RACINE – Over Our Head Players concluded the 2021 Snowdance® 10 Minute Comedy Festival on Sunday afternoon by presenting the audience’s favorite Best in Snow prizes on Facebook Live.
The Best in Snow winning entry ($500 cash prize) went to playwright John Busser of Avon, Ohio. His short comedy, “Annnd Scene (Of The Crime)”, featured police officers interrogating a murder suspect using comedy improv methods to reenact the crime.
Second place ($200) went to James McLindon of Northampton, Mass., for “Family Justice” about a family’s unique way of solving disputes.
The third place ($100) prize went to Emily McClain of Lawrenceville, Ga., for “Tooth Or Dare” about the tooth fairy responding to a negative online review.
OOHP worked around the COVID-19 pandemic for this year’s Snowdance festival by recording and streaming the plays online for a five-week run. After each Snowdance view, the audience voted for their favorite plays, just as audiences have done for 16 years. The audience votes were collected throughout the run and tallied after the closing of Snowdance to determine this year’s winners.
“Despite the difficulties brought on by the pandemic we are very proud to have continued the Snowdance tradition for a 17th year,” Rich Smith, OOHP managing artistic director said in a news release. “This year, we were overwhelmed with 547 entries from around the world. That huge response generated great quality scripts for production.
“Presenting Snowdancee virtually forced us to focus on small individual casts rather than our usual ensemble approach,” Smith added. “This enabled OOHP to reach some very talented friends and performers who have been with us over the years and allowed us to get them all involved at the same time, and allowed us to do it in a very safe manner with very little interaction.”
’Snowdance’ ensemble and crew
“Snowdance 2021” was produced by an ensemble. The cast includes John Adams, Kristin Althoff, Michael Becker, Diane Carlson, Doug Despin, Rick Ditter, Cody Ernest, Melissa Hughes Ernest, Patti Fitchett, Kevin Hlavka, Brianna Hubbard, A.J. Laird , Scott Lema & Puppets of Oddly Incorporated, Len Maki, Suzanne Maki, Anne Mollerskov, Tina Paukstelis, Michael Retzlaff, Joan Roehre, Ron Schulz, Wendy Schulz, Brandy Smith, Rich Smith, Shelly Tyree, Leslie Utech, Melissa Zeien, and Dave Zuniga.
Kristin Althoff, Diane Carlson, Michael Retzlaff, Brandy Smith and Rich Smith direct with Rich Smith also serving as artistic and production manager. Diane Carlson serves as stage manager, with Emily Sweetman as assistant stage manager.
Video production by Gary Alvarado and A.V.A. Media Services, L.L.C. and Preston Hill with video sound design by Skip Carlson. The staff includes Anna Clementi and Paula Ann Czechowicz.
Special thanks to Minuteman Press, Waterford Design Technologies, Jack Ernest, Zoey Ernest, Georgia Harrell, and Al Sikora. Music was provided by The Biscaynies, Rainy Day Crush, The Sandcarvers, and Whisper Stream. The “2021 SnowdanceⓇ 10 Minute Comedy Festival” was made possible in part by a grant from S.C. Johnson.