11th Annual 5th Avenue Award Nominations Announced

The 5th Avenue Theatre has announced the nominees for its eleventh annual 5th Avenue Awards Honoring High School Musical Theater. A version of the Tony Awards for high school theater programs, The 5th Avenue Awards allow musical theater students from across Washington state to meet, celebrate, and honor the exceptional musical Theater Productions presented during the 2012/13 school year. These awards are designed to shine the spotlight on high school musical theater programs, offering performing arts students the kind of support and recognition that accomplished high school athletes have received for decades. The 5th Avenue Awards will be held at 7:00 PM, Tuesday, June 11, at The 5th Avenue Theatre.

"The power of the arts is profound and has a lasting impact on young participants," said 5th Avenue Producing Director Bill Berry. "Whether they go on to careers as doctors and lawyers, or actors and dancers, these students carry their experiences on the stage with them their whole lives. We at The 5th are proud to honor and celebrate these experiences." The program, which Berry created in 2003, has grown in size and scope from 24 productions and 3,100 students to 105 productions at 88 schools, with more than 10,000 students participating this year. For the 2012/13 high school theater season, 184 nominations and 127 honorable mentions were given in various categories. An estimated 2,100 high school students are expected to attend, with nominated students and schools performing excerpts from their shows. These talented students will truly get a taste of what it's like to perform in front of a packed house.

Each year, schools from across Washington state submit their musicals for consideration by The 5th Avenue Awards Committee. A variety of local theater professionals are selected by The 5th as evaluators to travel to cities as far away as Spokane, Lynden, Sequim and Vancouver, seeking the best actors, actresses, directors and designers to represent their schools in this hotly anticipated annual event. The evaluators gather at the end of the season and make nominations in 21 categories, from "Lobby Display" to "Overall Musical Production."

Since the program's creation, evaluators visit schools of all types across Washington State, from large schools in urban districts to those in smaller rural communities. The mission is always the same: to honor the work, talent and commitment that students, parents and faculty devote to their school's yearly musical productions. Over the years, many schools have reported back to The 5th Avenue that their involvement in this awards program has significantly helped their individual efforts to secure funding, improve curriculum, and increase student participation.

Many 5th Avenue Award participants have gone on to have fruitful careers both on stage and behind the scenes. Numerous past participants of the 5th Avenue Awards have notable careers as actors, directors, designers and theater administrators. Several participants have had careers outside of Seattle and have enjoyed national acclaim. Stefano Langone was a recent Top 10 contestant on the hit television show American Idol; Ryah Nixon appeared in the national tour of 9 to 5: The Musical; and Brandon Ivie has a blossoming Broadway career. Additional past participants have included Seattle stars and 5th Avenue favorites Jared Michael Brown, Gabe Corey, Sarah Davis, Kirsten Delohr Helland, Diana Huey, and Cayman Ilika, among many others.

The 5th Avenue sincerely thanks Wells Fargo for its sponsorship of this important event for the ninth year in a row. In Washington, Wells Fargo has nearly 5,000 team members and 228 banking, mortgage and financial stores. Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified financial services company with $1.2 trillion in assets, providing banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance through more than 10,000 stores and 12,000 ATMs and the Internet (wellsfargo.com and wachovia.com) across North America and internationally.

For a full list of nominees, visit the 2013 5th Avenue Awards Nominees page at www.facebook.com/5thAvenueEdu.

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