CHS Brings Home PaperMill Rising Star Awards

 Columbia High School’s young performers bring home the glory. The Drowsy Chaperone and its cast were nominated for Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Awards and won in two categories:

Rising Star Award Winners:

Student Achievement Award Winner: Jacob Schmitz, Stage Manager

Student Achievement Award Winner: Stage Crew

Rising Star Award Nominees:

Outstanding Overall Production of a Musical, Honorable Mention

Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, Honorable Mention: Austin Bommer as “Janet Van de Graff”

Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role: Alex Henderson as “The Drowsy Chaperone”

Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role: . Tyler Pease as “Robert Martin”

Outstanding Performance by an Orchestra

Outstanding Achievement by a Teacher or Outside Director, Honorable Mention: Robert Cohen

Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction, Honorable Mention: Jamie Bunce and Peter Bauer

Outstanding Lighting Achievement, Honorable Mention: Tara Abbondante

Outstanding Hair and Make-up Achievement, Honorable Mention: Karen Fabbo

Student Achievement Award nominees:

Jacob Schmitz, Stage Manager 

Dan Weiss, Sound Crew / Special Effects

Stage Crew, Lighting, Set and Sound

The awards, presented by the Investors Savings Bank Foundation, were created in 1996 to encourage and reward exceptional accomplishments in the production of high school musical theatre. Now in its 16th year, the Rising Star Awards is a statewide competition of New Jersey high school musicals modeled after Broadway's Tony Awards.  The Rising Star Award Corps of Evaluators see shows at all 100 entered schools.

In June, the Tony Awards-style Rising Star Awards Gala Ceremony was presented on the Paper Mill stage, where nominees perform and selected recipients are presented with an engraved crystal award from sponsor Tiffany & Co.

Paper Mill Playhouse also awards four $1000 cash scholarships to outstanding individual students participating in entered Rising Star Award productions who plan to continue studying theater in college. A fifth scholarship for $1000 dedicated to technical theater is sponsored by Scaramouche Costumes, LLC.

Lastly, students receiving final nominations in the lead and supporting acting categories win a full scholarship to Paper Mill Playhouse's competitive Summer Musical Theatre Conservatory, a professional training program which along with advanced classes in singing, acting and dance, offers the nominees an opportunity to perform on the Paper Mill stage in our annual New Voices Concert.

Congratulations, CHS!