Spotlight Awards To Recognize Excellence In The Arts In Simi Valley

The Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center Foundation will honor Pegasus Transit and David Ralphe with this year's Pillar of the Arts Awards at the Spotlight Awards Ceremony during a dinner and auction event to be held Saturday, May 11 at the Wood Ranch Country Club. Ralphe and Pegasus Transit are being honored for their extraordinary support of the arts in our community. Joining them will be Artists of the Year Keenon Hooks and Andrew Allen, Young Artist of the Year Lucas Panczel, Volunteer of the Year Sharon Gibson, and Educator of the Year Melissa Albertson. Tickets are available to the public by visiting www.simispotlight.com.

Community leader and Arts advocate David Ralphe will receive the 2019 Pillar of the Arts Award at this year's Spotlight event. Ralphe recently retired after 23 years as the General Manager of the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center. His diverse background includes Artistic Direction of nationally recognized theaters, Arts administration, acting on stage, screen and television as well as directing and producing for the stage for which he has received numerous awards and acclaim. Ralphe has appeared locally on stage with the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center, Santa Paula Theater Center (where he also serves as Artistic Director), and the Kingsman Shakespeare Company. He has worked professionally at numerous regional and professional theaters throughout the United States. Ralphe served as Artistic Director for the Hedgerow Theater in Pennsylvania for many years and, with Associate Artistic Director Lonny Chapman, established the Group Repertory Theatre in North Hollywood. He has been teaching acting professionally both on the East coast and in Los Angeles and Ventura County for over 40 years. Ralphe has served on numerous national Arts boards and advisory panels and served as the Executive Director for the Los Angeles Theatre Alliance (now the Los Angeles Stage Alliance) serving over 72 theaters in Los Angeles including the Mark Taper and South Coast Repertory Theatre. Television appearances by David Ralphe include Dragnet, The Amazing Spiderman, LA Law, Quincy, MD, Hill Street Blues, and many others. David's film background includes Star Trek - Nemesis in 2002, Above Suspicion, Heaven's Heroes, and in the 2013 Hallmark holiday film Christmas in the City.

Pegasus Transit is being recognized this year with the Corporate Pillar of the Arts Award. Founded by husband and wife Ivo and Mary Paseta, Pegasus Transit started with one van in 2004. Currently they have over 70 vehicles with sixty employees and have become Ventura County's leading provider of charter transportation. Pegasus Transit buses, coaches, charters and shuttles provide Para-Transit services as well as transportation for school and college students, athletic teams, winery tours, festival shuttles, corporate events, wedding shuttles and more. Pegasus Transit is a proud supporter of the Arts as well as the nonprofit community.

Two performers have been selected as the Artists of the Year for their contribution to the community. Keenon Hooks and Andrew Allen have both been active onstage and behind the scenes at the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center since 2011. Hooks has appeared onstage in such memorable roles as Leading Player in Pippin, Seaweed in Hairspray, Hannah in La Cage Aux Folles and Sparky in Plaid Tidings. In addition, Hooks has put his professional dance and choreography skills to use at the Center, choreographing such productions as Sister Act, bare: a pop opera, and Berlin for the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center, and directing and choreographing SVCAC productions of Winter Wonderettes and Plaid Tidings. Hooks directed the musical The Wiz for Actors' Repertory Theatre of Simi and choreographed both All Shook Up and Thoroughly Modern Millie for Studio C Performing Arts, all of which were produced at the Cultural Arts Center. Hooks is the Director of Conservatory and Co-Founder of Studio C Performing Arts Conservatory in Westlake Village. A graduate of Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts, his work has also been seen with: Cabrillo Music Theatre/5 Star Theatricals, PCPA, San Diego Musical Theatre, Long Beach Opera, Oregon Cabaret Theatre, Utah Festival Opera, Musical Theatre West, SLO Repertory Theatre, Performance Riverside, Palos Verdes Performing Arts, Nevada Conservatory Theatre, and the Utah Shakespeare Festival.

Co-Artist of the Year Andrew Allen is also a familiar face to Cultural Arts Center audiences, having appeared as Link Larkin in Hairspray, Lewis in Pippin, Joe Hardy in Damn Yankees, Jason in bare: a pop opera, Will Bloom in Big Fish, Perchik in Fiddler on the Roof, Henry in Next to Normal and Smudge in Plaid Tidings. He also stage managed the musical revue Berlin at the Center. A graduate of AMDA College and Conservatory of the Performing Arts in Hollywood, he immediately began performing, with his first professional production of The Producers at the historical California Theatre of the Performing Arts in San Bernardino, California. Soon after, he was cast as a dancer for Carnival Cruise Lines and performed on ships sailing from Orlando, Miami, and New York City. He has performed with many theatres across Southern California including 5-Star Theatricals, formerly Cabrillo Music Theatre, Glendale Centre Theatre and with Plan-B Entertainment which has taken him to Beverly Hills, CA and Anchorage, Alaska in productions of Rent and Les Miserables respectively. He performed with fellow Award Winner Keenon Hooks at the Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre in Logan, Utah, where was a part of four productions at the same time: Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, his first opera The Flying Dutchman, Fiddler On The Roof, and worked directly with Tony Award Winner Sheldon Harnick on a staged reading called Rex.

Lucas Panczel has been named 2019 Young Artist of the Year. He has appeared onstage at the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center in such roles as Les in Newsies and Randy in A Christmas Story. He was also the youngest son in Fiddler on the Roof, brought laughter to the role of palace guard in Aladdin Jr. and played several roles in The Little Mermaid Jr. Recently, he was the little boy in West Side Story and Big River. He also played Bobby in Dear Edwina Jr. Lucas is also an avid competitive tap and hip hop dancer.

This year's 2019 Volunteer of the Year Award will be presented to Sharon Gibson, a long-time supporter and participant at the Cultural Arts Center. Gibson has appeared onstage at the Center in such memorable roles as Golde in Fiddler On The Roof, Marie Dindon in La Cage Aux Folles, and Frau Schneider in Cabaret and Gladys in It's A Wonderful Life: On The Air for SVCAC as well in numerous ARTS productions including Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Catch Me If You Can. Gibson has worked backstage as a stage manager, lighting technician or backstage technician on countless productions at the Center including Sister Act, Hairspray, 9 To 5, Assassins, The Drowsy Chaperone, Sweeney Todd, Spring Awakening, Damn Yankees, Into The Woods and more. In addition, Gibson is a key volunteer for events in the DownStage Theater at SVCAC including the DownStage Cabaret series, High Street Broadcast, special events and more.

Melissa Albertson, an educator with the Simi Valley Unified School District for 23 years, has been named the Educator of the Year. Albertson is retiring this year as leader of the Drama Department at Santa Susana High School where she has directed the school's musicals and dramas for the past 23 years.

The SVCACF Spotlight Awards is an annual awards program designed to honor the high caliber of talented individuals in the area who contribute to the arts in the community. It is sponsored by the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center Foundation and benefits the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center. Tickets are available to the public as well as advertising and sponsorship opportunities. Please visit www.simispotlight.com for more information.

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