'Runaways' Receives Record Number of Awards Nominations

Fair Lawn High School's "Runaways" has the chance to earn more hardware than any previous musical production put on by the high school.

After picking up five of nine awards as a first-time entrant at the Bucks County Playhouse Student Theater Festival in late April, "Runaways" needs to win only three of the remaining 22 awards its been nominated for to surpass the record seven awards the high school's production of "Grand Hotel" received in 2007.

Director John Giresi said the show's 27 total nominations across three award shows is already more than any other production has received.

"It was very important for our students to have that feedback, especially since not as many people attended this show as previous shows," Giresi said. "It kind of validated what they always felt in that they put on an incredible piece of theater." 

He said the show's challenging and creative nature made it a director's dream, an excellent growth opportunity for students and a potential award darling.

"From a creative and artistic point of view, it was just a very rich piece for student growth, for students being showcased, for us being very unique and creative with it, so I’m not surprised that it’s getting all this recognition," Giresi said.

The musical, which ran from March 21 to March 24, is an ensemble piece about displaced youth that contains 43 segments over two acts and, as such, gave a multitude of students an opportunity to showcase their skills.

"We really gave equal emphasis and rehearsal time to each individual segment," Giresi said. "Some of them are songs, some are group numbers with a lead vocal, some of them are individual monologues and some of those individual monologues we broke up into multiple pieces with more than one kid doing it. Some kids did more than one segment, so it really spread the wealth around."

The acclaimed director said he originally considered chopping some of the segments and turning the show into a single act, but was convinced to retain the entire script after seeing his students perform.

"Once I realized what the depth of talent was in the cast, we didn’t cut a single thing," said Giresi, noting that many pieces were reinvented to allow multiple students to deliver parts of longer monologues. "It was all very organic how the piece evolved and how the casting fed off of the directing and how the directing fed off of the casting."

While the segmented structure of "Runaways" allowed Giresi to showcase many students, he said it likely limited the number of awards the show's actors were considered for.

"Since it was an ensemble piece, it didn’t really clearly qualify for some categories," Giresi explained. "Who’s the leading actor? Who’s the leading actress? Who’s supporting actor? Who’s supporting actress? Really they’re all featured...Out of 30 kids in the cast, to get nominated for "Supporting" the odds are against you."

Nonetheless, freshman Trevor Braun was nominated for an award by all three programs. Braun, already an experienced Broadway performer, received a Spotlight Award from Bucks County Playhouse and has been nominated for Outstanding Leading Actor by the Metropolitan Awards and for Outstanding Featured Performer by Papermill Playhouse.

"He brings everything a director would want to a show in that he has not only experience, he’s highly motivated and he’s easy to work with," Giresi said of Braun. "He has all the characteristics of being a dream performer, so it was a lot of fun just finding the spots where we could utilize his talents in an ensemble piece."

Other individual students who were recognized include Matthew Mucha (Outstanding Featured Actor, Bucks County Playhouse), Lexi Rosenblum (Outstanding Featured Actress, Bucks County Playhouse), Jessicka Oviedo (Outstanding Supporting Actress, Metropolitan Awards nomination), Jessicka Oviedo and Bryan Santana (Outstanding Duet Performance, Metropolitan Awards nomination) and Isaiah Chen (Oustanding Instrumentalist, Metropolitan Awards nomination).

From an all-around performance perspective, "Runaways" is up for Outstanding Overall Production, Outstanding Director, Outstanding Orchestra, Outstanding Chorus, Outstanding Choreography, Oustanding Musical Direction and Outstanding Lighting Design in both the Papermill and Metropolitan Awards.

The cast and crew will learn their fate at the Metropolitan (14 nominations) and Papermill Playhouse (eight nominations) award ceremonies on June 3 and 4, respectively.

"I’m very optimistic about doing well at the ceremonies," Giresi said. "I feel very confident about the piece and I’m very proud of what the students achieved."

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