The 2011-2012 school year was theatre teacher Joey Plaia's second full year of teaching at John Carroll Catholic High School. After a successful season of shows, including The Crucible by Arthur Miller in the fall and the musical Back to the '80s in the spring, one of Plaia's best technical students, Jenn Nichols, approached him with the idea for an end-of-the-year awards ceremony. She jokingly said, "We should call them The Plaiers!" Plaia added, "How about we call them The Golden Plaier Awards! We will buy some cheap Dollar Store needle nose pliers, spray paint them gold, tack them to a wooden plaque, and give out a bunch of them!"

And thus, the Golden Plaier Awards were born.

Every year since then, Plaia and the stagecraft class hand-make each Golden Plaier Award. This past year, at the 10th Annual Golden Plaier Awards, Plaia handed out a total of thirty-three Golden Plaiers and two Golden Plank Awards for male and female freshmen of the year. Plaia and his thespian officers decide what awards to give out and who should be nominated. Each year they have added and taken away award titles. Plaia also admits that they have gotten better at constructing the awards. He has even enlisted the calligraphy skills of visual arts teacher Veronica Wheeler to help make the nameplates. Plaia added that it has become increasingly difficult to find pliers to use for the awards. Between Wheeler and Plaia, they had to go to eight different Dollar Stores to find enough for this year's awards. In ten years of doing this, Plaia has only had one person question him at the register about his buying so many pliers. One thing that hasn't changed, though, is that the cast and crew of each show gets to vote on the awards with Plaia deciding on a few and being the tiebreaker.

There are a few awards named specifically for people or for a specific reason. For instance, the Golden Plank Award is named after the Theatre Department's unofficial mascot named Plank. He is a plank of wood with a face drawn on it. He has been built into the set of every show for the past twelve years; his location hidden from the audience but known by the cast and crew. It is a fun tradition that Plaia started and continued, even during the pandemic when the sets were minimal. Plank also accompanies the thespians to the State Trumbauer Competition, and if John Carroll thespians place in an event, they get to take Plank on stage to receive their award.

Other awards include the MVP award for Most Valuable Plaier; the Wheeler Award for the best scenic artist, named after the current art teacher and Fine Arts Chair, Veronica Wheeler; and finally, an always emotional award for Plaia, the Werszner Award for techie of the year, named after Patrick Werszner, a class of 2014 graduate and one of Plaia's best tech students ever who died tragically in a mountain climbing accident in September 2015.

The 10th annual Golden Plaier Awards were given out on Friday, May 13. Congratulations to all that received a Plaier or a Plank:

Best Hair - Anthony Cucinotta

Best Soap Opera Moment - Anthony Cucinotta and Janie Spratley

MVP (Most Valuable Plaier) - Janie Spratley

Rookie of the Year - Jose Tallaj

The Werszner Techie Award - Will Ireland

The Unsung Hero Plaier - Daniel O'Neal

The Britishly Plaier - Kristen Cleary

Crew Member of the Year (female) - Angela Perez and Lily Watts

Crew Member of the Year (male) - Zach Truitt and Vince Truitt

Something Dancy Award - Lila Bakir

The One-Liner Plaier - Tell Alessio

Best Entrance - Lailah Burell

Best Exit - Galilea Szabo

Best Understudy in a Play - Chireyona Jennings

Best Understudy in a Musical - Lucy Thorstad

The Golden Plank Award - male (outstanding freshman) - Vince Truitt

The Golden Plank Award - female (outstanding freshman) - Eva Watts

The Comic Genius Award (male) - Anthony Cucinotta

The Comic Genius Award (female) - Janie Spratley

Best Actor in a Play - Ezra Bishop

Best Actor in a Musical - Tell Alessio

Best Actress in a Play - Lila Bakir

Best Actress in a Musical - Janie Spratley

Best Supporting Actress in a Play - Galilea Szabo

Best Supporting Actor in a Musical - Jose Tallaj

Best Supporting Actress in a Musical - Crys Doan and Amaya Malone

Best Costumer - Lailah Burell

Best Improvisation - Lucy Thorstad

Best Blooper - Tell Alessio

Best Death Scene - Ezra Bishop

The Wheeler Award (Best Scenic Painter) - Crys Doan