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 Rising Star Awards
Rising Stars are chosen for a body of work and receive $1,000 awards from the Acclaim Scholarship Fund to help them embark on the next stage of their careers. Meet the 2008 Rising Stars at the third annual Enquirer Acclaim Awards on May 19, 2008 at the Aronoff Center's Jarson-Kaplan Theater.
Meet the 2007 Acclaim Awards Rising Stars
The 2007 Acclaim Awards Rising Stars are all talented, couldn't-be-nicer über-achievers who became audience favorites in the acting programs of University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and Northern Kentucky University.
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ANTHONY DARNELL
Darnell "definitely has a big career in front of him," says Know Theatre artistic director Jason Bruffy. "It's fun to work with him before he takes off."
The 2007 CCM drama grad has been a standout on campus and off.
Local theater audiences first saw him in 2005 doing compelling supporting work for New Stage Collective in "Kimberly Akimbo." He was a core company member last summer with New Stage and returns this summer in "Hello, Again." Darnell will be assistant director "Radiant Baby." Artistic director Alan Patrick Kenny calls Darnell "a true theater artist ... who wants to grow and learn with every project."
This season Darnell has been a key onstage player with Know Theatre, in "Gompers," "Hamlet" and "After Ashley," opening April 19.
"He has natural talent and he puts all his energy into it," Bruffy observes.
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RODERICK JUSTICE
Every fan of NKU theater knows Roderick Justice has been a key player since his freshman year. NKU theater-dance department chair Ken Jones says Justice has "it." If "it" means Justice is committed and watchable in every role, from the largest (the title role in "The Elephant Man") to the smallest (a hot dog vendor in "On the Town"), then he is an "it" guy.
Jones says Justice has been "the heart and soul of so many productions." Those include an hilarious turn as a fussy robot in "Wild Women of Planet Wongo" and Judas in "Jesus Christ Superstar."
Justice created the role of the hamburger flipping hero of the original musical "Burgertown" and capped his NKU career in a stand up-and-cheer performance in "Urinetown" earlier this year. He starred in "Aladdin" for Children's Theatre of Cincinnati earlier this season. |
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SEAN MONTGOMERY
Montgomery "has a remarkable theatrical imagination," says Terrell Finney, head of CCM's Division of Opera, Musical Theatre, Drama, Arts-Administration, Theatre Design and Production. It's Montgomery's ability to "bring a remarkably grounded presence to every character he plays, even the ones that are larger than life," that has charmed audiences, most recently lighting up his scenes as an efficiency expert in "The Pajama Game" and an accountant in "The Full Monty."
"Everything he does is believable," Finney adds.
Off campus, La Comedia Dinner Theatre audiences delighted in Montgomery as the prince (charming again) in "Sleeping Beauty."
CCM musical theater department head Aubrey Berg calls Montgomery "a leader in his class."
After "working tirelessly" on the senior showcase, Montgomery is packing for New York and a reprise of the showcase in mid-April.
All three Rising Stars, eligible Cincinnati theater artists under 25, receive a $1,000 cash award.
Rising Star Awards will be presented at the annual Enquirer Acclaim Awards at the Carnegie Center for Visual and Performing Arts on May 21. The Acclaims celebrate excellence in the Cincinnati area theater season. |
Meet the 2006 Acclaim Awards Rising Stars
The Enquirer Acclaim Awards tap three Rising Stars in its debut year:Alan Patrick Kenny, artistic director of New Stage Collective; Joe Medeiros, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music musical theater class of 2006; and Sarah Peak, Northern Kentucky University musical theater class of 2006.
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Alan Patrick Kenny
Kenny founded New Stage Collective in 2003, even before he graduated from New York University with a degree in musical theater and vocal performance.Kenny has plotted an ambitious course for his theater, which arrived in Cincinnati last summer with the regional premiere of Acclaim winner "Kimberly Akimbo" and Stephen Sondheim's "Sunday in the Park with George. |
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Joe Medeiros
"Medeiros delivered a tour de force performance as the hapless hero of "Crazy for You" to cap his career at CCM.Through his years in the program, says musical theater department chair Aubrey Berg, "his instincts just got better and his creativity blossomed. I'm sure he'll be back on Broadway soon."Medeiros was Young Josh in the original Broadway cast of "big: the musical." He is in New York this weekend with the rest of his graduating class, performing in the CCM musical theater senior showcase for agents and casting directors. |
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Sarah Peak
Peak has been Ms. Musical Theatre at NKU, capping her career as Cassie in "A Chorus Line."She has maintained a 4.0 average for four years and a presidential scholarship while working as a nanny and serving as an assistant secretary in the NKU department of theater and dance."Every so often I graduate a student who has changed my life as a teacher, director and friend," says theater department chair Ken Jones, "and Sarah is one of those people."I'll miss the creative force and 'no problem' attitude of one of the most talented student NKU's department of theater has ever known. |
The Acclaims, recognizing excellence in Cincinnati theater, are voted on by a panel of experts from the community and applaud work on stage throughout the season, on a theatrical calendar of openings from June 1 through May 31. The Acclaims are different from most awards because the panel votes in a variety of categories including performance, directing and design while a show is still in performance - readers can play along, going to a production to decide for themselves. The Acclaims aren’t a competition, they’re a celebration. It’s possible to have more than one winner in a category. If there are two great performances by an actress, both are commended rather than having a winner and a loser - because when work is outstanding there are no losers on stage or in the audience.
If there are a dozen winners in the Rising Star category, we’re all winners. When a production wins Acclaim(s) it will be announced in the Enquirer upon election but categories of winners will not be announced until June.
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