BWHS Drama Awards 2012; way better than the Oscars

By LENNY C. LEPOLA

News Assis­tant Man­ag­ing Editor

The Oscars? Who needs the stink­ing Oscars when Big Wal­nut High School has its very own 2012 Drama Awards, com­plete with a ban­quet and cos­tumes rang­ing from haut cou­ture (really, really nice), to flam­boy­ant (really, really strange), to casual (hey, we got here after the game, right)? And, as an added ben­e­fit, Big Walnut’s drama enthu­si­asts are a whole­some crowd who enjoy their craft, not like Hollywood’s play­boys and play­girls who seem to be in the news more often for unsa­vory behav­ior than Oscar-winning performances.

Last Thurs­day evening, Big Wal­nut High School Drama Coach Erin Gib­bons, mem­bers of the high school’s 2011-12 drama sea­son casts and crews, par­ents and friends, gath­ered at the high school cafe­te­ria for a pot-luck ban­quet, fol­lowed by an awards cer­e­mony in the auditorium.

Dur­ing the ban­quet, stu­dents voted for their favorite high school drama per­son­al­i­ties and per­form­ers in a num­ber of cat­e­gories, Gib­bons totaled the results before the award cer­e­mony, and then the fun began.

Many cat­e­gories were of a more seri­ous nature. Nick Guglielmi was selected as a Ris­ing Star (out­stand­ing fresh­man), Alli­son Daw­son was the Best Sup­port­ing Female Actor in a Play, Kaden Thomp­son and James Sawyers shared Best Sup­port­ing Male Actor in a Play hon­ors, Josh Schirtzinger was selected as the Best Male Actor in a Play and Musi­cal, and Julia Brown was the Best Female Actor in a Play.

Also rec­og­nized were Emma Swys­good as a Shoot­ing Star and Best Sup­port­ing Female in a Musi­cal, Nate Fagan was selected as the Best Sup­port­ing Male in a Musi­cal, and Olivia Beck­ett was the Best Female Actor in a Musical.

Alexan­dria May­hew received the pres­ti­gious Shin­ing Star/MVT Award. The MVT is awarded to the drama pro­gram mem­ber who did his or her part excep­tion­ally well, was help­ful to cast and crew, sup­port­ive, friendly, gave the shows 110 per­cent, and was an all-around asset to the pro­gram, a true star on and off the stage.

“This year was espe­cially excit­ing, doing the musi­cal Legally Blonde,” Gib­bons said fol­low­ing the cer­e­mony. “It pre­sented the drama stu­dents with a new set of chal­lenges, and they rose to the occa­sion. All in all it was a very good year.

“I love these kids,” Gib­bons added. “Big Wal­nut High School has a great drama pro­gram, and the par­ents and the com­mu­nity are very sup­port­ive. They made it the high­light of my year.”

Posted by Gary Henery on May 16 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.