From the New Mexico High School Musical Theatre Awards:

Forty high school students from across New Mexico have been named as finalists for four top awards in the biggest celebration of high school theater in the state.

The Enchantment Awards named students from 10 high schools as nominees for their annual show. The students chosen as Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Supporting Actor will be announced during the show in Popejoy Hall at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 28.

“Our show puts as many as 150 students on Popejoy’s stage to perform throughout the evening,” said Laura A. Maness, co-executive director of the New Mexico High School Musical Theatre Awards, the organization that stages the celebration. “With that many performers, it’s a true celebration of their accomplishments, their performances, and their growth as artists and individuals.”

The awards program itself is called the Enchantment Awards. This is the first time since 2019 that the program has been able to present its full show. Two winners from the show will also go on to compete in the National High School Musical Theatre Awards.

The Enchantment Awards features solos and medleys from the Best Actress and Best Actor nominees, and a medley performed by the Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor nominees who are joined by the Directors Choice Chorus, representatives from each school registered with the program. The five finalists for production awards also perform a number from their nominated show.

“We have a lot of music in this show,” Co-Executive Director Terry S. Davis. “It’s a night filled with some astoundingly good performances by the students.”

“We’ve seen these students perform in shows in their high schools around the state since last fall,” Maness said. “These are just a few of the many hundreds of students who perform in their school drama programs or work backstage on those shows. Those programs are incredibly important to so many students in this state.”

The student finalists for the 2023 Enchantment Awards are:

Best Actress:

• Clare Adams-Crow for Paulette in Legally Blonde the Musical; Cottonwood Classical Preparatory School;
• Mia Ayon for Ginger Brooks in The 1940s Radio Hour; Mayfield High School;
• Gabriella Ann Azzolini for Vi Shaw in Footloose; Organ Mountain High School;
• Emily R. Baron for Sophie in Mamma Mia!; Public Academy for Performing Arts;
• Sofi Carreon for The Witch in Into the Woods; Centennial High School;
• Kim Jurgens for Anya in Anastasia; Rio Rancho High School;
• Lola J. Kark for Shakespeare in Something Rotten; Santa Fe Preparatory School;
• Nora Kai Little for Velma Kelly in Chicago: Teen Edition; Albuquerque Academy;
• Olivia J. Long for Leading Player in Pippin; Los Alamos High School; and
• Arlan Visser for Nick Bottom in Something Rotten; Santa Fe Preparatory School.

Best Actor:

• Anson Adams-Crow for Emmett Forrest in Legally Blonde the Musical; Cottonwood Classical Preparatory School;
• Luke Benanav for Nostradamus in Something Rotten; Santa Fe Preparatory School;
• Sebastian Bharat for Nigel Bottom in Something Rotten; Santa Fe Preparatory School;
• Henry Deacon for Sam Carmichael in Mamma Mia!; Public Academy for Performing Arts;
• Alejandro Lazo for Vlad in Anastasia; Organ Mountain High School;
• Mattias Maez for Michael in Be More Chill; Las Cruces High School;
• Harley Sechrest for Vlad in Anastasia; Rio Rancho High School;
• Breton Sego for Dmitry in Anastasia; Rio Rancho High School;
• Jay Worthen for Gleb in Anastasia; Rio Rancho High School;
• Thomas Wray for Billy Flynn in Chicago: Teen Edition; Albuquerque Academy.

Best Supporting Actress:

• Kimberly J. Burgos for Brooke in Be More Chill; Las Cruces High School;
• Anika A. Field for Mary Sunshine in Chicago: Teen Edition; Albuquerque Academy;
• Lydia Annabella Jones for Jenna in Be More Chill; Las Cruces High School;
• Kaitlyn Mayers for Jack’s Mother in Into the Woods; Centennial High School;
• Victoria A. McFarland for Brooke in Be More Chill; Las Cruces High School;
• Kendra Sarabia for Chloe in Be More Chill; Las Cruces High School;
• Angelina K. Silva for Rapunzel in Into the Woods; Centennial High School;
• Gemma Gabriella Smith for Brooke in Legally Blonde the Musical; Cottonwood Classical Preparatory School; and
• Keely Veronica Anne Wooton for Ethel McCormack in Footloose; Organ Mountain High School.

Best Supporting Actor:

• Carlos M. Baca II for Harry Bright in Mamma Mia!; Public Academy for Performing Arts;
• Liam C. Day for Cinderella’s Prince in Into the Woods; Centennial High School;
• Adam Garcia for Rapunzel’s Prince in Into the Woods; Centennial High School;
• Logan J. Ivy for Narrator/Mysterious Man in Into the Woods; Centennial High School;
• Edward Leyva for Tzar Alexander/Count Ipolotov/others in Anastasia; Organ Mountain High School;
• Suvin Madrid for Bill Austin in Mamma Mia!; Public Academy for Performing Arts;
• Vincent M. McCullar for Clifton Feddington in The 1940s Radio Hour; Mayfield High School;
• Finnegan McKelvey for Pepper in Mamma Mia!; Public Academy for Performing Arts;
• Josiah Ortega for Wally Ferguson in The 1940s Radio Hour; Mayfield High School; and
• Henry Tholen for Charles in Pippin; Los Alamos High School.

The five finalists for the Best Production, Best Direction, and Best Ensemble awards are:

• Albuquerque Academy – Chicago: Teen Edition; Desiree Lang, director;
• Centennial High School – Into the Woods; Darin Cabot, director;
• Public Academy for Performing Arts – Mamma Mia!; Josh Heard, director;
• Rio Rancho High School – Anastasia; Gael Natal, director; and
• Santa Fe Preparatory School – Something Rotten; Brad Fairbanks, director.

A total of ten high schools from around the state registered eleven musical theater productions with NMHSMTA.

Other schools participating are:

• Cottonwood Classical Preparatory School – Legally Blonde: The Musical; student directed by Leah Mascareñas, Clare Adams-Crow, Savannah Rodriguez, Kaley McClain, and Dominic Lopez;
• Las Cruces High School – Be More Chill; Brandy Snyder, director;
• Los Alamos High School – Pippin; Megan Pimentel, director;
• Mayfield High School – The 1940s Radio Hour; Knut Brekke, director;
• Organ Mountain High School – Footloose; production supervised by Elissa Contreras; and
• Organ Mountain High School – Anastasia; production supervised by Elissa Contreras.

Two of the schools registered two casts for their productions.

There were five students or groups of students nominated for the Spotlight Award. Spotlight Awards are given for otherwise unrecognized contributions to the schools’ productions.

The nominees are:

• Kehlyn Houston, Celeste Shepherd & Lena Smith from Centennial High School;
• Lila Olberding from Las Cruces High School;
• The Choreography & Dance Team from Los Alamos High School;
• Alex Husson-Matter from Mayfield High School; and
• The Anastasia Scoobie Doo Gang from Organ Mountain High School.

Several students will also work as interns behind the scenes for the Enchantment Awards. This year, MayLi Bachand from Eldorado High School and Matisse A-T Harrison-Kittell from Organ Mountain High School will serve as assistant stage managers. Carmen Gallegos, a home school student from Santa Fe and Isabella Lobaina from Cottonwood Classical Preparatory School will serve as production management interns. Erica Padron from Organ Mountain High School and Talissa Perea, from Mayfield High School, will serve as sound and lighting interns respectively. Maia C. Harris from Volcano Vista High School will fill the new position of costume intern.

“We tell everyone that our program is an awards show once a year but an education program every day,” Davis said, “and it’s true. We educate and coach the students who are finalists for our awards even as we rehearse them.”

Finalists for the Best Actor and Best Actress awards are judged live the night of the show. The two winners are then sent to New York as nominees from New Mexico in the National High School Musical Theatre Awards, also known as the Jimmy Awards, which impacts more than 140,000 students who participate in 47 regional high school musical theatre competitions sponsored by presenters of touring Broadway productions throughout the United States. Popejoy Hall serves as the sponsor in New Mexico.

Named for Broadway impresario James M. Nederlander, the national program has been the catalyst for more than $5,000,000 in educational scholarships. Presented by the Broadway League Foundation, the NHSMTA invites one Best Actress and one Best Actor nominee from each regional ceremony to New York City for a week-long theatre intensive that includes coaching, training, and rehearsing led by some of Broadway’s most accomplished professionals. Nominees will spend one week in New York City from Monday, June 19, 2023, through Tuesday, June 27, 2023, and their combined efforts throughout the week will lead to one extraordinary talent showcase performed live in front of an audience on a Broadway stage. The thirteenth annual Jimmy Awards will take place Monday, June 26, 2023, at the Minskoff Theatre. For more information, please visit www.JimmyAwards.com.

The Enchantment Awards program recognizes individual artistry in performance, honors teachers and schools’ commitment to theatre education, and celebrates accomplishments of drama students and teachers from all over the State of New Mexico. Sponsors for this year’s Enchantment Awards are Eastern New Mexico University, Bernalillo County District 3 Commissioner Adriann Barboa, and Bernalillo County District 5 Commissioner Eric Olivas. This project is supported in part by New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional funding is provided by the Devasthali Family Foundation Fund through the Community Foundation of Southern New Mexico.

Tickets for the Enchantment Awards range from $27.50 to $42.50. Discounts are available for students (18 and younger) and groups of 10 or more. Tickets are available at unmtickets.com.