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Dateline: 27th October, 2011
Manchester's Theatre Awards Rescued In July it was announced that the Manchester Evening News Theatre Awards would no longer go ahead due to "the challenging economic climate". The awards had been the most important theatrical prize-giving outside London, a major fixture on the North West theatre calendar since 1981 and an important shop window for all that is best in local theatre. Now they are to be re-modelled and re-launched as the Manchester Theatre Awards, with the backing of, among others, producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh, city council chief executive Sir Howard Bernstein, business leaders and the Midland Hotel. With the enthusiastic backing of the Greater Manchester theatres, a nine-strong panel of some of the most experienced critics in the country has set up a new organisation to carry the awards into a new era. Lancashire & Cheshire Life magazines are on board as print partners, with magazine website Manchester Confidential supplying an established on-line presence and BBC Radio Manchester acting as broadcasting partner. There ia also a new website, manchestertheatreawards.com, set up by the crtics, which will give an insight into their deliberations, and arguments, throughout the judging process. Robert Robson, artistic director of The Lowry, said, "The awards have made a great contribution to promoting Manchester's dynamic and diverse theatre scene over the years. I was deeply saddened when it appeared that they were to disappear and then delighted to learn that they were likely to be saved. Manchester theatre deserves to be recognised and celebrated!" Cameron Mackintosh added, "These Awards are without doubt the most prestigious outside of London and I am very glad to have been a proud recipient in the past. I would like to take the opportunity of wishing the new organisers increased support and success for this major highlight of the Manchester calendar that is so essential to showcase the City's vibrant theatre scene." Theatre critic Alan Hulme, who founded the awards thirty years ago, said, "From 1981 until recently, the Manchester Evening News supported the awards with a generosity that clearly could not continue in today's financial climate. "It is sad that the MEN decided they had to part company with them but I am very pleased we have found a way forward, so the new Manchester Theatre Awards.com can take over where the old regime left off and showcase the very best of Greater Manchester's live theatre." The critics who are organising the awards, all former members of the MEN panel, are Carmel Thomason, Philip Radcliffe, Diana Stenson, Kevin Bourke, Robert Beale, Paul Genty, David Chadderton, David Upton and Alan Hulme.
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