SFL Cappies Winners for High School Theater Announced

The South Florida Critics' Awards Program, or Cappies for short, celebrated its 20th anniversary at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, where the program was launched two decades ago.

"We were thrilled to celebrate our 20th Anniversary Season live back at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts," said Lori Sessions, South Florida Cappies founder and Program Director. "It was a wonderful evening full of celebration for our outstanding theatre artists and critics from Broward and Palm Beach counties. I'm so proud of their tenacity during the last few years. Through the 20 years, teachers have changed, critics have changed, schools have changed, nominees have changed - even awards and our logo changed, but there is one thing that hasn't changed. We all still share a passion for high school theatre and the Cappies role in bringing students together, fostering respect between schools, encouraging student leadership, and building theatre criticism, performance and technical skills."

Nominees from 19 participating schools in Broward and Palm Beach competed for the awards in 38 categories that honor outstanding achievement in high school theater recognizing performers, designers, technicians, publicists and critics. Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School took home the most awards with eight for its production of the musical Something Rotten. The Benjamin School produced the most honored play winning five for All My Sons. In addition, two special awards were presented to Melinda Berks and Susan Euler for their service to Cappies.

"The Cappies Gala is one of the most exciting nights in the Au-Rene Theater as students and their families, friends and teachers come together to celebrate the outstanding talent in our high school theater programs - on the stage, behind the scenes or as critics." said Kelley Shanley, President & CEO of the Broward Center. "This year's gathering was testament to the dedication and commitment of our high school theater community after the challenges they faced in bringing shows to the stage this past season; this milestone celebration was a reminder of the power of the arts to unite us."

Modeled after Broadway's Tony Awards, the gala featured songs and scenes from the top-nominated shows. Cappie Award winners are determined by votes from students through a weighted peer-review voting process. Nominations are made by student critics from participating schools who attend productions at rival schools and write reviews, which then are edited by theater educators and published on FloridaTheaterOnStage.com.

The Broward Center for the Performing Arts is located at 201 SW Fifth Ave. in Fort Lauderdale. For more information visit BrowardCenter.org, like us on Facebook at Facebook.com/BrowardCenter and Facebook.com/BrowardCenterEducation, follow us on Twitter and Instagram @BrowardCenter, subscribe to our channel at Youtube.com/user/BrowardCenter and join the conversation with #BrowardCenter.

The Broward Center 2021/2022 season is generously underwritten by the Broward Performing Arts Foundation. AutoNation, Bank of America, Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau, MasterCard and Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center are proud sponsors of the Broward Center. Programs are also sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture.

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