Inland Theatre League awards were presented Monday evening at the Landis Performing Arts Center, on the campus of Riverside Community College in Riverside for Inland Empire 2010 play and musical productions. There were a total of 251 awards out of 583 nominations.

Theatres with the most awards included 17 for Temecula Valley Players, 16 for Chino Community Theatre, Ramona Hillside Players and Theatre Royale Productions.

Productions receiving the most awards were Cats by Theatre Royale Productions from Lake Elsinore (16), and Rent by Temecula Valley Players (10).

Two Special Awards were given to:

Rancho Cucamonga Community Theatre in recognition of their 10th anniversary.

Travis Rhett Wilson for his outstanding one man performance of Edgar Allan Poe works.

Ten Founders Awards and four Ensemble Awards were given during throughout the evening ceremony.

Nominations were given to performers receiving at least three votes from judges. Nominees are awarded “Certificates of Excellence” when the majority of judges voted for their performance. Certificates are presented for actor’s performances, as well as awards for directing, choreography, music direction, scenic design, lighting design and costumes. The Founders Award is presented when 100% of the judges vote for the performance. Ensemble Awards are presented when the entire cast of actors, director, choreographer and music director receive nominations and awards.

The full list of the award winners will be posted by April 12 on the Inland Theatre League website at www.InlandTheatre.org.

The Inland Theatre League started in 1975 and was the brainchild of T.E. Foreman, resident theatre reviewer for the then Daily Enterprise and The Press, both Riverside, California newspapers. As a member of the Los Angeles Critics’ Circle, T.E. was among the critics annually awarding theatre participants in Southern California each year for outstanding professional work.

Although many Inland Empire theatre groups presented their own awards each year, many outstanding performances, direction, technical, wardrobe and other production areas were not recognized. T.E. thought all areas of a theatre’s production should be eligible for some awards, so he came up with the idea of not having a “best” of any category but to award all who reach what we call a standard of excellence. The Inland Theatre League’s credo began “to recognize and encourage excellence in theatre.”

Currently there are 95 judges whose job is to view at least ten productions annually and to nominate candidates for our Certificates of Excellence. The original five member theatres in 1975 were California Baptist College, Riverside Community Players, UC Riverside, Riverside City College, and Loma Linda University’s Society of Demonstrative Arts. Currently there are over 70 professional, community and family series member theatres reviewed by the Inland Theatre League panel of judges.