23rd Annual Kenny Awards to be Held in May at Shea's Performing Arts Center

Shea's Performing Arts Center and The Lipke Foundation present the 23rd Annual Kenny Awards ceremony, an endeavor that recognizes the talent, dedication, and efforts of our area high school youth.

The 23rd Annual Kenny Awards ceremony will be held at Shea's on Saturday, May 14, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. Tickets are $8.00 presale and $10.00 at the door, and may be purchased online at www.ticketmaster.com, by phone at 1-800-745-3000, or in person at Shea's Box Office, 650 Main Street starting April 30 at 10:00 a.m.

Since the inception of the program, over 130 outstanding musical productions in local high schools have been recognized and honored by the Kenny Awards. Now in its 23rd year, the Kenny Awards will again recognize local high school talent for excellence in producing and performing musicals with host Lauren Hall from WIVB.

Applications for this year's Kenny Awards program were accepted in October and reviewed by the panel of Kenny adjudicators. From the applicant pool, 10 schools were selected to participate as finalists in this year's ceremony. The finalists for the 2016 Kenny Awards are:

Barker High School - Oklahoma

Cardinal O'Hara High School - Anything Goes

City Honors School - Gypsy

Clarence High School - Young Frankenstein

Forestville Central School - Into the Woods

Fredonia High School - Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida

Frontier High School - The Addams Family

St. Francis High School - Jesus Christ Superstar

Williamsville East High School - The Wiz

Wilson Central School - Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

After viewing the productions of all finalists, the Kenny adjudicators will award the top schools and students for their efforts, including "The Kenny" for Outstanding Musical Production in which the winning school receives a $5,000 grant from the Lipke Foundation to be used solely by the school's theatre department. Other awards include individual performances in leading and supporting roles, as well as areas of technical production, orchestration, choreography, set design, and dance performance. A complete list of nominees can be found online at KennyAwards.weebly.com.

This year, Shea's is one of 30+ theatres and organizations nationwide participating in the National High School Musical Awards Program, aka The Jimmy Awards, which will allow the selected Outstanding Leading Actress and Actor of the Kenny Awards to win an all-expenses-paid, week-long trip to New York City to compete in the National High School Musical Theatre Awards in June, 2016.

This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity will include rehearsals with Broadway actors and musicians, performances, and other beneficial experiences. Participants in "The Jimmy Awards" will compete for various college scholarships.

To post a comment, you must register and login.