Student performers lauded
The winners of the fifth Proctors High School Musical Theater Awards were announced during a streamed broadcast Saturday evening. Nicayaisabella Rios of Guilderland High School won for best actress and Scout Santoro of Shaker High School for best actor.
The event, which again was co-sponsored by the Times Union, is usually held live at Proctors with participating schools recreating ensemble pieces, but for this year was downsized due to COVID -19 restrictions to only individual acting nominations. Proctors Collaborative CEO Philip Morris and Times Union Editor Casey Seiler co-hosted the pre-recorded broadcast where the winners of the 10 finalists, five from each category, were announced.
In lieu of live performances, the broadcast featured the nominees’ pre-recorded in-person auditions, filmed at the brand new Proctors theater. The event also featured montages of all the nominees singing together online, in a socially distanced manner, proving how talented each of them was.
According to Christine Sheehan, education director at Proctors, both students exemplified outstanding performance in the triple threat (acting, singing and dance) used by the judges in their decisions. The winners will go on to compete at a national level at the virtual Jimmy Awards in June.
Sheehan said the music selection made a difference in an audition when
the song is “right” for a student.
“I can say that judges appreciated the numerous tools that both performers used throughout their performances and the emotional connection and depth of storytelling exhibited. Performers showed a magnificent range of technical ability,” said Sheehan.
Rios’ winning entry was the piece “Everything I Know,” from the musical “In The Heights.” Rios said in a Times Union story leading up to the awards show that the song was personal to her as someone of Mexicanamerican descent. But also, she said, “I lost my grandfather about six years ago and it was one of the most painful things I have ever experienced. I sing this song for him every time.”
She went on to thank him in her acceptance speech, “A special thank you to my grandfather, who has always been at every show he could be and now has the best seat in heaven as he continues to inspire me and guide me from above.”
Santoro won with the song “What Is It About Her?” from Andrew Lippa’s “The Wild Party.” It is a piece, he said, that he has known for a long time and loves to sing. Santoro was working on this piece before the pandemic hit
and said he was excited to be able to perform it. He said so in his speech, talking about how he had missed performing.
According to Sheehan, the winners were extremely well prepared and showed the kind of commitment and poise that is required of a Broadway performer. “That says a lot about them, especially during a pandemic when people have become a bit less structured and formal,” she said. “These students had wonderful training.
“No one missed a beat when we asked them about their ambitions and plans after this year. This year has taken an emotional toll on people, but these students have shown they can rise above it. Their teachers should be very proud of them.”
— Shrishti Mathew
Student interviewer of Obama dies at 23
The student reporter who gained national acclaim when he interviewed President Barack Obama at the White House in 2009 has died of natural causes, his family says.
Damon Weaver was 23 when he died May 1, his sister, Candace Hardy, told the Palm Beach Post. He was studying communications at Albany State University in Georgia.
Weaver was 11 when he
interviewed Obama for 10 minutes in the Diplomatic Room on Aug. 13, 2009, asking questions that focused primarily on education. He covered school lunches, bullying, conflict resolution and how to succeed.
Weaver then asked Obama to be his “homeboy,” saying thenvice President Joe Biden had accepted.
“Absolutely,” a smiling Obama said. He used that meeting to later interview Oprah Winfrey and athletes like Dwyane Wade.
“He was just a nice person, genuine, very intelligent,” Hardy said. “Very outspoken, outgoing.”
Weaver got his start in fifth-grade when he volunteered for the school newscast at K.E. Cunningham/canal Point Elementary.
“Damon was the kid who ran after me in the hall to tell me he was interested,” his teacher, Brian Zimmerman, told the Post in 2016. “And right away, I just saw the potential for the way he was on camera. You could see his personality come through. He wasn’t nervous being on camera.”