Cheers. Screams. Joy.
That’s all the G-Wing heard on Thursday, May 1, when Rebecca Young, theater director, hosted a “stream party” and invited students that were eligible to earn awards from the St. Louis High School Musical Theater Awards (SLHSMTA) to watch.
The Marquette Theater Company (MTC) was nominated eleven times for their newest production, ‘The Drowsy Chaperone.”
Outstanding Actress and Outstanding Actor winners travel to New York City to participate in the National High School Musical Theatre Awards (Jimmy Awards), including a week-long theatre program with professionals and a one-night-only showcase on Broadway, according to the SLHSMTA website. The judges then crown the nation’s top two high school performers.
The SLHSMTA award ceremony will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 15, at the Fox Theater. Tickets can be purchased on the Fox Theatre website.
In previous years, MTC productions weren’t nominated as frequently, Young said, so everyone would shrug off SLHSMTA, but this year was different.
“It’s nice to be recognized for the hard work that we do and for all the blood, sweat and tears we put into our productions,” Young said. “I really hope that this motivates some kids that are on the fence about joining theater and they get to see what great things we can accomplish.”
Young said none of her students had any expectations for any awards, but everyone had good feelings.
“Every single award, we just started screaming and cheering and hugging, because we were all so happy to be nominated and so happy to be there for the castmates that were nominated,” Young said.
After years of auditioning and training with vocal coaches, Allie Lappin, senior, was shocked when she learned that she was nominated for Lead Actress.
“This nomination was a really big deal for me because I saw it happen to someone from Marquette a couple years ago, and so I always hoped for a friend to get nominated,” Lappin said. “All of a sudden, my friends are coming to me and hugging and screaming, and I was just so confused, but so happy at the same time.”
It finally set in for Lappin, the morning after being nominated, that her efforts put into performing at singing competitions and productions had paid off.
“I think that this is the most nominations Marquette has ever gotten, which shows how hard we all worked and how exciting it was,” Lappin said.
Drew Mathers, senior, said ‘The Drowsy Chaperone’ was different than any other shows he had done in the past.
“There was just something different about this group of people that I was working with, and we just kept building on that, so it’s great to see our hard work get recognized,” Mathers said.
Mathers has been a part of MTC since his freshman year, and outside of MTC, he participated in the Muny and is planning on doing shows in the summer.
“You obviously learn your lines, songs and dances, but a lot of things clicked on stage for me this year and just went really well,” Mathers said. “I feel like part of the reason I got this nomination was because I was surrounded by a bunch of really talented people that made everything click and look better.”
