TORONTO—A former Little Current resident, Ron Kelly, now of Toronto, received a prestigious Dora Mavor Moore Award, presented by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) late last month for his sound work on Pandemic Theatre’s one-man show ‘Situational Anarchy.’
Mr. Kelly was unable to accept his award in person, however, as his wife was giving birth to their first child at the same time as the awards ceremony. Sheguiandah’s Linda Kelly is the proud mother of Mr. Kelly; and proud new grandmother, too.
Besides his now award-winning theatre work, Mr. Kelly is a long-term educator with the Toronto District School Board teaching drama and English.
Mr. Kelly took home the 2018 Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Sound Design/Composition, Independent Theatre Division, for ‘Situational Anarchy.’ The prestigious theatre awards are usually referred to as ‘The Doras.’
“For the past 13 years Graham Isador has been in an on again/off again relationship with transgender rockstar Laura Jane Grace,” the synopsis for ‘Situational Anarchy’ goes. “The relationship is characterized by two main factors: 1. Laura Jane Grace is the lead singer, lyricist, and front woman for the punk rock band Against Me and 2. Laura Jane Grace does not know that Graham exists.
“Framed as an open letter to the singer, Isador chronicles his teenage years spent in the Southern Ontario punk scene, sharing stories of Internet message boards, strip mall record stores, and concerts in basements and backrooms.
“’Situational Anarchy’ is a one-man storytelling show about the growing pains of adolescence and the inevitable heartbreak of teenage conviction.”
Jordan Bimm of NOW Magazine states, “Rich, well-crafted and emotionally-potent… Isador’s presentation style is immediately engaging and his stories balance funny tongue-in-cheek self-deprecation and nerdy punk rock sidebars with profound insights gleaned from the tumult of his teen years.”
Karen Fricker of The Toronto Star writes, “[Isador] talks beautifully, about his difficult youth, a tale told with such detail and precision that it conjures up clear mental pictures, while at the same time inviting connections with spectators’ own childhood struggles.”
