PerformInk
PerformInk is Chicago's entertainment industry trade publication.
Pictured: The Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place
Broadway In Chicago has announced the twenty-four students nominated for Best Actor and Best Actress, and nominees for Best Production, Best Direction and the Grosh Award for Best Scenic Design in the sixth annual Illinois High School Musical Theatre Awards.
The nominees, selected after evaluating 74 productions across the state of Illinois, have been invited to participate in the Awards program, which will be held at the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place on Monday, June 5.
As part of the awards program, Broadway In Chicago has crafted a workshop for the students that will feature married couple Adam and Kelly Jacobs. Adam, who originated the title role in Aladdin on Broadway, can currently be seen in the North American tour at the Cadillac Palace, and Kelly was previously in Chicago with the Mary Poppins North American tour. The workshop for these twenty-four nominees will culminate in a performance on stage at the Broadway Playhouse.
Nominees will also audition for a panel of casting agents and theater professionals who will choose the recipients of performance awards. A Best Actress and Best Actor winner from Illinois will be sent to New York City on an all-expense paid trip for a week-long theater intensive of coaching and rehearsals with industry professionals in preparation for a one-night-only showcase on Broadway, where a panel of judges crowns the nation’s top performers.
LIST OF NOMINEES AND HIGH SCHOOLS (from the press release):
| NAME | HOMETOWN | HIGH SCHOOL |
| Jordan Radis | Lincolnshire | Adlai E. Stevenson High School |
| Meaghan Rivera | Hoffman Estates | Barrington High School |
| Justin Smusz | Bolingbrook | Benet Academy |
| Frank Gomulka | Lemont | Benet Academy |
| Madeleine Barbeau | Bolingbrook | Benet Academy |
| Nicholas Orth | Orland Park | Carl Sandburg High School |
| Sara Toth | Orland Park | Carl Sandburg High School |
| Corey Barlow | Cary | Cary-Grove High School |
| Haley Gustafson | Cary | Cary-Grove High School |
| Natalie Doppelt | Riverwoods | Deerfield High School |
| Brax Melvin | West Frankfort | Frankfort Community High School |
| Carly Meyer | Northbrook | Glenbrook North High School |
| Darian Goulding | Hampshire | Hampshire High School |
| Jack Hradecky | Rockton | Hononegah Community High School |
| Edith “Gracie” Stockton | Lake Forest | Lake Forest High School |
| Zachary Pearson | Libertyville | Libertyville High School |
| Lindsey Doody | Frankfort | Lincoln-Way East High School |
| Benjamin Dow | Shorewood | Minooka Community High School |
| Dominic Cappuccilli | Mundelein | Mundelein High School |
| Maddie Mazzella | Chicago | Saint Ignatius College Prep |
| Annie Yamamoto | Hoffman Estates | William Fremd High School |
| Erik Martenson | Elmhurst | York Community High School |
| Tatum Langley | Elmhurst | York Community High School |
| Carina Kanzler | Elmhurst | York Community High School |
NOMINEES FOR BEST PRODUCTION
Benet Academy’s production of All Shook Up
Carl Sandburg High School’s production of Jekyll and Hyde
Cary Grove High School’s production of Evita
Libertyville High School’s production of In the Heights
York Community High School’s production of West Side Story
NOMINEES FOR THE GROSH AWARD FOR BEST SCENIC DESIGN
Cary- Grove High School’s production of Evita
Coal City High School’s production of The Little Mermaid
Hinsdale South High School’s production of Hairspray
Lake Forest High School’s production of Urinetown
Libertyville High School’s production of In the Heights
NOMINEES FOR BEST DIRECTION
Cynthia Burrows, Adlai E. Stevenson High School- Big Fish
Lauren Condon & Brian Wand, Benet Academy- All Shook Up
Rob Boncosky, Cary-Grove High School- Evita
Andy Robinson, Chicago Academy For the Performing Arts – A Little Night Music
Kelly MacBlane & John Wanninger, Lake Forest High School- Urinetown
The Illinois High School Musical Theatre Awards are sponsored by Disney’s Aladdin and Grosh Backdrops & Drapery. The Illinois chapter of the National High School Musical Theatre Awards serves as an annual national celebration of outstanding achievement in musical theater performance by high school students. For more information, visit BroadwayInChicago.com.