The 14th edition of the Georgia High School Musical Theatre Awards was presented late last week at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre. The awards are also known as the Shuler Awards, for stage-screen-TV actor Shuler Hensley who has lent his name, energy and star power to the awards from their beginning.
Lambert High School in Suwanee earned the most awards, taking home five top honors for its production of The SpongeBob Musical, while East Point’s Tri-Cities High School earned three awards for Fela!
Fashioned after Broadway’s Tony Awards by presenter ArtsBridge Foundation, this year’s Shuler Award nominees were drawn from 26 public and private schools from 13 counties across Georgia.
Here’s a list of Thursday night’s winners:
- Overall Production: Lambert High School, Suwanee, for The SpongeBob Musical
- Direction: Jade Lambert-Smith, Tri-Cities High School, East Point, for Fela!
- Music Direction: Lenae Rose, Morgan County High School, Madison, for Les Misérables
- Orchestra: Scott Willis, Heritage High School, Ringgold, for Matilda
- Best Performance by a Leading Actress: Georgia Thomas, Greater Atlanta Christian School, Norcross, for Anastasia
- Best Performance by a Leading Actor: Nicholas Alexander Wilkinson II, Tri-Cities High School, East Point, for Fela!
- Best Performance by a Supporting Performer: Lorelei Calder, Decatur High School, Decatur, for Matilda; and Shyla Rosario, Hiram High School, Hiram, for Bring It On
- Best Performance by a Featured Performer: Noah Caplan, Lakeview Academy, Gainesville, for Something Rotten!
- Choreography: Jade Lambert-Smith/Briana Bunkley, Tri-Cities High School, East Point, for Fela!
- Ensemble: Lambert High School, Suwanee, for The SpongeBob Musical
- Costumes: Julianne Lopez, Lambert High School, Suwanee, for The SpongeBob Musical
- Lighting Design: Thomas Schnitzer, Lambert High School, Suwanee, for The SpongeBob Musical
- Scenic Design: Sim Jones, Milton High School, Milton, for Anastasia
- Sound: Brennan Ciccarelli/Sarah Rakoski, St. Pius X Catholic High School, Chamblee, The Addams Family
- Technical Execution: Megan Hunter/Carly Ann Lovell/Thomas Schnitzer, Lambert High School, Suwanee, for The SpongeBob Musical
- Showstopper: Milton High School, Milton, for “Paris Holds the Key to Your Heart” from Anastasia
- Show-Must-Go-On Spotlight Award: Greater Atlanta Christian School, Norcross, for “Stay, I Pray You” from Anastasia
One of the changes in this year’s program was the introduction of a non-gendered award category. The supporting actress and supporting actor fields were merged into a category designated as supporting performer. The Shuler Awards is among the first awards program of its kind in the country to implement this policy.
To watch GPB’s complete awards broadcast, click HERE.
Leading actress Thomas and actor Wilkinson will represent Georgia in the National High School Musical Theatre Awards program, named The Jimmy Awards, and participate in this year’s awards show at the Minskoff Theatre in New York on June 27.
Kenny Leon to keynote Woodruff Educators Conference
Kenny Leon, who will direct the world premiere musical Trading Places at the Alliance Theatre starting May 25, also will be one of the keynotes for the Woodruff Arts Center’s ninth annual Educator Conference, scheduled to take place in-person and virtually June 2-3.
Presented by Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Alliance Theatre, and High Museum of Art, the conference is designed to enhance the teaching practices of educators at all grade levels (pre-kindergarten to grade 12) and all content areas by blending theory and practice. Conference topics — including Allyship, Arts Integration, Performing Arts Instruction (Dance/Movement, Dramatic Writing, Music, Theater), STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics), and Visual Art — expose participants to consider innovative approaches to teaching and learning.
Tony Award-winner Leon, a former Alliance Theatre artistic director and co-founder of Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre Company, will serve as keynote speakers on June 3. The second keynote speaker will be announced later. The Woodruff Arts Center Educator Conference: Rejuvenate, Recenter, Reimagine offers up to 5.5 hours of professional learning each day.
More information and to register: HERE.
