The South Bend Civic Theatre's production of Lynn Nottage’s Intimate Apparel took second place at the 2009 National AACTFest in Tacoma, Washington. 

Outstanding Scenic Design

Dana Vagg

Outstanding Sound Design

Andre Pluess

Outstanding Costume Design

Jonnie Kilic

Lois Veen

Outstanding Performance by a Leading Actress

Cassandra Nwokah as Esther Mills

Outstanding Direction

Dana Vagg

Set in New York in 1905, Esther, a black seamstress, lives in a boarding house for women and sews intimate apparel for clients who range from wealthy white patrons to prostitutes. Her skills and discretion are much in demand, and she has managed to stuff a goodly sum of money into her quilt over the years. One by one, the other denizens of the boarding house marry and move away, but Esther remains, lonely and longing for a husband and a future. Her plan is to find the right man and use the money she's saved to open a beauty parlor where black women will be treated as royally as the white women she sews for. By way of a mutual acquaintance, she begins to receive beautiful letters from a lonesome Caribbean man named George who is working on the Panama Canal. Being illiterate, Esther has one of her patrons respond to the letters, and over time the correspondence becomes increasingly intimate until George persuades her that they should marry, sight unseen. When George arrives in New York, however, he turns out not to be the man his letters painted him to be, and he absconds with Esther's savings, frittering it away on whores and liquor. Deeply wounded by the betrayal, but somehow unbroken, Esther returns to the boarding house determined to use her gifted hands and her sewing machine to refashion her dreams and make them anew from the cloth of her life's experiences.

Backstage Excellence Award

Kettle Moraine Players

Excellence in Technical Design

Elkhart Civic Theatre

Once on this Island – Elkhart Civic Theatre

Outstanding Actor

Chris Knobloch as Dennis Sanders

Smoke on the Mountain

Excellence in Scenic Design

Dana Vagg

Intimate Apparel – South Bend Civic Theatre

Outstanding Actress

Cassandra Nwokah as Esther Mills

Intimate Apparel

Excellence in Ensemble Acting

Smoke on the Mountain

Master Arts Theatre

Supporting Actor

Steve Salisbury as Papa Ge

Once on this Island

Excellence in Choreography

Annie Jo Fischer

Alice in Wonderland – Highland Park Players

Supporting Actress

Tabitha Lee as Mayme

Intimate Apparel

Special Adjudicator Award for Minor Roles

Phyllis Krombeen as Miss Maude

Smoke on the Mountain

Excellence in Directing

Pris McDonald

Smoke on the Mountain

Master Arts Theatre

Special Adjudicator Award for Minor Roles

Pat Kennedy as Miss Myrtle

Smoke on the Mountain

Excellence in Costuming

Jonnie Kilic & Lois Veen

Intimate Apparel

South Bend Civic Theatre