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| Unlike in high school athletics or academics, there is no program that honors excellence in musical theatre productions. Students participating in musical theatre receive multiple benefits from their experience, including collaboration, critical thinking and problem solving, literacy, articulation, poise and self-confidence. The SpotLight Program’s mission is to recognize, encourage and celebrate students who participate and excel in high school musical theatre in addition to recognizing the strengths of their high school theatre program. |
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| Any high school in the seven county metro area that produces a musical may apply to participate in the SpotLight Program. Applications are mailed to every high school at the beginning of the school year and may be downloaded from www.hennepintheatretrust.org/education/spotlight/. Participation is limited to 25 high schools and will be accepted into the program according to receipt of application. |
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| No. You produce your musical and our evaluators come to you. The most critical aspect of this program, however, is communication. As the director and/or teacher you are responsible for acting as the primary liaison and relaying appropriate information from the SpotLight Program to your students and their families throughout the year. It is important to designate an additional primary contact if your director is not a full-time employee at the school. At the award ceremony in June, schools and individuals that are recognized for Overall Production of a Musical and Outstanding Performance in a Leading Role will have the opportunity to perform as part of the event. This will require directors to schedule rehearsals on their own time for their specific production numbers prior to the award ceremony on June 8. |
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| No. There is a one time $75 registration fee which helps to cover administrative and evaluator fees. The conference workshop held on Saturday, June 7 is $25 per student which covers breakfast, lunch, teaching artist and material fees. We will waive fees for any student or school that demonstrates financial need. |
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| Three evaluators from the professional musical theatre world and/or the field of education attend each participating school's musical production. The evaluators critique the performance based on several different categories, using a specific rubric as their guide. Productions and individuals that receive unanimous nominations in a specific category are recognized and honored at an awards ceremony held during the annual SpotLight Conference in the spring of each year. |
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| No. Each participating musical is evaluated on the merits of the individual production and is not compared or ranked against other musicals. Depending on the results of the evaluations, there can be multiple honorees in each category. |
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| The SpotLight Program provides an excellent opportunity for high school theatre students from across the metro area to network with other students, receive constructive feedback of their production from three professional evaluators, gain valuable knowledge from the workshops available to them at the SpotLight annual conference and to be recognized for their involvement and talent. Throughout the year, participating schools will have the opportunity to attend workshops, artist lectures, events and shows sponsored by the Hennepin Theatre Trust. In addition, a professional theatre artist will be available to lead topic specific musical theatre workshops at your school in the fall. Through the SpotLight Program, the Trust seeks to underscore the value of high school theatre programs and how these musicals build individual skills, engage students and enrich communities. |
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| This year, the two day conference will be held June 7-8, 2008 and will consist of musical theatre related workshops, forums and information for the students. The workshops will be facilitated by professional musical theatre artists. The conference will culminate with an awards ceremony recognizing the winners in each category and featuring highlight performances from some of schools on the evening of June 8th. |
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| The SpotLight Musical Theatre Program is a program of Hennepin Theatre Trust, the local non-profit charitable trust that oversees the operation of the State, Orpheum and Pantages Theatres and which presents a wide array of theatre and music at these facilities. The Trust depends upon financial support from individuals, foundations and corporations who believe in recognizing and honoring young aspiring artists. We also welcome your volunteer energy to make the annual conference a great success! |
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| For more information, please go to: www.hennepintheatretrust.org/education/spotlight/. |
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| Ann Kim |
| Manager of Community Programs |
| 612-373-5696 |
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