The High School Musical Theatre Awards take place at 7 p.m. on Friday, May 8 at the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall. Patterned after the Tony Awards, the evening features performances by each participating school, along with awards in a number of categories, including Best Overall Production, Best Ensemble and Best Actor and Supporting Actor in both Male-Identifying and Female-Identifying roles.
Eleven area schools are taking part in the awards this year. Each will perform an excerpt from the “competition show” they produced earlier during the school year:
- Bishop Verot High School, “The Little Mermaid,” directed by Lisa Clark;
- Bonita Springs, “Addams Family,” directed by Kalie Enzor;
- Canterbury High School, “Legally Blonde,” directed by Aaron Jackson;
- Cypress Lake School of the Arts, “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812,” directed by Carmen Crussard;
- Fort Myers High School, “High School Musical,” directed by Angelie Agramonte;
- Gateway, “Cinderella,” directed by Emilie Y. Schmidt;
- Ida S. Baker, “Legally Blonde” directed by Sarah Jones;
- Island Coast, “The Little Mermaid,” directed by Rachel Davis;
- Lehigh Senior High, “Chicago,” directed by Miguel Cintron;
- North Fort Myers, “Newsies,” directed by Janelle Laux; and
- Oasis, “Grease,” directed by Carrie Guffy.
Barbara B. Mann General Manager Scott Saxon started the awards in 2008 to celebrate local high school actors, orchestras, their musical productions and the hard work those students do every year.
The awards are open to the public and tickets are on sale at the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall box office.
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Students spend months working on their productions, rehearsing songs and dance steps, designing and painting sets, sewing costumes and doing everything else it takes to put on a show.
Most schools start working on their productions in the fall and rehearse all year – including after school and on weekends - until they present their shows February through April.
The High School Musical Theatre Awards celebrate their hard work and achievements.
The awards are open to the public. Tickets are just $16.
The schools
Under the direction of theater director and teacher Lisa Clark, Bishop Verot Theater performs a variety of straight plays and musicals that feature in excess of 50 students. Past productions have included “Curtains,” “Mary Poppins” (which won “Outstanding Ensemble” at the 2024 HSMTA), “The Addams Family Musical,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Grease: The School Version” and “How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying.” Bishop Verot is a member of the SWFL Theatrical Society, and Bishop Verot High School Thespian Troupe 6159 is a part of the International Thespian Society, an organization that recognizes students for their exceptional participation in theater.
Canterbury School’s theatre program provides a comprehensive education in the art of performing, the history of the stage, and technical aspects of theatre. Under the guidance and direction of Catherine Truesdale, Aaron Jackson and Michael Lynch, Canterbury thespians showcase their abilities at several events throughout the year, which are highly anticipated by students, faculty and members of the Southwest Florida community. “Shrek,” “Mean Girls” and “Elf the Musical” are among the shows that Canterbury has produced in past years. “Elf” was named Outstanding Overall Production in 2023, which just goes to show that good things happen when you make it shinyshowycheerykinkle razzledazzleringalingle.
The theatre program at Cypress Lake reflects the formidable skills and considerable experience of theatre director and teacher Carmen Crussard, who also directs the Alliance Youth Theatre. Cypress Lake performed a “It’s Your Wedding Day” from “The Wedding Singer” last year, a medley from “Holiday Inn” in 2024 and “Big Fish” in 2023. Cypress Lake took best musical honors at the inaugural HSMTAs for their performance of “All Shook Up.”
Gateway High School is home to a growing theater program, offering a progression of multiple levels in which students learn performance, technical, and production skills. Students in Theater 1 gain confidence in performing on stage in front of an audience with improv, monologues, and partner pieces. Set and costume design are included as an introduction to technical theater. The Eagle Theater Company rehearses after school for competitions, showcases and multiple plays a year. Students in the theater program learn to support each other and enjoy being part of a tight-knit community. Last year, Gateway performed an excerpt from “You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown.”
The Ida S. Baker High School offers a medley of courses in which students can study and learn various elements of theater, musical theater and technical theater throughout all four years of high school. In 2024, Ida Baker took runner-up honors for Overall Production of a Musical for “Beauty and the Beast.” In 2023, Ida Baker performed a crowd-pleasing medley of songs from their production of “Little Shop of Horrors,” including an excerpt from “Feed Me (Git It),” featuring the insatiably blood-thirsty plant Audrey and her hapless horticulturalist Seymour.
Last year, Ida S. Baker High School performed a mash-up of the ensemble numbers “What I Was Born to Do” and “Cross the Line” from their production of “Bring It On.” Theatre Director Sarah Jones says that her personal goal at each year’s HSMTA is to “keep as many students on stage as possible in order to give them that show-stopping, professional theatre experience.”
Under the direction of Rachel Davis, Island Coast High School has steadily built a well-regarded theater program over the past five years. Last year, it performed numbers from “Lightning Thief.” In 2024, Island Coast performed a medley from “Mean Girls” and numbers from “Matilda” in 2023. “Mean Girls” was the largest show that Island Coast Theatre Department had done in several years, with 37 scene changes, dozens of quick changes, and so much more,” theatre director Rachel Davis noted.
Lehigh Senior High School had a big night at the 2025 High School Musical Theatre Awards. Its production of “Hadestown Teen Edition” received the coveted Best Overall Production of a Musical award, along with top honors for Technical Achievement, Vocal Execution, Outstanding Ensemble and Orchestra, and runner-up in Choreography. Lehigh also took three of the top four Best Actor awards. Taylor Spurr was the Outstanding Performer in a Female Identifying Role, D’Andrean St. Louis was Best Supporting Actor in a Male-Identifying Role and Stephania Ulysse snagged the Best Supporting Actor in a Female-Identifying Role. Victor Galarza was runner-up in the Outstanding Performer in a Male-Identifying Role category.In 2023, Lehigh Senior performed a complexly choreographed, richly harmonic mashup of numbers from “Footloose.”
Under the direction of Janelle Laux, North Fort Myers High theater students receive intensive training in acting, directing, design, and technical theatre. The course of study includes opportunities in acting, voice, and diction, mime and movement, improvisation, directing and playwriting, stage makeup, theatre technology, theatre history, vocal techniques, dance, musical theatre, and other classes. North Fort Myers High’s production of “All Shook Up” was selected as the 2024 Best Overall Production (also winning the award for Technical Achievement and Best Ensemble), and was runner up for Best Orchestra, with its tap-heavy production of “Anything Goes” being named Outstanding Overall Production runner-up at the 2023 High School Musical Theatre Awards.
Last year, North Fort Myers High School performed “Corner of the Sky,” “Magic To Do,” “Simple Joys” and “Morning Glow” from “Pippin,” which was runner-up in the Overall Production of a Musical category. North also won for Best Choreography and was runner-up in Vocal Execution and Technical Achievement.
Theatre Director Carrie Guffy launched the theater program at Oasis Charter School seven years ago. While she characterizes her company as a “diamond in the rough,” Oasis’ theatre arts program is now “worth taking notice of.” The program’s focus is education, and all of its shows are student-run. “My job is to educate these incredibly talented students, not do it for them, but to guide them towards excellence,” Guffy said. Last year, Oasis Shark Theatre Company performed “When You’re an Addams” and “Crazier Than You” from “Addams Family.”
The Awards
The judges choose a Stand Out Performer from each school, along with a student who stands out in the category of technical achievement.
The evening’s main awards include best and runner-up for:
- Supporting performer in a male-identifying role;
- Supporting performer in a female-identifying role;
- Performer in a male-identifying role;
- Performer in a female-identifying role;
- Technical Achievement;
- Orchestra;
- Vocal Execution;
- Choreography;
- Ensemble; and Overall Production of a Musical.
The judges
This year’s judges are JohnAnthony Klinko (Technical), Julie Kurtz (Orchestra), Anna McCullers (Acting), Megan Leonard (Choreography) and Lynn Martindale (Vocal).
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.
