OHS drama is top-ranked

Posted: May 12, 2010

Oconomowoc Area Schools — An organization formed to recognize the best and brightest in Wisconsin high school theatrics has honored Oconomowoc High School with seven awards for its fall production of "Into the Woods."

The play was nominated for12 Tommy awards; a state-wide musical theater competition coordinated by The Overture Center in Madison, and garnered seven awards including Outstanding Musical and Outstanding Direction. The musical also received two honorable mention awards.

Talent needs to be discovered and honed through discipline and practice and finally, celebrated.

To that end, a Madison organization has made it its mission to recognize the best among high school theater productions.

"This is a huge honor for our theater department and our District. We are most proud of the Outstanding Musical award, as that is an ensemble award; it recognizes that all the members of the company were striving for and succeeded in reaching excellence in the arts," said OHS teacher and director Tom Klubertanz.

This is the inaugural year for the Tommy Awards, which are decided on by a panel from the Overture Center in Madison,

Tim Sauers, the director of the Overture came up with the idea after realizing there was nothing in place on a state basis to recognize the next generation of performers.

According to its website, Overture's Tommy Awards are named in honor of local musical theater hero Tom Wopat, critically acclaimed and Tony Award-nominated singer and actor. Born in Lodi, Wis., Tom first started singing and dancing in high school musicals, and studied music at the University of Wisconsin-Madison before getting his "big break" in 1978 as Luke Duke in the immensely popular Dukes of Hazzard television show.

"Since the Overture Center brings in a lot of Broadway shows, they felt like it was sort of their community mission to encourage more appreciation for what goes on in high schools," Klubertanz explained.

The shows were divided into categories based on budget.

"They did not think it was fair to hold a little school with a small budget up to the same standard as say Oconomowoc with a beautiful arts center and a nice budget," Klubertanz explained.

The three categories were schools with budgets of $5,000, $10,000 and $15,000 and under.

"We were in with Madison West and Madison Memorial, and La Follette and East high schools; in those big schools that are spending more on their shows.

"In that category they picked most outstanding musical, outstanding director, outstanding performer and what they decided was they weren't going to put a limit on it. If there was an outstanding performance, they were going to recognize it," he said.

Anna Herro, who won Outstanding Lead Performer for her role as Little Red Riding Hood said, "It's nice to be recognized for all the hard work we put into the musical this year. All that skipping was worth it in the end," she joked.

"I'm very honored to have received this award, though I'm most proud of our Outstanding Musical Award. That award recognizes each of the great performers in the show. 'Into the Woods' is a very difficult musical to pull off for high school students, and this award proves we were a great ensemble," said Hanna Gaffney, who also was tapped as outstanding lead performer for her performance as The Witch.

Plays were evaluated by a panel of 10 adjudicators comprised of professional dancers, directors, lighting designers, who traveled around and judged over 30 different high school productions.

For its first year, the group focused on an eight-county region, which included Jefferson County. Because Oconomowoc Area School District includes portions of Jefferson County, the production was eligible for inclusion.

The panel plans to expand this pilot program.

"We had 10 different people who came over the course of our run. We didn't know when they were coming," Klubertanz said of the judges.

"It was pretty cool. Tim (Sauers) was one of the adjudicators," he added.

After viewing the play, Sauers sent Klubertanz an e-mail that read, in part:

"Do you always have such great talent in Oconomowoc? I thought your production was amazing. If I wouldn't have known it was high school, I would have guessed it was a professional non-equity production. When I was reviewing down in Chicago I once saw a no-equity performance of 'Into the Woods.' Yours was better," he wrote.

"Isn't that awesome? They sent the reviewers comments and we got like four out of four in almost every category," Klubertanz said.

For the high school director, the awards serve as an evaluation that is often difficult to ascertain.

"The hard thing when you're a theater director in a high school is I don't know that I have ever done a show where people walk out and say, 'Oh, yeah, that wasn't very good.' "

"How is Grandma going to say that the show wasn't good? Parents, and their friends, the people who love them, it's always the best thing they have ever seen. So, it becomes very difficult sometimes to feel like you are getting any objective criticism or feedback," Klubertanz said.

"It's hard to improve when people just always say it's a great job. What's really cool was these are 10 people who had no stake in it. It's very much like forensics. This re-affirmed we are on the right track," he added.

The three women in our show who won outstanding performer Tommys get to actually perform. And because we were outstanding musical, we get to do a five-minute performance of our show at the Tommie awards too," Klubertanz said.

The awards serve as a confirmation for the students' efforts.

"It is a chance for these kids to see someone recognize that what they do is valid and important. You know, there are tons of banquets for sports and athletics and tons of things for academics, obviously as there should be, but we want to make sure our young artists get recognized for the work they do and for making the community a better place," Klubertanz said.

The Tommy Awards ceremony will take place at 7 p.m. on Sunday, June 6 at the Overture Center in Madison.

"People can buy tickets to the event as a way to come and support the students' success," Klubertanz said.

Community members are encouraged to attend and be part of a supportive audience that cheers on Oconomowoc's talented actors. This event is open to the public. Tickets are available by calling the Overture Center Box Office at (608) 258-4141, or visit their website, overturecenter.com.

Award winners

The 2010 Tommy Awards for "Into the Woods" were given to OHS for:

Outstanding Musical

Outstanding Direction - Thomas Klubertanz

Outstanding Lead Performer - Anna Herro (Little Red)

Outstanding Lead Performer - Hanna Gaffney (Witch)

Outstanding Lead Performer - Cria Ama (Cinderella)

Outstanding Lighting Design - Michael Duncan

Outstanding Costume Design - Cheryl Fillmore

Honorable Mentioned Supporting Performer-Scott Fillmore (Cinderella's Prince)

Honorable Mentioned Supporting Performer - Tyson Monroe (Baker)