Starlight Theatre names Blue Star Award winners. These area actors are the winners

The results are in, and numerous high school students around the area are taking a figurative bow after being recognized in Starlight Theatre’s annual Blue Star Awards.

Olathe’s high schools were particularly successful in this year’s awards. Olathe North won for overall production with its performance of “Bright Star” with an additional prize for that show’s lead actress, Hannah Guzman.

“She really just took on that role and made it work,” said Olathe North theater teacher Dustin Pence. “It’s a solid story, and she accepted that story and really developed that character to go with the story.”

Lee’s Summit West’s Cooper Carr took the award for lead actor in “Elf: The Musical,” and the school also received an award for its orchestra.

“We really needed somebody in that role who could be a great singer and also who could really act,” said Brad Rackers, theater teacher at Lee’s Summit West. “The one thing Cooper brought to that is from the day he auditioned: He was prepared for the role.

“Cooper is a really thoughtful actor, and that helps a lot. He’s also a really brilliant musician.”

The key to any performance’s success, though, is not to focus on standing out, Pence said.

“If you have one group or one person that is purposefully trying to stand out, it ends up hurting the entire show,” Pence said. “And when a group comes together and just wants to produce an excellent piece of art or of theater, the show can come together and do some really amazing things.”

At Olathe East, supporting actress Willa Walberg and featured actor Jeremiah Valenzuela won for “All Shook Up.” The production also won for its scenic design and construction. Summer Sperke of Olathe West took the stage management award for “Xanadu,” a production that also won for lighting design and costume design and construction.

In Johnson County, Olivia Wells, of Blue Valley High, took the prize as an actress in the ensemble of “Guys and Dolls.”

Raymore-Peculiar’s Denton Meehan won for his supporting role in “Guys and Dolls.”

“(‘Guys and Dolls’) has some of that quality of a James Cagney movie, that gangster’s quality. He was able to capture that style and be very funny and bring that all together with a talented singing voice,” said Todd Schnake, Ray-Pec’s theater director.

To determine the winners, Starlight has teams of theater educators and people working regularly in theaters who go to the various productions as they’re staged. Performances are judged based on a specific rubric.

Not only do the theater pros award points for 23 aspects of the show, they also note at least three positive things about the production as well as three things to work on for next time. Theater teachers later get these as part of a report.

“One of the things I love about the Blue Star Awards is that there’s no magic recipe for a production,” said Andy Pierce, community engagement manager for Starlight. “It’s just, at the end of the day, what the schools do with them and how they embrace the creativity and imagination that theater is all about.”

Those reports also go to a nominating committee of six to 10 people who decide on the awards. Schools can choose one production to be reviewed each year.

Of the 53 shows to be analyzed this year, approximately 37 took place in November. Because of the fall-heavy schedule, only Rockhurst High School students missed their chance at the awards this year due to pandemic cancellations.

This year’s entrants featured 21 Kansas schools and 33 Missouri schools across the entire metro area.

Pierce said what stands out when they’re looking at the awards are “schools that are letting the students do the work and are doing a great job of training the next generation of artists.”

Part of that comes from really working together.

“There’s nothing as good as working with people that are highly committed and very good at what they’re doing. It makes you better,” Schnake said.

The awards themselves had to be moved online this year, but Starlight produced a video ceremony featuring the various performers, filmed singing alone. One of the biggest differences, though, came in the prizes.

Normally, the winners for lead actor and actress (this year Guzman and Carr) take a trip to New York to attend the National High School Musical Theater Awards in addition to getting training with Broadway professionals and performing at the Minskoff Theatre. To make up for that cancellation, this year’s two winners each received a $1,000 scholarship.

This story was originally published September 4, 2020 at 5:00 AM.