"Philadelphia's reputation as a vibrant birthplace of new plays is continuing to grow," she said of a theater community with more than 40 professional companies that produced dozens of new plays last season. Salvante thanked the Walnut for hosting the awards and acknowledged the theater's 200-year history during an evening whose theme was the city's theatrical past, which began on a Pine Street stage in 1754.
Both Cinderella and Something Intangible had led the list of nominees for the Barrymores, with 13 each in various categories.
Something Intangible swept, winning seven awards, including an outstanding new play honor for the prolific Philadelphia playwright Bruce Graham, whose work has debuted at the Arden and other companies over the years.
Other awards for the play went to the Arden's producing artistic director, Terrence J. Nolen, for his direction; Ian Merrill Peakes, who won best actor in a play for his performance as the frantic, driven, creative brother in a Hollywood studio based very loosely on Disney; James Kronzer, who took honors for his set; F. Mitchell Dana for lighting; and Rosemarie E. McKelvey for costumes.
The Arden won an eighth award last night - making it the theater company most cited - for Mary Martello as best supporting actress in a musical, in last fall's Candide.
"Thanks, everybody, for supporting . . . the creative life that makes this city hum," she told the ebullient crowd.
Cinderella, the family holiday show at People's Light, is an original panto - a sometimes rowdy British comedy form that invites audiences to respond as the show plays out. The musical was the company's fifth panto developed from scratch, in what's become a holiday tradition at the Malvern theater.
