A local theatre group has received nominations in six categories at the upcoming 2019 CAT Awards.

The Dewdney Players Group Theatre received the nominations for their performance of Macbeth from this past spring. The CAT awards are presented by Calgary-ACTS, Calgary's Alliance of Community Theatres.

Katie Fournell was the director of the production. She says the cast worked extremely hard to earn the nominations.

"Everybody in the cast was challenged with something they hadn't done before, or challenged to go further than they ever had before," she said. "Most of our actors were regularly comedy actors, and all of them stepped up to the plate and fell into their roles nicely. I can not say enough how much they deserve those awards."

Actors Fiorentina Maione and Mark Huolt earned nominations for their performances as Lady Macbeth and Macbeth, while Ed Sands and Ben Seders shared a nomination for outstanding soundscape.

As a director who typically works in film, Fournell said there are distinct differences between directing in the two mediums.

"With film, there's a lot of making split-second decisions as you go along. Whereas with the theatre you can re-work stuff, you can try things a different way over several months, instead of the one hour you have allotted for that scene," she said.

Fournell earned two nominations herself for outstanding lighting and direction.

The Macbeth performance was the first time she had directed theatre at this scale, and she says she's pretty excited to be recognized for that achievement.

"Being recognized my first time out of the gate was really exciting for me, to get that feeling of encouragement from the society."

The CAT awards will be presented on August 24.

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