The cast and crew of Princeton Day School’s spring musical “Urinetown” being presented with 7 Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Awards, including the award for Best Musical Production. PDS led the state in awards this year. Princeton Day School received recognition from Young Audiences and Paper Mill Playhouse for their work in the arts. Young Audiences of New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania named PDS its 2014 Arts Education Awards School of the Year. In addition, the school’s theatre program won Paper Mill Playhouse’s Rising Star Award for Outstanding Overall Production of a Musical. Young Audiences has partnered with PDS on the school’s Lively Arts Program for several years. The program began at PDS in 1980 and has evolved into a popular and highly instructive program that brings teaching artists and live performances to our students and classrooms each year. This year, the partnership led to bringing veteran dancer and movement teacher Michelle Marigliano to campus to teach Hip Hop Fundamentals to classes in the Lower School. Third grade teacher Betsy Rizza, who coordinates the Lively Arts Program, was thrilled to hear of the award for PDS. She remarked how the Lively Arts Program, which was coordinated by former teacher Judy Michaels and then by middle school teacher Bette Soloway, has inspired hundreds of PDS students through the years. Young Audience’s awards ceremony is set to take place June 18. Paper Mill Playhouse presented their Rising Star awards June 3. Along with winning Outstanding Overall Production of a Musical for
Urinetown
, PDS students and faculty took home six other awards. The school won more awards than any other school in the state. PDS alumna Morgan Weed, who is currently starring in the Paper Mill’s production of
Grease
, presented the award for Best Support Actress to senior Jessica Toltzis. Weed was a former Rising Star Award-winner while at PDS, and has been working in theater for the past few years in leading productions such as,
Next to Normal
and
American Idiot
. Toltzis played Penelope Pennywise in
Urinetown.
Joseph Haggerty and Michael Tucker won Student Achievement Awards for sound design and student technical director, respectively. Choral and vocal teacher Andrew Schmidt won Outstanding Musical Direction. The school also won Outstanding Chorus and the Educational Impact Award. More information is online at pds.org.
