CRT Pavilion Awards

The winners for the seventh annual Cortland Repertory Theatre “Pavilion Awards” were announced on Sunday, May 31, at the National Historic Little York Pavilion, home to CRT.  The awards, sponsored by First Niagara Bank, recognize outstanding achievement in local high school theatre during the 2008-09 school year.

Trophies were presented to the winners in a ceremony hosted by Producing Artistic Director Kerby Thompson and Assistant Director Jim Bumgardner. Presenters included members of CRT’s Performing Intern program – Corwin Barnes, Kristopher Dean, Evan Faram, Joel Pellini, and Jared Titus.

The cast of CRT’s first production “Once on This Island” also presented the Best Ensemble awards, the School Spirit Award and Special Recognition Awards, and also performed two musical numbers from the show which opens on Wednesday, June 3.  Each of the six nominated high schools that produced musicals - Cortland, Dryden, Groton, Homer, McGraw and Tully - performed a musical number from their production.

First Niagara Bank representative Sandy Sampson spoke on behalf of the corporate sponsor, acknowledging the work that the students and teachers accomplished over the year and offered words of encouragement to keep the arts alive in the school system.  Following the ceremony, the CRT Board and Guild hosted a reception for all in attendance.

The recipients of the awards are as followings:

Best Musical: (tie) Evita (Cortland) and Hello, Dolly! (Homer)
Best Play: You Can’t Take It With You (Cortland)

Musical Ensemble: Grease (Dryden)
Play Ensemble: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Tully)

Lead Actor in a Musical: Jordan Nguyen (Tully)
Special Recognition was given to the three actors who placed second in a three-way tie, which was ‘point 1’ percent difference from Mr. Nguyen.  These three actors were Tim Fuchs (Dryden), Brandon Young (Groton) and Justin Dimorier (McGraw).

Lead Actor in a Play: Kory Nauseef (Homer)
Lead Actress in a Musical: Erin Patch (McGraw)
Lead Actress in a Play: Annali Fuchs (Dryden)

Supporting Actor in a Musical: Jason Mulligan (Homer)
Supporting Actor in a Play: Wade Shute (Tully)
Supporting Actress in a Musical:  Annali Fuchs (Dryden)
Supporting Actress in a Play: Bailey Marks (Cortland)

Featured Actor in a Musical: Jeffrey Kerr (Tully)
Featured Actor in a Play: Tim Fuchs (Dryden)
Featured Actress in a Musical:  Joy Yeager (Dryden)
Featured Actress in a Play: Claire Dvorak (Tully)

Technical Achievement: Theresa Pierce (Cortland)

Student Written One-Act Play: “Oh God” by Logan Marks (Cortland)

CRT Scholarships:   Annali Fuchs (Dryden), Tim Fuchs (Dryden) and Theresa Pierce (Cortland)

“Most Valuable Player” Awards (voted by the students, a winner from each production):
Cortland: Danica Ostrander (one-acts), Andrea Montez (musical), Michael O’Donnell (play); Dryden: Emily Breedlove (musical), Mark Whitmore (play); Groton: Logan Wannall; Homer: Jason Mulligan (musical), Mariah Bush (play); McGraw: Erin Patch; Tully: Steve Bartleson (musical), Claire Dvorak (play)

Also, Special Recognition Awards were presented as voted on by the CRT judges:

Groton High School was presented with a School Spirit Award, for their research, presentation and enthusiasm for their production of “Bye Bye Birdie”.

Youth Pavilion Awards were presented to Aiden Dittman and Andrew Niver who portrayed Oliver Twist and the Artful Dodger in McGraw’s production of “Oliver!”.

Elizabeth Haskins, Melissa Straub, Hannah Kemmer and Rebecca Gould were given special recognition by bringing great humor and personality as puppeteers portraying mice in Tully’s production of “Cinderella”.