The drama department was nominated for three St. Louis High School Musical and Theater Awards on May 1 for their most recent musical, “Twelfth Night.”
The SLHSMTA’s are an award ceremony started by The Fabulous Fox, The Muny, and Fox Performing Arts Charitable Foundation, to celebrate and honor outstanding achievement in high school musical theater in the St. Louis region. The theater department was also nominated last year for “Bright Star.”
“In order to participate, I fill out a registration form in the fall with information about our dates, the creative team, show information, etc.,” drama teacher Melissa Gehrke, the director of “Twelfth Night” said. “I then have to attend a meeting with the other directors and representatives from the Fox and Muny educational teams. Closer to the show, I fill out a budget form and give them more specific information about our show.”
“Twelfth Night” was nominated for Outstanding Musical Level 1, Outstanding scenic Design and Execution, and Outstanding Musical Direction.
Rehearsals started on May 10 at the Muny, rehearsing for the medley the “Twelfth Night” cast is a part of. The medley, for Outstanding Musical nominees, showcases each show in their budget level category.
“It was absolutely amazing. Not only were all the other schools so nice, but all our songs mixed so well together,” sophomore Makaela Barnes said. “The Fox is a huge theater, so looking out and seeing so many faces watching you is so exhilarating. I thought the other schools would be standoffish and mean, but that was the opposite. It felt like we all became a big family for a week and I made some amazing new friendships.”
Each school gets to submit a short snippet of a song from their show. Then the director of the awards takes the song and the choreography and adapts it to fit the Fox stage, where the award ceremony will take place. The final rehearsal will happen on the Thursday before the show, on May 23 and the awards ceremony the next day.
“I think the SLHSMTAs are an amazing opportunity for our area students to be recognized for their talent and hard work,” Gehrke said. “We’ve now had our students perform on the Fox stage two years in a row, sent one of our performers to New York City to compete nationally, won the Outstanding Musical Director award, and seen our tech students recognized with the Best Scenic Design nomination.”
