As the curtains closed for BSM’s Theatre Department’s production of Urinetown, the cast and crew anxiously awaited the results of the their Spotlight evaluation. Spotlight is a program sponsored by the Hennepin Theatre Trust that “honors high school musicals and students by formally recognizing the extraordinary achievements and process of developing the young artists, onstage and offstage, in our state’s high school musical theatre programs.”

Spotlight has three different judges come and watch the shows. They then critique all of the characters, rate the specific aspects of the show, and give positive feedback. The highest ranking a part of the show can receive is an outstanding and the second highest is an honorable mention ranking.

On May 14, the highly anticipated results were announced. The show received six awards: an Outstanding Overall Performance Award, an Honorable Mention Overall Production Award, an Overall Outstanding Performance of a Chorus Award, an Honorable Mention in Dance by a Chorus Award, an Honorable Mention Vocal Performance by a Chorus Award, and an Honorable Mention Performance in Acting Award.

Individual awards were also given to several actors in the cast: Outstanding Performance in a Leading Role to senior Luke Guidinger and sophomore Maddie Turk, Honorable Mention Performance in a Leading Role to senior Colin Sheely and junior Alec Lawrenz, Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role to seniors Stephanie Galvin and Jackie Lawyer, Outstanding Performance in a Featured Role to junior Frankie Gormley and sophomore Josie Ross, Honorable Mention Performance in a Featured Role to senior Jacqui Theisen, and Honorable Mention Achievement in Sound to sophomore Elyse Vandersteen.

Because the cast was given an Outstanding Overall Performance Award, all of the actors will perform a Urinetown Medley on the State Theatre stage on June 14. Any individual cast member who was given recognition on his or her role will also perform in either an Honorable Mention Medley or an Outstanding Medley.

The awards do not stop there. Any actor given an Outstanding Award may apply to Triple Threat, a program where high school students audition and have the chance to compete against other Triple Threats from across the country in New York City. Two cast members from Urinetown, Luke Guidinger and Maddie Turk, applied for the program. “We sent in videos of us dancing, singing, and acting with an essay about why we love theater,” Guidinger said.

Over the 90 students that applied for the program, both BSM students made the cut and landed a spot in the Top 32. Both students had to give a live performance of the songs, dance, and monologue that they provided in their audition video in front of the Triple Threat Judges. “The judges were looking for honest acting and singing, but also bold choices in the acting and singing,” Luke said.

After the auditioning process, the number of students was decreased to the Top 20, with ten boys and ten girls. Luke’s talents caught the eyes of the judges and was placed into the Top 20. He will rehearse with the other nineteen high school students until June 14, when the Top Four will be recognized. These four men and women will “get to go to NYC to see shows and take master classes with professionals,” Luke said.