Tartan, North High Schools will Participate in Special Theatre Program

Tartan High School and North High School are two of 56 schools that will be participating in the 2012-13 Spotlight Musical Theatre Program, the Hennepin Theatre Trust recently announced.

The group of schools selected includes five new schools and nine from the greater Minnesota.

Now in its eighth year, Spotlight is one of Trust’s education initiatives, which honors, supports, provides training and advocates for Minnesota high school musical theatre students and programs. 

Spotlight offers students the opportunity to work with local and national theatre educators and musical theatre professionals who offer training, insight through critical feedback and on-site school workshops. A group of evaluators assesses each production with constructive written commentary and nominate honorees.

Categories include outstanding performance in leading, supporting and featured roles, outstanding performance by a chorus, dance ensemble and student orchestra, outstanding overall performance of a musical and outstanding overall production of a musical. Shows are not compared or ranked against each other, so categories may have multiple honorees. 

North High School will be performing "Hello, Dolly!" and Tartan High School will be performing "Peter Pan".

Schools and participating students will be honored at SpotLight’s culminating event, the eighth annual SpotLight Showcase, held at 7 p.m. on June 3 at the Orpheum Theatre. This gala evening recognizes high school musical theatre accomplishments by featuring dynamic student performances mixed with award presentations. Last year’s event sold out and featured more than 800 Minnesota students performing on the Orpheum stage.  

Hennepin Theatre Trust, owner of the historic Orpheum, State, Pantages and New Century Theatres, is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to arts-inspired community cultural development. The Trust established the SpotLight Musical Theatre Program after recognizing that none existed in Minnesota to honor excellence in high school musical theatre. 

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