Nominees were announced this week for Prime Stage Theatre’s 5th Annual High School Drama Awards taking place Jan. 11, 2025 at Hillman Center for the Performing Arts in Fox Chapel.
The Drama Awards honor excellence in non-musical plays by student actors, directors and production crew. Students from 15 area high schools were nominated in 16 categories. The event annually draws around 400 students, teachers and families.
The complete list of the 2025 nominees is at https://primestage.com/events/drama-awards.
“What makes these awards unique,” says Drama Awards coordinator John Dolphin, “is that to be eligible, the students must be in a backstage leadership role or an onstage performance role. We encourage adult mentorship and assistance, but in the end, these productions are student-run.”
During the evening, the five schools nominated for Best Overall Production will present a short scene from their nominated production.
This year’s Best Overall Production nominees are Avonworth High School (12 Angry Jurors), Carlynton High School (Sorry, Wrong Show!), Chartiers Valley High School (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child), Pine-Richland High School (The Holiday Channel Movie Wonderthon) and Quaker Valley High School (Almost, Maine).
Monteze Freeland, co-artistic director of City Theatre, will serve as master of ceremonies; the evening’s special guest is Ben King, a 2018 Carnegie Mellon University drama school graduate now working as production manager for Hudson Scenic Studios in New York.
“The High School Drama Awards is our way of looking to the future,” says Dr. Wayne Brinda, Prime Stage Theatre Producing Artistic Director. “By encouraging these young actors and production specialists in their early efforts, we’re building a strong foundation for Pittsburgh theatre in years to come.”
Since its founding in 1996, Prime Stage Theatre has presented over 100 plays that introduce student and family audiences to classic and contemporary works of world literature.
The theatre’s current 2024-25 Season of Strength, Voices and Hope includes Great Expectations; Looking Forward: The Ruby Bridges Story; I Never Saw Another Butterfly and The Terezin Promise; Twelve Angry Men.
In addition, the Monday Night Special Series offers one-night performances of How I Learned What I Learned (Jan. 20) with Pittsburgh Actor of the Year Wali Jamal performing playwright August Wilson’s riveting theatrical biography; Freedom House: Giving Life a Second Chance (Mar. 3), a staged reading of a new play by L.E. McCullough on the birth of America’s first EMS units in 1960s Pittsburgh; Speak (May 5), a staged reading of a new Prime Stage Theatre adaptation by Tammy Ryan of Laurie Halse Anderson’s powerful young adult novel presented in partnership with Pittsburgh Action Against Rape.
5th Annual High School Drama Awards sponsors are King Family Giving Fund and SLB Radio; more information is at https://primestage.com/events/drama-awards/.
Quaker Valley was nominated for the following awards:
Best Actor - Milo Taylor-Martin
Best Actress - Emma Leghorn
Best Student Director - Jack Miller
Best Student Stage Manager - Jonathan Munn
Best Scenic Design - Jack Miller and Emma Leghorn
Best Lighting Design and Operation - Braiden Hoffman
Best Costume Design - Ana Luiza Bacchi and Evelyn Bertiaux
Best Makeup Design - Evelyn Bertiaux
Best Program Design - Ana Luiza Bacchi
Best Production!