IT was the children’s production Anancy Chaptaz Winner’s Circle which walked away with the most trophies at Monday’s staging of the Actor Boy Awards held at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston.

The production by the Independent Actors Movement (IAM) won a total of five trophies in the categories: Best Costume, Best Original Song, Best Choreography, Best Musical, and Best Children’s Theatre.

Speaking to the Jamaica Observer, Sabrena McDonald of IAM said the Actor Boy wins have served to boost the confidence of the company to go ahead and stage such productions.

“Ten years ago, when we formed IAM, it was a bid to create a space and an opportunity for such productions. There have been many trying times, lack of corporate support and just no support in general, but we have continued and these awards just serve to encourage us to continue,” said McDonald.

The fourth installment of the Anancy Chaptaz series — Monkey Business — is set to hit the stage on May 31.

Anancy Chaptaz turned out to be the night’s darling, trouncing the hugely popular Ladies of the Night which went in with the most nominations, a total of 11, but only walked away with one trophy, the prize for Best Production.

The night’s other big winner was If There’s A Will There’s A Wife, currently running at the Centrestage Theatre in St Andrew. This production won four Actor Boy statuettes — Best Actor in a Lead Role — Glen Campbell; Best Actress in a Supporting Role — Sakina Deer, Best Comedy and Best New Jamaican Play.

The drama Departure in the Dark from the University Players took home three awards. Brian Heap won the Best Director award; it was named Best Drama and lead actress Nadean Rawlins won for her performance.

Keiran King’s Taboo took two technical awards, Best Lighting Design and Best Set Design.

The plays taking home one trophy were To The Finish (Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Christopher McFarlane); In the Red and Brown Water (Best Tragedy); Jonkanoo Jamboree (Best Original Score) and Cinderella Chronicles (Best Special Effects).

Efforts were made to improve the standard of the awards show.

This year, the event was taken to the Jamaica Pegasus hotel and the general decor of the room was befitting of the occasion.

Although more work needs to be done to present a world-class event, there were some moments of note during the near three-hour-long event.

The video presentation looking at the influence of YouTube on local theatre; the take a ‘selfie’ moment and the injections of Pharrell Williams’ hit song Happy, all made for light moments.

This year the Actor Boy Awards committee chose to honour some of the stalwarts of the industry, who work behind the scenes.

Producer, director, set and costume designer Robin Baston; producer Karl Hart, set designer Patrick Russell and artist Kay Sullivan were the night’s awardees.