Shea's Performing Arts Center and The Lipke Foundation Announce 2017 Kenny Award Nominations

Shea's Performing Arts Center and The Lipke Foundation announced the nominees for the 24th annual Kenny Awards in 13 award categories. The event was open to 200 participants and aired live on Facebook.

Since the inception of the program, the Kenny Awards have recognized and honored outstanding musical productions in local high schools. Now in its 24th year, the Kenny Awards will again recognize local high school talent for excellence in producing and performing musicals with host DJ Anthony from Kiss 98.5.

The 24th Annual Kenny Awards ceremony will be held at Shea's on Saturday, May 13, 2017 at 6:00 p.m. The ceremony is the culmination of a year-long program that honors and recognizes the talent, hard work, and dedication of area students and teachers to high school musical theatre in Erie, Niagara, and Chautauqua counties.

Applications for this year's Kenny Awards program were accepted in October and reviewed by the panel of Kenny adjudicators. From the applicant pool, 10 schools were selected to participate as finalists in this year's program and be eligible for the Outstanding Musical Production award. The finalists for the 2017 Kenny Awards are:

Buffalo Academy of the Sacred Heart - Sister Act

Eden Jr/Sr High School - Shrek the Musical

Frontier High School - Disney's The Little Mermaid

Maple Grove High School - Anything Goes

Mount St. Mary Academy - Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella

Nardin Academy - Pippin

Orchard Park High School - Into the Woods

Royalton Hartland Central School - Thoroughly Modern Millie

St. Mary's High School - Fame

Starpoint High School - Disney's Beauty & the Beast

The Kenny adjudicators viewed and evaluated the productions and determined the nominees and winners based on what they saw. There are 14 award categories, including "The Kenny" for Outstanding Musical Production in which the winning school receives a $5,000 grant from the Lipke Foundation to be used solely by the school's theatre department. Other awards include individual performances in leading and supporting roles, as well as areas of technical production, orchestration, choreography, set design, and dance performance.

The Kenny Awards is one of more than 35 regional awards programs nationwide participating in the National High School Musical Awards Program, aka The Jimmy Awards, which will allow the selected Outstanding Leading Actress and Actor of the Kenny Awards to win an all-expenses-paid, week-long trip to New York City to compete in the National High School Musical Theatre Awards in June, 2017.

This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity will include rehearsals and coaching sessions with Broadway performers, performances, and other beneficial experiences. Participants in "The Jimmy Awards" will compete for various college scholarships.

The 2017 Kenny Awards nominees are:

Outstanding Orchestral Performance

Eden Jr/Sr High School, Shrek the Musical

Frontier High School, Disney's The Little Mermaid

Orchard Park High School, Into the Woods

Starpoint High School, Disney's Beauty & the Beast

Outstanding Technical Design

Frontier High School, Disney's The Little Mermaid

Orchard Park High School, Into the Woods

Royalton Hartland Central School, Thoroughly Modern Millie

Starpoint High School, Disney's Beauty & the Beast

Outstanding Choral Performance

Eden Jr/Sr High School, Shrek the Musical

Frontier High School, Disney's The Little Mermaid

Maple Grove High School, Anything Goes

Sacred Heart Academy, Sister Act

Outstanding Scenic Design

Maple Grove High School, Anything Goes

Orchard Park High School, Into the Woods

Royalton Hartland Central School, Thoroughly Modern Millie

Starpoint High School, Disney's Beauty & the Beast

Outstanding Dramatic Performance

Eden Jr/Sr High School, Shrek the Musical

Maple Grove High School, Anything Goes

Nardin Academy, Pippin

Starpoint High School, Disney's Beauty & the Beast

Outstanding Costume Design

Eden Jr/Sr High School, Shrek the Musical

Maple Grove High School, Anything Goes

Orchard Park High School, Into the Woods

Royalton Hartland Central School, Thoroughly Modern Millie

Outstanding Dance Performance

Maple Grove High School, Anything Goes

Royalton Hartland Central School, Thoroughly Modern Millie

St. Mary's High School, Fame

Starpoint High School, Disney's Beauty & the Beast

The Blossom Cohan Award

Honors a performer who "blossoms" in a role

Patrick Burke as The Headless Man, Nardin Academy, Pippin

Owen Hand as Monsieur D'Arque, Starpoint High School, Disney's Beauty & the Beast

Joseph Lotocki as Chef Louis, Frontier High School, Disney's The Little Mermaid

Jillian Vitale as Mabel, St. Mary's High School, Fame

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble

Fiona Tower, Eden Jr/Sr High School, Shrek the Musical

Flotsam & Jetsam, Frontier High School, Disney's The Little Mermaid

"Lady in the Long Black Dress," Sacred Heart Academy, Sister Act

"Stepsister's Lament," Mount St. Mary Academy, Cinderella

Outstanding Actress in a Supporting Role

Emily Augustyniak as Berthe, Nardin Academy, Pippin

Paige Cummings as Erma, Maple Grove High School, Anything Goes

Shannon Dent as Mrs. Meers, Royalton Hartland Central School, Thoroughly Modern Millie

Amelia Waddell as Grace, Mount St. Mary Academy, Cinderella

Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role

Jake Grear as LeFou, Starpoint High School, Disney's Beauty & the Beast

Christopher Moran as King Triton, Frontier High School, Disney's The Little Mermaid

Brandon Reagle as Moonface Martin, Maple Grove High School, Anything Goes

Ryan Storto as Jack, Orchard Park High School, Into the Woods

Outstanding Actress in a Leading Role

Grace Auer as Reno Sweeney, Maple Grove High School, Anything Goes

Mairead Farrell as Mother Superior, Sacred Heart Academy, Sister Act

Madeline HusVar as Catherine, Nardin Academy, Pippin

Reanna Kicinski as Ursula, Frontier High School, Disney's The Little Mermaid

Outstanding Actor in a Leading Role

MerriCK Allen as Shrek, Eden Jr/Sr High School, Shrek the Musical

Ian Hayes as Prince Eric, Frontier High School, Disney's The Little Mermaid

Christopher Palumbo as Gaston, Starpoint High School, Disney's Beauty & the Beast

Daniel Wilde as Raoul, Clarence High School, Phantom of the Opera

Ceremony tickets are available now through a finalist school for $8.00 presale. Tickets will go on sale to the public on Saturday, April 29 at 10:00 am and may be purchased online at www.ticketmaster.com, by phone at 1-800-745-3000, or in person at Shea's Box Office, 650 Main Street. The day of the ceremony, tickets may be purchased for $10.00.

For information on the Kenny Award Program, visit KennyAwards.weebly.com.

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