The Green Room Awards are peer

Peer group

A peer group is a social group consisting of humans. Peer groups are an informal primary group of people who share a similar or equal status and who are usually of roughly the same age, tended to travel around and interact within the social aggregate Members of a particular peer group often have...

 awards which recognise excellence in cabaret

Cabaret

Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...

, dance

Dance

Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....

, drama

Drama

Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...

, fringe theatre

Fringe theatre

Fringe theatre is theatre that is not of the mainstream. The term comes from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which name comes from Robert Kemp, who described the unofficial companies performing at the same time as the second Edinburgh International Festival as a ‘fringe’, writing: ‘Round the fringe...

, musical theatre

Musical theatre

Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...

 and opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

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The awards were started in 1982 when Blair Edgar and Steven Tandy

Steven Tandy

Steven Tandy is an Australian stage, television and film actor, best known for playing Tom Sullivan, the second eldest son in the classic Australian television series The Sullivans.-Biography:...

 formed the Green Room Awards Association. The inaugural awards ceremony was held in 1984 at the Melbourne Concert Hall

The Arts Centre (Melbourne)

The Victorian Arts Centre is a performing arts centre consisting of a complex of theatres and concert halls in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, located in the inner Melbourne suburb of Southbank in Victoria, Australia....

. The association today is composed of members of Melbourne's performing arts

Performing arts

The performing arts are those forms art which differ from the plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist's own body, face, and presence as a medium, and the latter uses materials such as clay, metal or paint which can be molded or transformed to create some physical art object...

 community, including journalist

Journalist

A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

s, performers

Performing arts

The performing arts are those forms art which differ from the plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist's own body, face, and presence as a medium, and the latter uses materials such as clay, metal or paint which can be molded or transformed to create some physical art object...

, writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

s, directors

Theatre direction

A theatre director or stage director is a practitioner in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production by unifying various endeavours and aspects of production...

, choreographers

Choreography

Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements in which motion, form, or both are specified. Choreography may also refer to the design itself, which is sometimes expressed by means of dance notation. The word choreography literally means "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" ...

, academics, theatre technicians and administrators.

The current patrons

Patronage

Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows to another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings or popes have provided to musicians, painters, and sculptors...

 of the association are Rachel Griffiths

Rachel Griffiths

Rachel Anne Griffiths is an Australian film and television actress who came to prominence in the 1994 film Muriel's Wedding and her Academy Award nominated performance in the 1997 film Hilary and Jackie....

 and David Atkins

David Atkins

David Atkins, OAM was recognised in the 2003 Queen’s Birthday Honours with a Medal of the Order of Australia for services to the entertainment industry and is Australia’s most awarded producer, choreographer and director, and CEO of David Atkins Enterprises, a major-events production...

. Previous winners include Dale Ferguson

Dale Ferguson (designer)

Dale Ferguson is an Australian theatrical scenic and costume designer who was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Costume Design, the Tony Award for Best Scenic Design, and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design for the 2009 Broadway revival of Exit the King.Ferguson graduated from the...

, David Hersey

David Hersey

David Hersey is a lighting designer who has designed the lighting for over 250 plays, musicals, operas, and ballets. His work has been seen in most corners of the globe and his many awards include the Tony Award for Best Lighting Design for Evita, Cats, and Les Misérables, the Drama Desk Award for...

, Stephen Baynes

Stephen Baynes

Stephen Baynes has been Resident Choreographer with The Australian Ballet since 1995. He trained with Joanne Priest and graduated from The Australian Ballet School in 1975...

, Eddie Perfect

Eddie Perfect

Eddie Perfect is an Australian actor, comedian and musician who currently plays Mick Holland in Channel Ten's Offspring series. He won the 2009 Helpmann Award for Best New Australian Work, the Victorian Premier's Literacy Award and the Green Room Award for his musical, Shane Warne The...

, Laurie Cadevida

Laurie Cadevida

Laurie Cadevida is a musical theatre performer. She was born and raised in Los Angeles, CaliforniaShe appeared on Ed McMahon's short-lived PAX Network talent competition Next Big Star. She is best known for her performances as "Kim" in Miss Saigon....

, Stephen Daldry

Stephen Daldry

Stephen David Daldry, CBE is an English theatre and film director and producer, as well as a three-time Academy Award nominated and Tony Award winning director.-Early years:...

, Genevieve Lemon

Genevieve Lemon

Genevieve Lemon is an Australian actress who has appeared in a number of soap operas – as Zelda Baker in The Young Doctors, Marlene "Rabbit" Warren in Prisoner and Brenda Riley in Neighbours...

, Michael Dameski, and Julian Gavin

Julian Gavin

Julian Gavin is an Australian-born operatic tenor who has sung leading roles both in the United Kingdom and internationally. His full-length opera recordings include Don José in Carmen and the title roles in Ernani and Don Carlos for Chandos Records.-Biography:Julian Gavin was born in Melbourne to...

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