Highlands Little Theatre

P.O. Box 691 Sebring Florida USA 33871 Tel: 863-382-2525

Tena Conyer - Activity On Stage and Behind the Scenes
By: Roy Riedy

Tena Conyer was the seventh recipient of the coveted Janelou Buck Significant Achievement Award which she received at the end of Highland Little Theatre's 18th Season, in October of 1992. At that time she had been involved, in one capacity or another, in forty-seven HLT productions. Since then she has added thirty-three more shows to her extensive list for a grand total of eighty productions, an unbroken record of participation in every theatrical event at HLT from June, 1983, when her name appeared in the program of Deathtrap as Stage Manager, to November, 1999, as a member of the Playbill Committee for The Wizard of Oz. Her involvement in the various plays balances almost equally between the stage and the kitchen. Forty-two of her efforts involve play production while thirty-eight pertained to duties in the gourmet division that ranged in scope from several spells as Head Waitress, to the co-chairman of Anthony's Lounge; to a stint as a purchasing agent.

Her unflagging work has earned her an dramatic sixteen Zenon Awards which makes her the fourth biggest winner of that significant prize in HLT history. Seven of them were earned for her work as Best Producer: Carousel (1988); The King and I (1989); My Fair Lady II (1990); Funny Girl (1992); Camelot II (1993); South Pacific II (1994); and Gypsy, (1994). Three Zenons were realized for her effort as Best Stage Manager: Arsenic and Old Lace (1986); Fiddler on the Roof II (1987); and Mister Roberts II (1989). She was awarded Best Director for two of the nine shows she either directed or co-directed: Little Shop of Horrors (1991); and Nunsense (1992), and both of these shows also won a Zenon Award for Best Play. Her final two Zenons were the Significant Achievement Award in 1992, when the award became known as The Janelou Buck Significant Achievement Award; and her latest, a Board Service Award that was presented in 1995 which acknowledged her banner work in the Gourmet Division and Anthony's Lounge. She received a Life Member Plaque in 1987.

Tena has also held ten offices in the administration of Highlands Little Theatre. She was Secretary of the organization for two terms from April 1984 to March 1986; President for another two terms from April 1986 to March 1988, and then again from April 1991 to March 1992, and she has sat on the Board of Directors for five different terms. It was during her first two terms as president that the new stage, as we know it today, rose from its foundations. That work began in February 1987 and was finished in time for the presentation of Carousel in 1988. Another significant and lasting practice was also begun in the earlier part of her presidency, the inauguration of the Zenon Awards in the autumn of 1986, an institution that has now become part and parcel of the HLT theatrical season.

Once again the selection committee that decides who shall be the recipient of the Janelou Buck Significant Achievement Award has made an unchallengeable choice, for very few members of our organization have been so openhanded and selfless with their time and talents as Tena. Those that have received this meaningful award know better than most of us how much work is involved to be considered and how indicative it is to win.

Thank you Tena for the countless hours of work that eventually brought you this well deserved award and for the sacrifices that you must have made in order to promote the good of the theater. You deserve every recognition that you have for you have earned every honor with hours of selfless service. You guided us though a transitional period of the organization's growth and it must be as satisfying for you to see the splendid results as it was to receive the recognition for having contributed so much and so often to that flowering. We remain in your debt for your very fine work and good guidance, but you need no proof, for our show continues to go on.