"That stage is just magic," says Henry Fenton, a 2019 Spotlight Awards finalist from Nashville's Christ Presbyterian Academy.
Sam Angel
Accustomed to performing on a traditional high school stage,Fenton was wowed by the Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Jackson Hall stage's size and actual backstage area. "It is amazing."
Fenton was one of 10 finalists, selected from more than 1,000 students at 28 Tennessee schools, who performed on that stage during TPAC's 2019 Spotlight Awards, also known as the Nashville High School Musical Theatre Awards.
Now in its sixth year, the program was started at Lipscomb University’s College of Entertainment and the Arts, and expanded when TPAC joined three years ago. High schools with musical theater programs enter to be evaluated by a panel of 48 trained community adjudicators. Schools don't know which performances the adjudicators will attend, but they know they'll select finalists for: outstanding musical (by school); comedic, lead, and supporting actors and actresses; dancers; costume design; lightning, and more.
In May, the 10 students selected as finalists for outstanding lead actress and actor categories went through auditions at TPAC, followed by a full day of workshops on the Lipscomb campus, led by American Idol alumna Piper Jones.
Sam Angel
Thanks to TPAC’s connection to The Broadway League, the two students selected as winners, Lilla Galgoczy-Toler and Trenton McCrary, will travel to New York this month to participate in national The Jimmy Awards®. The 10-day trip includes workshops and performing on a Broadway stage; TPAC covers their travels and stipends as part of the award.
But the Spotlight Awards, which are one of TPAC's six arts education programs, are not just about winning,says Roberta Ciuffo West, head of TPAC's education department.
"These students have authentic support for each other. It is a competition, but it is not like a sporting event. They are all working together, even backstage."
Zoe Newcomb, one of two finalists from John Overton High School, has seen participation in the Spotlight Awards change her school's program.
"It became something we could show to other people. Our theater got way more popular. People know us now."