On May 20, the JC Theatre Department held their annual theater awards where they honored those in both productions this year and announced the plays for the following year. The fall musical will be “Mary Poppins” and the spring musical will be “Shrek the Musical.”

Students involved with the Theatre Department, like junior Zach Miller, are excited to perform both shows next year. “‘Shrek’ is definitely going to be a spectacle as far as costumes and makeup goes, whereas ‘Mary Poppins’ is going to be cool technically because you have people flying and the handbag that has all the different things in it,” Miller said.

Langbein is more excited for “Shrek” because there are a variety of “fairytale personas that will be a lot of fun to portray […] I would have fun playing any of the fairytale characters, especially the sugar plum fairy,” Langbein said.

In addition to announcing the musicals for next year, the Theatre Department also announced the winners of their annual awards. The following members of the theater department won these awards and received a small trophy:

• Best Actor – Zach Miller
• Best Actress – Lilly Stannard
• Best Supporting Actor – Joshua Robinson
• Best Supporting Actress – Nicolette Ficca
• Unsung Hero – Denny Branch
• Best Ensemble Member – Trish Ho
• Best Newcomer – Mitch Hopkins
• Best Technical Student – Dickson Teel

Students are nominated for these awards by Director of Theatre Programs Kimberly Brueggemann, Director and Choreographer Larry Hensley, and Music Director and Conductor Julie Parrish. A survey is then sent out to the students of the Theatre Department who vote for the winner of each award.

Junior Dickson Teel appreciates the support of the members of the Theatre Department. “After receiving the award, I told Mrs. B, Mr. Hensley, and Mrs. Parrish that I should be the one thanking them,” Teel said.

Teel also appreciates the work of Ed Lake and alumni Marc Griffin, class of ’15, who shared their tech knowledge with him. “If it wasn’t for [them] teaching me how to use a lot of the tech in the sound booth, I wouldn’t have been able to do half of what got me nominated,” Teel said.

Miller values the support of the Theatre Department as well. As a recent winner of the Best Actor award from the Baltimore Theatre Awards, Miller thought it was nice to know that his peers believed he was talented enough to win the award. “What was really special about winning this award was that it’s your peers who chose you, not just faculty members,” Miller said.

Caroline Cooney is an In-Focus Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.