Dan Smith
Amanda Mansfield (right) and her husband Mike Mansfield
Amanda Mansfield, often considered Roanoke's best actor, received the Perry F. Kendig Award for Individual Artist Wednesday at Hollins University. The award, the Roanoke Valley's most prestigious award for the arts, is named in honor of the former Roanoke College president and a long-time patron of the arts. It is co-sponsored by Roanoke College and Hollins.
Mansfield was one of four people or organizations honored at the ceremony, which drew a large crowd to the Windom Robertson Library. During the past 12 years, which many think of Roanoke's Renaissance in live theater, she has performed for most of the production companies in the Roanoke area in plays that are often challenging. She has also led fund raising and program development for the Roanoke Children's Theatre, Mill Mountain Theatre and Center in the Square.
She and her husband, Michael, an actor and director, and daughter Gwenyth, an actor, are often called “the first family of Roanoke Theatre.”
Dan Smith
Amanda and Michael Mansfield rehearsing for Off the Rails production of “Arcadia.”
Other awards went to the Jefferson Center, celebrating its 25th year of operation; Maury Strauss, a long-time supporter of the arts. According to the award citation, the Jefferson Center's “mission is to provide access to inspirational performing arts, transformative arts education, and a vibrant community space.”
Strauss's late wife, Sheila, is a former winner of the award supporting the arts. Together, they formed the Sheila and Maury Strauss Art Venture Endowment.
Other nominees includes Nancy Agee, CEO and President of Carilion; Artemis, Artists and Writers Inc.; Rita Bishop, Roanoke City School Superintendent; Dotsy Clifton, a board member of a number of arts organizations for years; Doug Jackson, a writer and arts supporter; Cynthia and Mark Lawrence, who helped revive Mill Mountain Theatre and are also involved in the Roanoke Symphony and the Taubman Museum of Art; and Margaret Sue Turner Wright, a Roanoke artist, who is involved in charities and arts organizations.
Dan Smith
Two presidents: Current Hollins president Pareena Lawrence (left) and former president Nancy Gray at the Kendig Awards ceremony.
Dan Smith is an award-winning Roanoke-based writer/author/photographer and a member of the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame (Class of 2010). His blog, fromtheeditr.com, is widely read and he has authored seven books, including the novel CLOG! He is founding editor of a Roanoke-based business magazine and a former Virginia Small Business Journalist of the Year (2005).