Local students nominated in Enchantment Awards

ALBUQUERQUE — The New Mexico High School Musical Theatre Awards (NMHSMTA) brings 14 high school drama programs to the stage in Popejoy Hall, where the most schools ever represented will compete in its annual awards program, the Enchantment Awards. Those schools represent 17 casts for 15 shows.

The Enchantment Awards will take place at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 3.

Among the award nominees are six students from Cleveland High School and one from Rio Rancho High School.

The show itself celebrates high school drama across the state and all that those programs do for students. Additionally, two students are chosen as Best Actor and Best Actress to represent New Mexico at the National High School Musical Theatre Awards — the Jimmy Awards — and compete for 16 scholarships, work with Broadway professionals, and perform on a Broadway stage with 100 of their peers from across the country.

“Over 700 students participated in their high school musicals in New Mexico this year,” said Terry Davis, co-executive director of the organization, “and that’s just the number in schools who registered their musicals with our program.

“Of those 700, as many as 150 will come to Popejoy Hall to perform in the Enchantment Awards. Students who participate in their high school musical and in our program are building memories for a lifetime,” Davis added. “Musicals offer incomparable challenges for our students, challenges they rise to — and learn from — every year.”

Among the participating schools are Cleveland High School, which produced “Guys and Dolls” this school year, and Rio Rancho High School, with two casts for its 2024 production of “The Lightning Thief.”

“We tell everyone that our program is an awards show once a year but an education program every day,” said Laura Maness, co-executive director with Davis. “It’s more true this year than ever before. We educate through our individual and production evaluations for all participating schools, through the newsletter we publish twice a month, and through workshops we lead around the state. And, for the first time, we are offering workshops to all our students performing on Popejoy’s stage.”

The Enchantment Awards gives out eight awards annually: Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress for individuals; Best Production, Best Direction, and Best Ensemble for high school drama programs; and the Spotlight Award for an outstanding contribution by an individual or group.

In another first, those individual awards will be accompanied by scholarships. The Best Actor and Best Actress awards are each accompanied by a $500 scholarship. The Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress awards include a $250 scholarship for each winner. In addition to the nominees for the individual awards, drama directors from all participating schools send representatives to perform in the Directors Choice Chorus. The five schools chosen as finalists for the three production awards also perform a number from their musical during the Enchantment Awards.

Other participants in the program include technical and production interns assisting with stage management, production, sound, lights, costumes and videography.

Nominees for all awards were announced April 17, with the first announcement on New Mexico Living (Fox New Mexico).

City of Vision nominees are Cleveland High’s Abigail Palmer (Best Actress), Matthew Deeds (Best Actor), Michael Lawrence (Best Actor), Abigail Strayhand (Best Supporting Actress), Marshall Lovelady (Best Supporting Actor) and Alexander Smith (Best Supporting Actor); and Rio Rancho High School’s Breton Sego (Best Actor), an award winner in 2023.

CHS’s “Guys and Dolls” production is a Spotlight Award finalist (Production Award nominee). (See youtube.com/watch?v=s8SfuePJ1kw for the display of the names.)

Winners of the Best Actor and Best Actress awards will be sent to participate in the Jimmy Awards — the National High School Musical Theatre Awards — in New York City. The Jimmy Awards/The National High School Musical Theatre Awards (NHSMTA) program impacts approximately 130,000 students who participate in 51 regional high school musical theatre competitions sponsored by presenters of touring Broadway productions throughout the U.S.

Named for Broadway impresario James M. Nederlander, the program has been the catalyst for more than $6 million in educational scholarships since its launch in 2009. Presented by The Broadway League Foundation, Inc., the NHSMTA invites two nominees from each local regional ceremony to New York City for a rigorous theatre intensive that includes coaching sessions, training, and rehearsals led by some of Broadway’s most accomplished professionals.

Nominees will spend 10 days in New York City June 14-25, and their efforts throughout the week will lead to a talent showcase performed live in front of an audience on a Broadway stage.

The 15th annual Jimmy Awards will take place June 24 at the Minskoff Theatre.

Among the sponsors for this year’s Enchantment Awards are Sandoval County Commissioners Jay Block and Katherine Bruch. The project is supported in part by New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Tickets for the Enchantment Awards range from $27.50 to $42.50. Discounts are available for students (18 and younger) and groups of 10 or more. Additionally, the Albuquerque Theatre Guild has funded a block of tickets for students to attend for free. Tickets are available at unmtickets.com. For group discounts and free tickets, contact NMHSMTA at info@nmhsmta.org.

For more information, visit JimmyAwards.com.