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Jun, 2018
More honors and first “Thespian Awards” for Uni Theatre program
[Posted June 2, 2018] It’s the high school awards season, so why not have an awards program for Uni Theatre?
Uni’s Director of Theatre Arts, Ronnie Sperling ‘76, made that a reality in 2018, with the first-ever Uni High Thespian Awards. Awarded on May 22, the actors and technical staff voted for male and female awardees in 23 categories, which ranged from the serious to the quite silly, such as “Best Hugger,” Biggest Slob” and “Best Shoulder to Cry on.”
In the more traditional categories, the winners included:
- Best All Around:
Claire Hafteck and Kevin Flores-Luna - Best Actors:
Akira Shelton and Colton Kelley - Best Dancers:
Claire Hafteck and Colton Kelley - Best Singers:
Jasmine Mentzer and Kevin Flores-Luna - Best Tech:
Trinity Erazo and Brandon Diakis - Most Likely to be on Broadway:
Akira Shelton, Maribel Solis and Colton Kelley
In addition, Uni scored a second nomination for the Jerry Herman Awards, the top honor for high school theater in California. Uni’s Shelton was already nominated in the category of Lead Actress for her performance as Logainne Swartzandgrubenierre in “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”
In the category of Best Supporting Actress, Roscoe Upton was nominated for her performance as Donna Panch in “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” as well.
The 2018 Jerry Herman Awards will be distributed at The Ricardo Montalban Theatre in Hollywood and hosted by KABC-7 reporter George Pennacchio on June 3.
Sperling shared that this is Uni’s second entry in the seven years of these awards. At the very first ceremony in 2012, Uni’s Evyn Mirasol won for Best Leading Actress. She then went to New York to compete in the National High School Awards – The Jimmy Awards – where she won second prize.