DENVILLE — Morris County School of Technology’s Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) students win awards at various competitions in dance, theater and multimedia.
Serena Brown, a student in the Academy for Visual and Performing Arts Dance received the New Jersey Governor’s Award in Arts Education for Artistic Excellence and Leadership in Dance. This award is given to a high school dance student who expressed superlative academic excellence and creativity in essay, skill in performance and originality in choreography. This is the eighth consecutive year in a row that a student from this Academy has won.
Students in MCST’s Thespian Troupe were recognized as top finishers in their categories at the NJ Thespian Festival, which had over 700 students from New Jersey presenting work in performance and technical events. The following students were awarded: Brianna Vigorito, Contrasting Monologues; Teax Armijo and Julia Majerscak, Duet Acting; Courtney Bulger and Brianna Vigorito, Duet Acting; Andrew Nussbaum, Musical Theatre Solo; Serena Brown and Julia Majerscak, Duet Musical Theatre; Teax Armijo and Courtney Bulger, Duet Musical Theatre; Emma Nafz, Stage Management; Ethan Hoffman, Helena Pallay, Anna Taggart, and John Valle, Short Film; and Serena Brown, Courtney Bulger, and Julia Majerscak, Group Musical Theatre.
The 2017 Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Awards were awarded to Jordan Bernstein and Isabella Machuca, Sound Design/Q-Lab Operator; and Dana DeVries, Andy Jones, Emma Nafz, Ananya Singh, and Phoebe Yung, Stage Management Team.
The VPA Theater Production Department won Montclair State Theater Night 2017 Foxy Awards for Outstanding Costume Design.
Additionally, the following awards were won at the New Jersey Teen Arts Festival. Kaitlyn Gilchrist was a Gold Medal winner for Portrait Photography; Brooke Shanley, Outstanding Solo Performance Gravity” and the Morris County School of Technology won Outstanding Ensemble Performance “Something About Us”.
The Student Award for Artistic Excellence and Leadership in Dance is one of the annual Governor’s Awards in Arts Education, and is sponsored by Dance New Jersey, the official state affiliate of the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO).
The Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Awards were created in 1996 to encourage and reward exceptional accomplishments in the production of high school musical theatre. The Rising Star Awards- presented by the Investors Foundation is a statewide competition of New Jersey high school musicals modeled after Broadway’s Tony Awards.
Theatre Night Awards recognizes excellence in the production of high school and middle school straight plays throughout New Jersey
The New Jersey State Teen Arts Festival is the statewide culminating celebration of the arts dedicated to inspiring New Jersey teen artists, educators, professional artists, and arts advocates from all across the state to unite as one grand and all-inclusive community.
The Morris County Vocational School District provides vocational and enrichment programs that inspire and prepare students to succeed in today’s world and pursue tomorrow’s opportunities. The Academy for Visual & Performing Arts is a four-year full-time public arts high school program offering career preparation in dance and multimedia. Students also receive extensive career training in acting and technical theatre and participate in all the publicity and management roles involved in operating an arts production company. Find out more by clicking here and learn about programs, including high school Career Academies, Share Time Programs, and Adult Education programs.
