Andrew Barth Feldman to Co-Host The Roger Rees Awards for Excellence in Student Performance on June 1

The Broadway Education Alliance has announced the 10th annual presentation of The Roger Rees Awards for Excellence in Student Performance, a celebration of high school musical programs, will be held on Monday, June 1 at 7:30 pm on BEA's YouTube channel. This online talent showcase is produced by Cody Williams, from the Emmy Award-winning show On Stage, and hosted by NY1's Emmy Award-winning reporter Frank DiLella, and 2018 Roger Rees and Jimmy Award-winning Best Actor Andrew Barth Feldman. For more information about the program, visit www.rogerreesawards.com.

The event features New York area high school students in multiple musical numbers, including an opening anthem "As Long as There Is Love" from the highly anticipated production of Mrs. Doubtfire, and a closing finale to be announced. Roger Rees Award finalists will also be showcased.

To mark the 10th anniversary of this educational program, there will be a special performance of ALL 18 previous Roger Rees Award-winners (formerly called the Gershwin Awards) - including three National High School Musical Theatre Award® (aka Jimmy Awards®) winners, Ekele Ukegbu (2019 Best Actress), Andrew Barth Feldman (2018 Best Actor) and Marla Louissaint (2015 Best Actress).

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, BEA's management team at Camp Broadway LLC worked collaboratively with participating school administrators to adapt the adjudication process for selecting the student nominees for Best Actor and Best Actress. Schools that had planned to produce an officially licensed production of a Broadway musical during the 2019-2020 academic year nominated two performers to represent their musical. Through a video audition process, professional Broadway coaches and music directors selected the top fifty (50) students (25 men and 25 women) to move forward in the competition.

A panel of Broadway professionals including Bonita Hamilton (star of Disney's The Lion King), Hal Luftig (Tony Award®-winning producer), Rob McClure (star of Mrs. Doubtfire), Patricia Hoag Simon (Marymount Manhattan College), and Merri Sugarman (Tara Rubin Casting) will announce the Best Actor and Best Actress high school performer in the Greater New York region during the show.

Broadway On Demand, the new global theatrical streaming platform, will present the Roger Rees Awards Live pre-show hosted by Ruthie Fierberg also on Monday, June 1 at 7:00 pm.

The Roger Rees Awards recognize the importance of theatre arts education and celebrate the exceptional life and career-long artistic excellence of Broadway's beloved actor/director, Roger Rees. Playwright Rick Elice, Rees' partner of over 30 years, and author of "Finding Roger," said, "Rog would have liked this chance to educate and inspire young actors, to offer a guiding hand as so many were offered to him when he too was a kid with a dream."