The ceremony honoring New York City-area high school performers was held May 23.
Sophia O’Brien, of Fordham Preparatory School, and Liam Ginsburg, of Pelham Memorial High School, were named Best Actress and Best Actor, respectively, at the 12th Annual Roger Rees Awards May 23.
Named in memory of the Tony-winning actor and director, the Roger Rees Awards honor the best in NYC-area high school theatre, with its Best Actor and Actress winners moving on to compete at the National High School Musical Theatre Awards, known as The Jimmy Awards, set for June 27 at Broadway’s Minskoff Theatre.
O’Brien was recognized for her performance as Éponine in Fordham’s Les Misérables, and Ginsburg was recognized for his Billy Cane in Pelham’s Bright Star.
Also receiving awards were Roslyn High School’s Saydie Grossman and Davey Fried, who were recognized as Up-and-Coming Actress and Actor for their performances as Sandra Bloom and Davey Fried, respectively, in Big Fish. Both will receive free tuition to Marymount Manhattan College’s Musical Theatre Pre-College Summer Intensive. Roslyn’s Royal Crown Players were also honored with the 2nd annual Harmony Helper Award for Excellence in Choral Group Performance.
The 4th annual PLAYBILLder Award for Marketing, presented by Playbill, went to co-editors Rebecca Ploski and Serena Richmond for their work on New Rochelle High School’s Theory of Relativity. The award, first given in 2018, recognizes schools that create engaging marketing plans emphasizing community engagement and the use of a custom, Broadway-quality Playbill program created with PLAYBILLder.
Winners were chosen by a panel of industry professionals comprising Disney in Schools Senior Teaching Artist Kiara Brown-Clark, actor-producer-recording artist Darilyn Castillo, actor and founder of Staged Workshops Jarvis B. Manning Jr., Black Theatre Coalition founder T. Oliver Reid, and Broadway casting director Merri Sugarman.
The Roger Rees Awards are presented by Broadway Education Alliance and Disney Theatrical Group with support from Rick Elice, Nancy Nagel Gibbs, BroadwayPlus.com, Broadway.com, Harmony Helper, Stacey Mindich Productions, Music Theatre International, Nederlander of New York, Theatrical Rights Worldwide, WABC77/Red Apple Media, and other industry leaders.
For more information, visit RogerReesAwards.com.
