Hundreds of Iowa high school theater students from dozens of schools are in central Iowa, rehearsing on the big stage at the Des Moines Civic Center for tonight’s final performance. The annual Iowa High School Musical Theater Awards Showcase will be streamed live on IowaPBS.org.
Karoline Myers, director of education at Des Moines Performing Arts, says it’s a massive undertaking.
“We’ll have about 650 students that will participate in the showcase. They’ll all get across the stage in a meaningful way to showcase the great work that they’re doing in musical theater and behind-the-scenes roles,” Myers says. “This year is our largest year to date. We have over 108 schools that were adjudicated this year through the program, and we will see the vast majority of them participate in some way.”
She says the showcase is the celebration of the extraordinary achievements of Iowa’s young musical theater artists. It’s essentially the Tony Awards for Iowa’s high school students, with what Myers says will be performances of “the best of the best” excerpts from several shows that were put on across Iowa in the past school year.
“We’ll see a mix of schools bringing ensembles for a big group number from their show. We’ll also have several soloists and duets from principal roles that really stood out, and were just really shining examples of the strength of individual performing actors and actresses,” Myers says, “and then we bookend the evening with three big medleys that we put together from the ground up with a guest creative team that are New York City-based Broadway professionals.”
Two students will be named tonight as “triple threat” winners for excelling as actors, vocalists, and dancers. They’ll represent Iowa at the National High School Musical Theatre Awards in New York City for ten days, culminating with the Jimmy Awards on June 22nd at Broadway’s Minskoff Theatre.
At a time when many Iowa high schools are cutting budgets, especially in programs like the arts, Myers says the theater remains an exceptional outlet.
“Theater provides such a special and safe place for so many students, and there’s really a pathway for whatever kind of kid you are in school, there is a home for you in the theater arts,” Myers says. “Whether you’re that one who wants to step forward into the limelight, whether you’re that artsy or creative kid who gets involved with lighting design or scenic painting, there’s all of these different inroads and types of brains and creative minds that can come together.”
She says there’s nothing like a school musical to pull together so many students with so many talents, teaching them vital life skills like collaboration, communication, problem solving, and learning to work as a team.
The showcase will livestream at 7 p.m. at IowaPBS.org, with the full show to be broadcast on TV in July.