SpotLight Awards - A Success

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SpotLight Awards Fill and Thrill the Orpheum Theatre!

Some 2,000 people celebrated the best of Minnesota high school musical theatre on Monday, June 14, as Hennepin Theatre Trust hosted the 2010 SpotLight Musical Theatre Awards. This thrilling finale of another dynamic year in the SpotLight Musical Theatre Program is held annually at the Orpheum Theatre. It is a professionally produced public showcase mixing medleys from “Outstanding Performance” honorees and students from award winning musicals, from Eastview’s Annie and Minnetonka’s The Scarlet Pimpernel to Blake’s Seussical.

The SpotLight Awards highlighted the work of 608 students, who received 206 awards from 28 presenters representing the Twin Cities’ arts community, including SpotLight Donors and local luminaries such as Fox TV “Buzz” reporter and MyTalk 107 Radio Host Jason Matheson, Fringe Festival Executive Director Robin Gillette and MacPhail Center for Music CEO David O’Fallon. Gretchen Heath, a SpotLight evaluator from the Minnesota Scholars of Distinction, commented afterwards, “Applause and bravos to a very successful SpotLight Celebration! It was indeed a very fine evening and a testimony to hard work and all those excellent school programs. Those of us who’ve seen all these culminating events can attest that Monday exemplified organization, artistry and timing.” A complete list of 2009/10 SpotLight schools and awards is available on our website by clicking here.

The Trust also announced that Nate Irvin of Minnetonka High School and Haley Kurr of Wayzata High School, two SpotLight students, earned a chance to participate in the National Musical Theater Awards in New York City on Monday, June 28. They traveled to New York, courtesy of Hennepin Theatre Trust and Sun Country Airlines, and received private coaching and master classes from arts professionals, performed at the Marquis Theatre on Broadway with other musical theatre students from around the country and competed for a chance to win a four-year scholarship to New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts! While they weren't selected to receive the top national honors, Hennepin Theatre Trust is proud to have helped Nate and Haley participate in this prestigious competition.

The SpotLight Musical Theatre Program relies on the generosity of our Donors and community partners to continue the program and expand it to more students throughout Minnesota. During the past year alone, 3,700 students performed in front of an estimated 97,000 audience members! We need to raise $30,000 for our SpotLight Distance Learning Initiative. This investment will enable Hennepin Theatre Trust to broaden SpotLight’s scope by using videoconferencing technology to allow schools in greater Minnesota to participate. Please consider making a contribution today by clicking here. The Trust thanks everyone for their contributions to SpotLight’s success.