CalStage favorite Janet Motenko wins Elly Award for her role in ITALIAN OPERA.

Sunday night, Sacramento community theatre gathered for the 33rd annual Elly Awards–an opportunity sponsored by the Sacramento Area Regional Theatre Alliance (SARTA) to come together to encourage and celebrate the good work presented over the past year.

Actress Janet Motenko, who joined California Stage for two productions this year, earned the Elly award for Best Leading Female in A Musical for her “hilarious” (SN&R) turn as Zerbinetta in CalStage’s West Coast premiere of Italian Opera. Her performance was hailed as something “so wonderful it [had] to be seen to be believed” by Bev Sykes of the Davis Enterprise. She and the rest Calstage’s “dream cast” were summarily enjoyed by packed houses this spring.

Janet trained at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco as well as the Mountview Drama School in London, where she lived for seven years. She has appeared in shows at various Northern California theaters including Ovation Stage, Woodland Opera House, Sierra Repertory Theatre and California Stage. In 2014 She earned another Elly Award for her performance in Ovation Stage’s The Madwoman of Chaillot..

California Stage was fortunate this year to have almost every one of its Elly-eligible productions receive at least one nomination. We thank everyone who has worked this year to make our 24th Season such a wonderful creative journey.