ROGER REES AWARDS Honoring NY High School Theater Set for May 19, Application Deadline Feb. 4
By: Julie Musbach Jan. 24, 2019
The Broadway Education Alliance announces that applications to participate in The 2019 Roger Rees Awards for Excellence in Student Performance are being accepted until Monday, February 4, 2019 at www.rogerreesawards.com. To be eligible for their students to compete for the Best Actor and Best Actress award, high schools must be located in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island, Long Island, Orange and Rockland Counties, and Westchester and present an officially licensed production of a Broadway musical during the 2018-2019 academic year.
The 2019 awards ceremony will be held at the Professional Performing Arts School (PPAS) on Sunday, May 19. Located in the heart of Manhattan's theater district at 328 West 48th Street, PPAS is headed by Principle Keith Ryan. Given our location in the heart of the Broadway district and our close relationships with the New York City performing arts community, we are delighted to host the Roger Rees Awards, an important and exciting event for young performers and our school programs, said Ryan. This year, PPAS is presenting Caroline or Change, under the direction of Jeff Statile, Artistic Director of PPAS Musical Theater at RTKids.
Students who perform qualifying roles in their high school musical produced by participating schools will be adjudicated by teams of professional performers and/or educators who attend each high school production. The top 50 students (25 men and 25 women) who receive the highest scores overall will be chosen to participate in a 2-day long performance training and talent showcase to compete for the title of Best Actor and Best Actress in the Greater New York region. Winners of the Roger Rees Award will represent Greater New York at The Broadway League Foundation's Jimmy Awards (also known as the National High School Musical Theatre Awards) in June at the Minskoff Theatre.
The 2018 Roger Rees Award-winning Best Actress is Alyssa McDonald (graduate of Nyack High School) and the Best Actor is Andrew Barth Feldman, (junior at Lawrence Woodmere Academy) who also won the Jimmy Award for Best Actor. He will be making his Broadway debut as Evan Hansen in Dear Evan Hansen on January 30, 2019.
Roger Rees" height="32" src="cid:16881271087afa3b83" width="165" />The Roger Rees Awards recognize the importance of theatre arts education and celebrates the exceptional life and career-long artistic excellence of Broadway's beloved actor/director, Roger Rees. Rees received the Olivier and Tony Awards for his performance in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, and Tony nominations for Indiscretions and as co-director of Peter and the Starcatcher. Throughout his life, he was a committed educator and generous mentor to young artists. From his earliest days as a young actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company when he traveled to schools in the Cotswolds of England, to the master-craftsman courses at Columbia University (adjunct professor), Williams College (Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts, 2006) and Florida State University (Hoffman Chair); from community outreach he began as Artistic Director of the Bristol Old Vic to the Leap-Frog internships he pioneered as Artistic Director of Williamstown Theater Festival, Roger spent countless hours in rehearsals and classrooms coaching aspiring writers, actors and directors on character development, craft, collaboration and the vast cannon of theatrical works to be explored.
The Roger Rees Awards for Excellence in Student Performance is presented by Disney Theatricals, produced and general managed by Camp Broadway LLC; with funding by many industry leaders working in/around Broadway. The Broadway Education Alliance is the fiscal sponsor of the Greater New York Student Theatre Awards. The Broadway Education Alliance, a New York-based 501c3, serves as the fiscal sponsor for this and other educational programs. For more information about the awards, visit www.rogerreesawards.com.
ABOUT PROFESSIONAL PERFORMING ARTS SCHOOL (PPAS):
Located in the heart of Manhattan's theater district, this small, personalized school partners with top-rated New York City Arts organizations to provide professional-level training in the performing arts and a competitive academic program. Recognized for our unique arts instruction, we attract master performers and industry players that help guide our students toward the most competitive colleges and conservatories. Our special relationships with local organizations provide access to some of the most modern training facilities in New York City. Our unique combination of arts and academics provides an engaging school environment that recognizes that students excel in all areas when provided with programs that recognize their passions.
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