Kathie Lee Gifford Hosts National High School Musical Theater Awards at NYU's Skirball Center 6/29

Pittsburgh CLO and Nederlander Alliances, LLC. will present The National High School Musical Theater Awards, celebrating excellence in high school musical theater programs nationally, at Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, NYU (566 LaGuardia Place at Washington Square South) on Monday, June 29 at 7:30 p.m. Television and theater personality Kathie Lee Gifford ("Today") will host the event and multiple Tony Award winner Tommy Tune (The Will Rogers Follies, Grand Hotel) will serve as a presenter.

The evening will include the first annual presentation of The Jimmy Award, named in honor of theatrical impresario James M. Nederlander, to two talented high school students representing regional competitions from around the country. The recipients will also receive the opportunity for four-year scholarship assistance provided by the Department of Drama at NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

Following a week of auditions, interviews and rehearsals, the winners of The Jimmy Award will be selected by a panel of industry experts including Scott Ellis (Roundabout Theater Company); Kent Gash (Tisch School of the Arts); Montego Glover (Memphis, The Color Purple); Alecia Parker (NAMCO); Nick Scandalios (Nederlander Organization) and Bernie Telsey (MCC Theater and Telsey + Company).

Tickets to the 2009 Jimmy Awards are available at www.skirballcenter.nyu.edu. Tickets can be purchased by visiting the Center's Web site, by phone at 212.352.3101, or in person at the Skirball Center's Shagan Box Office. New York University's Skirball Center for the Performing Arts is located at 566 LaGuardia Place (at Washington Square South).

The 2009 National High School Musical Theater Award nominees are:
Elizabeth Bailey (Pittsburgh CAPA - Pittsburgh, PA); Erin Borain (Alpharetta High School - Atlanta, Georgia); Alec Brashear (Lower Dauphin High School - Hershey, PA); Rebecca Brinkley (Cedar Ridge High School - Raleigh, NC); David Broyles (Newton South High School - Beverly, MA); Anthony Bruno (Bergen County Academies - Millburn, NJ); Stephanie Cooksey (Stratford High School - Houston, TX); Alejandro Fallick (Stratford High School - Houston, TX); Sarah Franklin (Lutheran High School of OC - Yorba Linda, CA); Grace Hardin (Ridgefield High School - Norwich, CT); Emily Higgins (Danvers High School - Beverly, MA); Seth Johnson (Cary Academy - Raleigh, NC); Julia Knitel (Fair Lawn High School - Millburn, NJ); Krystal Lawton (The School of the Arts - Rochester, NY); Sam Leake (Sterling High School - Wichita, KS); Stephen Mark (Ridgefield High School - Norwich, CT); Chauncey Matthews (San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts - San Diego, CA); Kian McCollum (Chartiers Valley High School - Pittsburgh, PA); Ryan Morton (Orange County School of the Arts - Yorba Linda, CA); Mallory Moser (Trinity Valley School - Fort Worth, TX); Adrien Pellerin (Atlanta International School - Atlanta, GA); Joe Pudetti (Penfield High School - Rochester, NY); Keegan Rice (Shawnee Mission West - Kansas City, MO); Michelle Rubich (Briarcliff High School - NY, NY); Aaron Sauer (Don Bosco Prep High School - NY, NY); Taryn Sprenkle (East Pennsboro High School - Hershey, PA); Samantha Steinmetz (Blue Valley High School - Kansas City, MO); Emma Stratton (Canyon Crest Academy - San Diego, CA); Alex Syiek (Huntington Beach High School - Fullerton, CA); PatRick Thomas (Colleyville Heritage High School - Forth Worth, TX); Gina Velez (La Habra High School - Fullerton, CA) and Jenny Wine (Wichita East High School - Wichita, KS).

The NHS Musical Theater Awards will focus national attention on the importance of theater arts education and heighten the profile of communities and school districts around the United States that provide musical theater study in their curriculum and offer student productions as part of their school activities programming. It will also recognize the regional professional theaters participating in this national awards presentation including Pennsylvania's Hershey Theatre; Casa Manana Theater of Forth Worth; Kansas City Starlight Theatre; The Spirit of Broadway Theater of Norwich, CT; The Old Globe of San Diego, CA; Music Theatre of Wichita; FCLO Music Theatre of Fullerton, CA; McCoy Rigby Entertainment of Yorba Linda, CA; Helen Hayes Youth Theatre of New City, NY; North Carolina Theatre; New Jersey's Paper Mill Playhouse; Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre of Atlanta, GA; North Shore Music Theatre of Beverly, MA; Rochester Broadway Theatre League; Theatre Under the Stars of Houston, TX and Pittsburgh CLO.

Pittsburgh CLO has been a driving force behind the preservation, creation and promotion of live musical theater since 1946. As one of the largest regional musical theater organizations in the United States, Pittsburgh CLO is fortunate for the support of nearly 200,000 patrons each year. In addition to producing fresh new productions of Broadway classics, the non-for-profit's mission is to develop new works and showcase new talent. The organization's dedication to the musical theater art form extends beyond its main-stage season with the CLO Cabaret Theater, the Pittsburgh CLO Academy of Musical Theater, the Construction Center for the Arts, and the acclaimed Gene Kelly Awards for Excellence in High School Musical Theater, 19 year-old program and first of its kind in the country.

NEDERLANDER ALLIANCES, LLC. is a division of Nederlander Presentations, Inc the producing arm of a family company prominent for three generations in management and operation of theaters and productions of distinguished entertainment. The Nederlander Organization owns and/or operates nine Broadway theaters and runs a notable chain of legitimate theaters around the world. The company is currently represented on Broadway by Walt Disney's The Lion King and West Side Story. Broadway productions include: Guys and Dolls, Legally Blonde The Musical, Hairspray, Rent, Wicked, The Drowsy Chaperone, Walt Disney's The Little Mermaid, Movin' Out, Copenhagen, The Will Rogers Follies, Me and My Girl, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Breaking the Code, La Cage aux Folles, Benefactors, Annie, Noises Off, Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music, My Fat Friend, Seesaw, Applause, Whose Life Is It Anyway?, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, The Dresser, Nine, Woman of the Year and many revivals including Sweet Charity, Hello, Dolly!, Porgy and Bess and Peter Pan.

The Department of Drama at NYU Tisch School of the Arts integrates a combination of rigorous conservatory training and broad-ranging academic education. In partnership with some of the country's foremost professional theatre training institutions, the program offers comprehensive conservatory training in acting, directing, musical performance, design, and theatre production. The program also offers an expansive and innovative academic curriculum. The faculty is composed of nationally and internationally recognized theatre artists, scholars, and theorists. The curriculum is further enriched by required courses in the humanities and social sciences. An extensive internship program connects students to the professional theatre community of New York City. The program is complemented by challenging and innovative productions that welcome guest artists from a range of culture and artistic perspectives. Graduates of the program include Alec Baldwin '94, Kristen Bell '02, Raúl Esparza '92, Philip Seymour Hoffman '89, Bryce Dallas Howard '03, Felicity Huffman '88, Dan Jinks '85, Moisés Kaufman '89, John Leguizamo '83, Michael Longoria '02, Idina Menzel '93, Molly Shannon '87, and Chandra Wilson '91.

James M. Nederlander, or Jimmy as he is known in the theatrical community, is the Chairman of the Nederlander Producing Company of America Inc. For more than 60 years, he has been the producer of distinguished entertainment for which he has received 34 nominations and won 11 Tony® Awards for Best Production of a musical or play and has presented artists ranging from Nureyev to Sinatra to Billy Joel to U2. Currently, his organization, under the leadership of James L. Nederlander, operates nine legitimate theatres on Broadway including the Brooks Atkinson (Rock of Ages), Gershwin (Wicked), Lunt-Fontanne (The Little Mermaid), Marquis (9 to 5), Minskoff (The Lion King), Nederlander, Neil Simon (Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs), Richard Rodgers (In The Heights) and the world famous Palace Theatre (West Side Story). The company also operates theaters in Detroit, Los Angeles, San Diego, Tucson, Durham, Chicago and London. Mr. Nederlander has produced or co-produced dozens of plays and musicals, most notably Annie, Applause, Peter Pan, Copenhagen, The Will Rogers Follies, Movin' Out, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Me and My Girl, La Cage aux Folles, Nine, Noises Off, Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music, Benefactors, Sugar Babies, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Woman of the Year, and many others.