The Mazen Award Goes To...

We've spoken several times of the Mazen Award, who inspired it, what it stands for, and why it is such an honor to be the recipient. The award's recipient typically embodies the spirit of adventuresome camaraderie that the festival engenders in its participants.

The winner of the 14/48 Mazen Award for Winter 2012 (First Weekend) is:

Kaleb Hagen Kerr

A talented and profuselively dedicated performer, who has worked as both an actor and musician over the years. His tenure at 14/48 is marked with distinctive character after distinctive character.

My personal favorite performance of his, of the many I have in some way been associated in, came while he was in the band (at CHAC, if I'm not mistaken). I was directing a Kelleen Conway Blanchard piece, with Chuck Leggett, Michelle Chiachiere and Jodi Paul Wooster. (A picture of this performance, featuring JPW brandishing a tambourine over his head, was used on the 14/48 poster for several iterations in the years following.)

The actors were kids who were used to the talent show circuit and its finale called for a tap dance routine. Kaleb was our music coordinator, and he came up with the idea of faking the tap dancing: the actor would go through the tap dancing motions, and he would mic his own shoes going tapping on some random piece of wood.

There's really no way to describe the effect of his idea; needless to say it accentuated the hilarity in a fashion that put it over the top for yours truly. This sort of intrinsic quality is what he brings to the table.

Congratulations, Mr. Kerr!