Princeton Day School performing arts department was recognized with 13 Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Award nominations.
Students were nominated for their production of Urinetown.
The Rising Star Awards, organized by the Paper Mill Playhouse, is a statewide competition of New Jersey high school musicals modeled after the Tony Awards on Broadway.
Awards are presented for outstanding achievement by students and educators in the areas of performance, design, direction, choreography, technical production and overall production excellence.
PDS was selected from more than 100 productions that were entered in the competition this year.
The cast and crew was nominated for Outstanding Overall Production of a Musical, Outstanding Performance by a Chorus and Outstanding Performance by a Featured Ensemble Group: The Rebel Poor.
Junior Adina Triolo of Skillman was nominated for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role.
Senior Jessica Toltzis of Yardley, Pa., was nominated for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role.
Senior Michael Tucker of Pennington and junior Joseph Haggerty of Skillman were nominated for the Student Achievement Award for Technical Theatre.
PDS theatre director Stan Cahill of Hopewell was nominated for Outstanding Achievement by a Director.
Choral instructor Andrew Schmidt of Princeton was nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction.
Dance instructor Ann Robideaux of Princeton was nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography.
Josh Benghiat was nominated for Outstanding Lighting Achievement
Performing Arts Chair Deb Sugarman of Princeton was nominated for Outstanding Costume Achievement
Finally, PDS was nominated for the Educational Impact Award for creating a set that used recycled materials and produced very little waste.
In addition to being nominated, 13 members of the cast were asked to perform at the awards ceremony on June 3.
Both of this year’s productions, Urinetown and As You Like It, earned recognitions at the state level and have been nominated with Best Productions in New Jersey.
More information is online at pds.org.
