The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
In the spotlight
Spotlight Society shines at Musical Theatre Competition of America and National Performing Arts Festival
Spotlight Society, formerly the Caryl Crane Youth Theatre competition team, brought home 15 awards including First Place Musical Revue and First Place Production Number from the 2022 Musical Theatre Competitions of America and the National Performing Arts Festival over two weekends in February.
The group, which is comprised of 26 middle and high school students from 12 area schools, won first place for their rendition of a revue featuring the music of composing team Stiles and Drewe at the Musical Theatre Competitions of America in Los Angeles, as well as first place for their presentation of “Silly Symphony” from Disney’s On The Record, and second Place for their production of All Shook Up.
At the National Performing Arts Festival in Orlando, the team received the Superior Rating trophy and seven individual awards, including first place for Caylin McCormick (Huron High School) and Natalie Kwasny-Jackson (Edison High School), for their duet “The Night Bus,” from the new musical, Becoming Nancy.
At the Musical Theatre Competitions of America, Bryce Nevison (Huron High School) took first place for Male Soloist and Jordyn Freetage (Jackson High School) received the fourthplace award for Female Soloist. Kate Doyle (Norwalk High School) won third place for the technical theatre competition and Ryan Humphrey (Vermilion High School) brought home the third-place trophy for Hair and Make-up Design. Spotlight Society Director Brian Marshall received special recognition for his commitment to arts education.
At the National Performing Arts Festival, in addition to their First-Place duet, both Natalie KwasnyJackson and Caylin McComick received the Best Actress and Supporting Actress awards, respectively, for their performance in Never Land: A Spotlight on Stiles and Drewe. Bryce Nevison received the Best Actor trophy and Ben Parnell (Perkins High School) and Nathan Reynolds (Briar Middle School) were awarded Supporting Actor trophies and Jessica Hartley (Elyria High School) received a dual trophy for Supporting Actress, as well as Outstanding Student Choreography.
Of these competitions, Marshall says, “We think of these festivals as the Winter Olympics of musical theatre performance for middle and high school students! And this year, we are bringing home the Gold!”
According to a release from the group, the Spotlight Society students compete against more than 7,500 other young actors from across the globe during these festivals, and to be recognized at all is an accomplishment. The fact that our students are consistently considered the top of the top means that we, as a program, are doing something right. As an educational training program, the awards are a wonderful validation of our hard work as a team. Spotlight Society is 100% organized and run by volunteers who believe that the exposure to being part of a global community of peers who love the arts is a life-shaping experience our young artists can’t find anywhere else.
“As an educator, the awards take a back seat to just witnessing our students stand in front of a room of 2,000 other students and show their love for theatre arts by singing, dancing, acting and demonstrating backstage theatrical skills. The awards are fantastic, but watching our students achieve their theatrical dreams is beyond words for me,” Marshall said.
Because the team scored so well during the festival season, Spotlight Society has been invited to participate in Nationals, the yearly culmination of all musical theatre festivals, in Phoenix in July. Auditions for high school participation on the Spotlight team at Nationals will be coming within the next few weeks so stay tuned! The organization itself will be hosting a Night at the Races fundraiser later this spring to assist us in keeping the student training costs tuition-free.
Spotlight Society’s festival participation was sponsored by Fair Publishing in Norwalk.