Roger Rees Awards Announce 2016 NYC Student Nominees

The Roger Rees Awards for Excellence in Student Performance (formerly the Gershwin Awards), has announced the 2015-2016 student performers who will compete for the title of Best Actress and Best Actor in a licensed high musical presented by high schools located in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island, Long Island and Westchester.

This year, 24 schools have nominated their students to participate in the program.

To commemorate Roger Rees' birthday, May 5th, and to celebrate New York's student talent, the complete list of nominees is available by clicking here.

The Roger Rees Awards will be held on Sunday, May 22 at 4:00 pm at the Beacon School in Manhattan. Produced by the Broadway Education Alliance, The Roger Rees Awards is a musical theater showcase featuring ensemble musical numbers and solos by students performing a song from his or her leading role in their school musical for industry professionals, family and friends. Two students will be selected by a panel of theater industry professionals to receive the Best Actress and Best Actor Awards.

Two student winners will represent Greater New York at the 8th National High School Musical Theatre Awards on June 27 at the Minskoff Theatre. Previous New York City winner and Beacon School graduate, Marla Louissaint was named NHSMTA's 2015 Best Actress for her role of Caroline in the school's production of Caroline or Change.

The Roger Rees Awards for Excellence in Student Performance celebrates the exceptional life and career-long artistic excellence of Broadway's beloved actor, Roger Rees. Roger received Olivier and Tony Awards for his performance in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, and Tony nominations for Indiscretions and as co-director of Peter and the Starcatcher. He passed away in July 2015 after a year-long battle with brain cancer. He was posthumously inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in November 2015.

This event is produced by the Broadway Education Alliance with generous support by Disney Theatrical Group, Camp Broadway, LLC, Dodger Theatrical Productions, The Business and Labor Coalition of New York (BALCONY), and other professional organizations.

For more information, visit RogerReesAwards.com. To make a donation to support this program, click here.