Article Text
Two Fairfax County community-theater companies earned a combined 34 nominations in the annual Washington Area Theatre Community Honors Awards, with Reston Community Players tying for the most nominations of any eligible troupe.
Reston Community Players received 25 nominations, matching Prince William Little Theatre’s total. Providence Players of Fairfax secured nine nominations.
The nominees were announced Jan. 18. Winners will be honored Sunday, March 22, at The Birchmere in Alexandria.
The WATCH Awards recognize achievements in community-theater productions staged across the Washington region during the previous calendar year. Experts adjudicate productions from 28 eligible companies, with their scores determining the nominees and winners.
The panel evaluated 94 productions from 2025—57 plays and 37 musicals—across 36 award categories.
Reston Community Players’ production of Mel Brooks’ “The Producers” is nominated for Outstanding Musical. Its competitors are “Hairspray” by Prince William Little Theatre, “Kinky Boots” by Silhouette Stages, and two Rockville Musical Theatre productions: “Urinetown” and “A Year with Frog and Toad.”
Providence Players’ staging of Agatha Christie’s “The Mousetrap” earned an Outstanding Play nomination. The other contenders are Silhouette Stages’ “The Crucible,” Port Tobacco Players’ “Othello,” Silver Spring Stage’s “The Playboy of the Western World” and Prince William Little Theatre’s “It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play.”
Two productions of “The Play That Goes Wrong”—one by The Little Theatre of Alexandria and another by The Arlington Players—also made the Outstanding Play field.
Michael Barret Jones, president of Reston Community Players’ board of directors, said the awards help spotlight thousands of cast and crew members whose unpaid work can still meet professional standards.
“Community theater doesn’t always get the spotlight—or the respect—it deserves, and that’s why the WATCH Awards matter,” Jones said. “They remind people that some truly excellent theater is being made by people who aren’t getting paid, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t professional.”
Reston Community Players has accumulated more than 450 WATCH nominations over the program’s history. Jones said that record reflects a deep talent pool that includes early-career professionals, former industry artists and performers who pursued families, stability or other careers.
“If we’re being nominated that often, it’s a pretty good sign we’re doing something worth our audience’s entertainment dollars,” he said.
Professional theaters in the Washington region are recognized separately through the Helen Hayes Awards, sponsored by TheatreWashington. The organization was founded in the 1980s as the Washington Theatre Arts Society.