Theatre Educator Awards

About the Theatre Educator Awards
The Enquirer/Fifth Third Bank Theatre Educator Award shines a spotlight on great high school and university teachers in the region. The winning nomination – and teacher – is awarded $2,500 for the school theater program.

Only students are eligible to make nominations, which can be submitted through March 31, 2011. Tell your theater program's story in a nomination, which can be written or submitted on video. Be creative. Support materials including photo essays are welcome.

Download Nomination Form

Entries will be posted online. The student whose entry is chosen will have the opportunity to see a lot of theater in 2011-2012, with student subscriptions to Playhouse in the Park, Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, Know Theatre and New Stage Collective.

“Most performers would point to a high school or college teacher as being the biggest influence in their career,” says panel chair Dee Anne Bryll. “This is a wonderful way to recognize these people and their contribution to our arts community.”

Bryll served as Theatre Arts Coordinator of College Conservatory of Music Preparatory Department Drama/Musical Theatre program from 1996-2010 and held faculty positions at Northern Kentucky University, Thomas More College and St. Ursula Academy. She works as a freelance choreographer, director and performer in the Cincinnati area.

Nominations should explain:

• Why your teacher is outstanding.
• How your teacher inspires and motivates students to excel.
• How your teacher encourages students.
• How your teacher sets the bar high.
• Why productions and accomplishments are exceptional.
• Why your teacher has truly made a difference in your life.
  

Panelists include

Diane Carr
On faculty at CCM Prep, a Cappies of Greater Cincinnati board member and coordinator of educational opportunities for theater teachers and students through the Educational Theatre Association.

Steve Finn
Director of Education & Community Relations at Cincinnati Arts Association which serves more than 75,000 students regionally.

Mark Lutwak
Education director of Cincinnati Playhouse, where he oversees the Playhouse's educational programming, which reaches over 60,000 young people and families annually. From 1999 to 2005, he was Artistic Director at Honolulu Theatre for Youth.

Russ Schnurr
Vice-President of Institutional Brokerage at Fifth Third Bank and a theater education advocate.

Five semi-finalists will be announced at the end of April. The Theatre Educator Award will be

presented at the Acclaim Awards each season.

09-10 Theatre Educator Award
	Michele Mascari St. Xavier High School "Michele Mascari," writes nominator Joe Markesbery, "is the heart and soul of Theatre Xavier." The St. X program is known for the challenging work it takes on, for cast crew and audiences, and, Joe tells us, "She has an incredible gift of being able to see how every facet of a show should look and feel." Michele is known just as much for "the welcoming and accepting community" she has built over almost three decades, even as she has built the theater program. "To be a community, Ms. Mascari teaches us, we must collaborate with the other students and with the adults who guide us. Her leadership makes sure that this happens every day, every rehearsal, every performance. ... She draws us together and brings us to excellence."
08-09 Theatre Educator Award
	Emily Himonidis St. Henry High School "My teacher rocks my socks," Kaitlin Staverman wrote, applauding Emily Himondis for always reminding students that "it is not the leads the make a show great; it's also the cast that backs them up." Himonidis, Staverman continues, "includes everyone, especially the students who don't feel like they fit in any place else and often they don't." Over the past four years, Himonidis has adopted three children from Guatemala, "but she gives up hundreds of hours with them to be at play practice." "She's made a difference in my life by helping me to break out of my shell. She taught me that it's okay to be yourself and to make sure you have fun in whatever you do."
07-08 Theatre Educator Award
	Tom Peters Walnut Hills High School Student Chloe Williamson calls Tom Peters "a Renaissance man . . . he balances a full class load (from basic drama to advanced theater), running school assemblies, multiple plays (sometimes simultaneously), he designs and builds sets, arranges the music and blocks scenes, leaving room for actors' ideas and instincts. Even with such a hectic schedule, everything and everyone gets individual attention." Benjamin Quinn writes that "at 6:45 on a brisk Saturday morning" Tom picked him up to rehearse a monologue and a sonnet for a Shakespeare competition, and rehearsed more every lunch period. And this wasn't unique-six Walnut Hills students have made it to the New York finals in the last 10 years. Benjamin adds that Tom Peters' best teaching method is "his kindness." Chloe Williamson thanks Tom because the lessons one learns in theater are lessons about life "and the most useful as I leave high school."
06-07 Theatre Educator Award
	Allison Pulskamp Taylor High School

View Acclaim Past Winners in our Hall of Fame