Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story Wins 2018 Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia Masterworks Arts Award

Halifax, Nova Scotia – Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story, a music and theatre production created by director Christian Barry, musician Ben Caplan, and playwright Hannah Moscovtich, has won the 2018 Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia Masterworks Arts Award. The Award, which carries a cash value of $25,000, was presented at the Creative Nova Scotia Gala in Halifax on November 10th, 2018.

Old Stock was deemed “mesmerizing in all aspects” and the “best production yet by 2b theatre” by the members of the 2018 Masterworks Peer Assessment Committee. Barry and Moscovitch were also the Creators of What a Young Wife Ought to Know, a Masterworks Finalist in 2016.

Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story had its world premiere by 2b theatre company at The Waiting Room in Halifax in May 2017. It then went on to Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it won a Herald Angel Award and a Sctosman Fringe First award. In 2018, the production won seven Theatre Nova Scotia Robert Merritt Awards, and its off-Broadway run garnered six Drama Desk Award nominations. It was nominated by 2b theatre company Producer, Karen Gross – a self-nomination which was a new option introduced by the Masterworks Foundation this year.

The Winner was selected by an independent, multidisciplinary Peer Assessment Committee of artists: playwright Catherine Banks, visual artist Sara Hartland-Rowe, musician and composer Asif Illyas, visual and performance artist Ursula Johnson, poet El Jones, and filmmaker Scott Simpson.

The jury identified five works as Finalists for the 2018 Award. In addition to Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story, they selected And I Alone Escaped To Tell You by poet Sylvia D. Hamilton;  Black Cop by filmmaker Cory Bowles; Crazy Girl Crazy by soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan; and  In the Wide Awe & Wisdom – Choral Works by Paul Halley by composer, organist, and conductor Paul Halley. The Creator(s) of each Finalist Work receive $3,000.

Established by the Honourable Myra Freeman in 2005, the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia Masterworks Arts Award recognizes the excellence of a particular work of art or design from any media. These works have made a significant impact through their public presentation and have contributed to the historical development and contemporary practice of the art form. In this, its 13th year, the Award remains the largest annual award to any work of art in Nova Scotia.

The Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia Masterworks Arts Award has an annual nominations deadline of March 1. The deadline for the 2019 Award is March 1st, 2019. The 2019 Nomination Form will be made available on December 1st, 2018.

The Award is generously sponsored by Arts Nova Scotia, The Craig Foundation, and individual donors.

For further information including print-quality photos contact:

Erin Taylor
Strategic Arts Management
902-407-8885

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