We independently select everything we recommend. Buying through us may earn us a commission, which supports our work.

The musical Cabaret and an inverted-gender version of The Taming of the Shrew were the big winners at the 22nd CAT Awards.

The CAT awards honor the work of Calgary’s community theatres. This year’s awards were held Saturday in MacEwan Hall with provincial NDP leader Naheed Nenshi as the guest host. This year’s awards recognized 52 productions from 21 different community theatre companies.

Cabaret from Front Row Centre Players and Taming of the Shrew from Full Circle Productions took home six CAT awards each.

Cabaret, which was named outstanding production of a musical, also received an award for outstanding performance by a musical ensemble,  Tanis Laatsch, who played Sally Bowles, received the CAT for her lead performance,  Danielle Desmarais for her choreography,  Kay Astop  for her direction, while Chelsea Wellman and Alexander L. Shawn won CATs for their musical direction of the play.

In addition to winning the CAT for outstanding production of a play, Full Circle’s gender-swapping version of Taming of the Shrew won CATs for Cayley Wreggit’s direction, Tawni Marie Evans’ costume designs, Rebecca Orion’s lighting designs, Ian Pond’s fight direction and a CAT for best work by an ensemble.

Anne Hodgson and Stephanie Bessala each received a CAT for outstanding lead performance in a play. Hodgson won for playing Abby Brewster in Workshop Theatre’s Arsenic and Old Lace, while Bessala won her CAT for playing Jo March in Morpheus Theatre’s Little Women.

Parker Knibb won the CAT for his lead performance as Freddy Benson in Front Row Centre Player’s Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, while Alex Hiatt and Matt McPhail each won CATs for their supporting performances in the same musical production.

The CATs for outstanding performance in a supporting role in a play went to Ben Gaudet as Luc in Full Circle’s Power Play, and to Nolan Peters as Laurie in Morpheus Theatre’s Little Women.

Erin Weir and Megan Baldrey received the CAT for their original script for Full Circle’s Power Play.

Janos Zeller was this year’s recipient of the Sandy Singer Award For Outstanding Contribution to Community Theatre. Zeller was recognized for his years of service as a producer. director, designer, mentor, actor and educator with several different theatre companies.

A full list of winners is available on awards@calgary-acts.com