Totem Pole Playhouse to Launch Annual Awards Recognizing Area High School Musical Theatre, 5/18

Totem Pole Playhouse, America's beloved summer theatre located in Caledonia State Park, has announced that it will present annual awards recognizing musical Theater Productions by area high schools.

Modeled after The Tony Awards on Broadway, The Totem Pole Awards will be presented annually to recognize outstanding achievement in musical theater production and performances by high school students in the counties immediately surrounding Totem Pole Playhouse. Public or private high school in Adams, Franklin, and Fulton counties are invited to participate.

Named after the Totem Pole Playhouse, one of the longest-running nationally recognized fully professional summer theatres in the country, the awards will focus solely on the performances of high students, honoring their acting, singing, and dancing abilities.

The Totem Pole Award categories will be: Outstanding Overall Production of a Musical, Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, Outstanding Performance by a Featured Male Ensemble Member, Outstanding Performance by a Featured Female Ensemble Member, Outstanding Small Ensemble Performance, Outstanding Musical Chorus, Outstanding Musical Production Number, Outstanding Performance by a Featured Dancer, Outstanding Male Solo Vocal Performance, Outstanding Female Solo Vocal Performance, Outstanding Vocal Duet, Outstanding Choreography and Outstanding Stage Crew.

Unbiased professional arts judges will view the performances of the participating high schools over the course of the spring high school musical theater season. There will be sixteen categories in which nominees are selected. The judges will use standardized evaluation criteria in judging the performance of the students. The judges will select five nominees in each of the categories from the cast members of the participating schools.

Heading the judging committee will be Totem Pole Playhouse Producing Artistic Director, Rowan Joseph. "Totem Pole Playhouse is very excited and honored to present these awards annually to the young musical theatre performers in our area. All too often in today's high school culture the performing arts receive significantly less recognition than sports and other worthwhile extracurricular activities, Totem Pole looks forward to shining the spotlight on these talented students who are an important part of preserving and enhancing the future of the American Musical Theatre." said Joseph.

In addition to his duties running Totem Pole, Joseph continues to work as an actor and has performed in numerous plays and musicals in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and across the U.S. He has also appeared in guest-starring roles on the TV series "Gilmore Girls," "Boston Legal," and HBO's critically-acclaimed drama "Treme." His film credits include such movies as, "The Campaign" with Will Ferrell, "The Princess Diaries 2" with Anne Hathaway, "Raising Helen" with Kate Hudson, and the recently released Robert DeNiro, Sylvester Stallone comedy, "Grudge Match."

The awards ceremony will be held at the historic Majestic Theatre in Gettysburg, PA on Sunday, May 18th and will include performances from the nominated musicals, actors, and actresses along with presentation of the 2014 Totem Pole Awards. Tickets will be on sale to the general public for the event at a cost of $10.00 for adults and $5.00 for students 18 and younger.

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