Westfield High School Nominated for 14 Paper Mill Playhouse Awards

Westfield High School has received numerous Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Awards nominations for its recent production of “Urinetown”.

The Westfield High School theatre department has been nominated for 14 awards including: outstanding overall production of a musical; outstanding performance by an actor in a leading role for Julian Mone as “Bobby Strong”; outstanding performance by an actress in a supporting role for Lauren Echausse as “Little Sally”; performance by a featured ensemble group; chorus; direction; music direction; choreography and staging; scenic achievement; lighting; costume design; hair and make-up; and Stephen Bubniak, stage management, and Rita Murphy, graphic design, for student achievement awards.

The Paper Mill Playhouse founded the Rising Stars Awards in 1996 to encourage and reward exceptional accomplishments in the production of high school theatre, according to the Paper Mill Playhouse. Additionally, the theatre offers four $1,000 awards to outstanding individual students participating in entered Rising Star Award productions, and who plan to continue studying theatre or technical theatre in college.

Among the five top nominated high schools are Union High School with 16 nominations, followed by Columbia High School in Maplewood and Westfield High School each with 14 nominations, Summit High School with 11 nominations and Hillsborough High School rounding out the top five with nine nominations.

Tickets to the Rising Star Awards Ceremony on Tuesday, June 2, will be made available to final nominees via their school contact on May 6.

Visit the Paper Mill Playhouse website for a complete list of nominees.