History of the Hosscars

Back in 1948 when the Barn Theatre opened, playing its first show literally in a barn, theater founder Peter Tewksbury and his troupe of fledgling actors decided to conclude the season with an awards ceremony patterned after Hollywood’s glamorous Academy Awards program. Displaying some level of humility, however, the members of the theater group elected to call their awards “Hosscars,” in recognition of the bucolic setting in which they performed.

Originally the trophies were actually graced with porcelain statuettes of horses.

These were eventually replaced because their fragile legs broke too easily, and after experimenting with several styles, the gro

up settled on using statuettes of comic-character donkeys sitting on their haunches.

Over the years, the little donkeys became a treasured and much sought after symbol of peer recognition within the local community theater circle. In 2005, the award was changed to a plaque with an image of the donkey.

The plaque was re-designed in 2017 with a more colorful background.