Theater award nominees announced

ISTANBUL

The nominees for the 20th Yapı Kredi Afife Theater Awards, which are organized in honor of Turkey’s first actress, Afife Jale, were announced for the 2015-2016 season on April 4 in Istanbul.

Among this year’s nominees in the most successful production of the year category are “An – Blink,” “Antabus,” “Kim Var Orada?” (Who is There), “Onikinci Gece” (Twelfth Night) and “Yanlışlıklar Komedyası” (The Comedy of Errors). 

Erdal Beşikçioğlu, Theater Boğaziçi, Serdar Biliş, Tim Supple and İlham Yazar were selected as nominees in the most successful director of the year category. 

The most successful actor and actress nominees includes the actors Emre Kınay, Levent Öktem, İbrahim Selim, Erkan Uyanıksoy and Cüneyt Yalaz, and actresses Sezin Akbaşoğulları, Özlem Zeynep Dinsel, Ebru Aytürk, Pınar Çağlar Gençtürk and Nihal Yalçın. 

The head of the 30-person award jury, Professor Merih Tangün, expressed his pleasure with the increase in the number of theater plays.

Tangün said the awards, which help keep alive Jale’s name, had made great contributions to the future of theater and that they had experienced difficulties in choosing between several deserving candidates.

Yapı Kredi art consultant Haldun Dormen said he was leading such an event out of his respect for Jale. 

2016 is also the first year in which the Haldun Dormen Special Award is being presented to a play in comedy or musical category, with “Yoldan Çıkan Oyun” (The Play That Goes Wrong) receiving the maiden award during the ceremony.

Seray Şahiner also received the Cevat Fehmi Başkut Special Award as Professor Cevat Çapan received the Yapı Kredi Special Award during the ceremony.

The Afife Jale winners in 11 categories will be announced at a ceremony at the Haliç Congress Center on April 25.