Yolo County Wins!

Selection from Bev Sykes' article regarding the Ellys:

The Davis Musical Theatre Company took home three awards for its production of 'La Cage aux Folles.'

Ryan Adame won the award for actor in a lead role for his performance as Albin, star of the La Cage Club, and his alter ego, the drag queen dubbed 'Zaza.'

'I fell in love with the character,' Adame said. 'He's just a person; there's a flamboyance to him, but every person has his quirks. His might be a little more out there than the average person, but what's so wonderful is that he's part of a family and just wants to have a normal life.'

Adame, who performed Albin's 'I Am What I Am' during the awards ceremony, was very surprised at his win.

'I don't devote all the time I spend after work and school to get something for it, but it's always nice to get some recognition for your hard work,' he said. 'It's important to me that I received this award for a DMTC show. I did my first show with DMTC five years ago, and I've had many opportunities because of what this company has allowed me to do.'

Adame also was pleased to see choreographer Ron Cisneros and costumer Jean Henderson both acknowledged for their work on the same show.

'I can't ever be grateful enough to Ron, for giving me the chance to play this role,' Adame said, 'and Jean has always been wonderful to me.'

This marked a second triumph for Henderson, honored last year for her costumes for DMTC's 'Camelot.' The 13-time nominee is proud of her win.

'It was a lot of hard work,' she said. 'It was glitzy and totally different from anything I've ever done. It was stressful at times, but I don't do this for the awards. I get to meet so many nice people, and we had a great cast for this show.'

DMTC founder Steve Isaacson, himself a nominee for his lighting design for 'The Secret Garden' - which he feels was one of DMTC's better shows - was happy with the acknowledgment for his company.

'To be recognized by our peers is very special,' he said. 'Winning an award is just the icing on the cake.'

Director Jason Hammond took home an Elly for his set design for the Woodland Opera House production of 'Sarah, Plain and Tall,' a young people's production that garnered nine nominations and also a costume design award for Angela Shellhammer and Lauren Austin.

'I like doing things that aren't done a lot,' said Hammond, who had fun creating a show that was new to him. 'I like doing things I haven't seen before, so I can take an artistic stab at it. Sometimes there's a lot of recycling in community theater.'

Although pleased about his win, he admitted, 'You don't want to base your whole production on winning an award. I always let the cast know that nominations and awards are just based on someone's opinion ... but it's very nice to win, too!

'This was a fun show, and everyone in the cast made the story so natural, that people believed it.'