Pittsburgh CLO Announces National High School Musical Theatre Awards

Pittsburgh CLO and Nederlander Presentations Inc. are proud to announce the creation of The National High School Musical Theater Awards, celebrating outstanding student performances in high school musical productions across the United States. A "Best Actress" and "Best Actor" Award will be presented to two young performers from a group of talented local winners of 30 regional competitions currently being produced yearly by professional theaters. This annual award will be named "The Jimmy," in honor of the visionary Broadway theater owner and producer, James M. Nederlander. The NHS Musical Theater Awards entertainment event will be held on Monday, June 1, 2009, at the legendary Palace Theatre on Broadway, following a week of auditions, interviews and rehearsals. Winners of "The Jimmy" will be selected by a panel of industry experts.

The National High School Musical Theater Awards is based on Pittsburgh CLO's The Gene Kelly Awards, introduced in 1991 to honor the city's beloved native son and celebrate the achievements of local student drama departments. This first high school musical awards event was immediately embraced by schools throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania and is an opportunity for local emerging talent to perform on the CLO's professional stage. During the last two decades, The Gene Kelly Awards has been successfully replicated across the country. Last year, more than 900 high schools participated in local awards shows.

"How exciting that our award show and others like it are culminating in a new event on Broadway!" said Pittsburgh CLO Executive Producer Van Kaplan.  "The opportunity to 'play the Palace' will be a dream come true for students who participate in this national event.  If these students aspire to a career in professional theater, meeting leading experts in the field will be the chance of a lifetime. If they have other ambitions, this experience will help prepare them for a starring role in whatever career they pursue."

"My father believes in talent—on stage, back stage and in business. This new award will help encourage a new generation of artists and audiences," comments James L. Nederlander, President of The Nederlander Organization. "We are humbled and grateful that the Pittsburgh CLO is naming this award in his honor. He is a true visionary, showman and great entrepreneur."

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 American Musical Theatre of San Jose; Casa Manana of Forth Worth; 5th Avenue Musical Theater Company of Seattle; Houston's Theatre Under The Stars; Kansas City Starlight Theater; Musical Theatre West of Long Beach, CA; Music Theatre of Wichita; North Carolina Theatre; North Shore Music Theatre of Beverly, MA; New Jersey's Paper Mill Playhouse and Pittsburgh CLO.   Two winners from each local event will be eligible to participate in the New York finals competition.

To request digital photography or request an interview, please e-mail press@NHSMusicaltheaterawards.com  or contact Kristin Archbold at (412) 281-3973 x 221 or karchbold@pittsburghcLO.org.

About The Pittsburgh CLO: Since 1946, Pittsburgh CLO has been a driving force behind the preservation, creation and promotion of live musical theater. As one of the largest regional musical theater organizations in the United States, Pittsburgh CLO appreciates the support of nearly 200,000 patrons each year. In addition to producing fresh new productions of Broadway classics, Pittsburgh CLO is dedicated to the development of new works and the showcase of new talent. As a not-for-profit organization, its dedication to the musical theater art form extends beyond its main-stage season with such programs as the CLO Cabaret Theater, the Pittsburgh CLO Academy of Musical Theater, the acclaimed Gene Kelly Awards for Excellence in High School Musical Theater and the Construction Center for the Arts. For more information, please visit CLO's website at www.pittsburghCLO.org.

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 (Grease), Gershwin (Wicked), Lunt-Fontanne (The Little Mermaid), Marquis, Minskoff (The Lion King), Nederlander (Rent), Neil Simon (Hairspray), Richard Rodgers (In The Heights) and the world famous Palace Theatre (Legally Blonde). 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.

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