarnplayers.org. Season tickets for all six regular 2014 season shows are also still available - see all six shows for the price of five.