Mission - To encourage & support excellence in high school musical theatre in our region through an annual awards event that recognizes student achievement.

The fifth annual Isaac Awards will be held on Sunday, May 23, 2010, at Altoona’s historic Mishler Theatre.

CLICK HERE FOR 2009 ISAAC AWARDS NOMINATIONS AND AWARD RECIPIENTS

State College High School takes top honor at Isaac Awards

Altoona's historic Mishler Theatre was filled to near-capacity Sunday night (May 31) when some 800 high school students, teachers, family and friends from Blair, Bedford, Cambria and Centre counties gathered for the fourth annual ISAAC AWARDS, Altoona Community Theatre's program to recognize student achievement in high school musicals. The awards are styled after Broadway's Tony presentations and are named after Isaac Mishler, who in 1906 created the jewelbox of a playhouse that serves as ACT's performance home. A total of twelve area schools participated this year, with the awards being well distributed among eight of the schools.

State College Area High School's production of "Disney's Beauty & the Beast" took the top honor as Best Production, with Central Cambria High School's "Little Shop of Horrors" selected as First Runner-Up. State College also received the Best Featured Dance or Dancer(s) award for "Be Our Guest," and Central Cambria received the Best Musical Number award for "Suddenly Seymour."

First Runner-Up for Best Musical Number was "Spanish Rose" from Bishop Carroll High School's production of "Bye Bye, Birdie." Winning the First Runner-Up award for Best Featured Dance or Dancer(s) was Penn Cambria High School's Dance Troupe from "Godspell."

Bishop Guilfoyle High School's presentation of "Footloose" received The Best Actor awards in both the Leading Role and Supporting Role categories, going to Nick Finochio as Ren McCormack and Sully McConnell as Willard, respectively. Likewise, Bishop Carroll's "Bye Bye, Birdie" received the Best Actress awards in both the Leading and Supporting categories, going to Devon Ingold as Rosie Alvarez and Meghan McCabe as Kim McAfee, respectively. All four students will receive $500 scholarships for any field of study at any accredited post-secondary educational institution.

Courtney Lope of State College received the First Runner-Up award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her portrayal of Belle in "Disney's Beauty & the Beast." Josh Duman of Central Cambria was named First Runner-Up for Best Actor in a Leading Role for playing Seymour Krelborn in "Little Shop of Horrors." The First Runner-Up awards for Best Actor and Actress in Supporting Roles went to D.J. Matsko as Orin Scrivello in Philipsburg-Osceola High School's "Little Shop of Horrors" and Ashton Snyder as Bloody Mary in Tyrone Area High School's "South Pacific."

The ISAAC AWARD for Best Actor or Actress in a Featured Role and a $500 scholarship went to Jei-Laya Hassan of Richland High School for her portrayal of Madame Thernardier in "Les Miserables: High School Edition." Runner-Up in the category was Kelsey Ingold as Peggy in Penn Cambria High School's production of "Godspell."

State College student Catalena Eskey won the Achievement in Design award and a $500 scholarship for her work in helping to design and construct costumes for "Disney's Beauty & the Beast." Kyle Kelly of Philipsburg-Osceola High School won First Runner-Up for set design and construction for "Little Shop of Horrors."

Providing funding for ISAACS scholarships this year were sponsors Penn State Altoona, Blair Medical Associates, S&T Bank, Altoona Regional Health System, Andrews & Beard Law Offices, ARC Federal Credit Union, The Blair Companies, Mountain Research, WPS and The Jane Felty Dillen Endowment for the Arts. Additional support comes an The Isaacs Endowment established previously by local philanthropist and theatre-lover Shirley Pechter through the Central PA Community Foundation, which administers all of the scholarships for ACT.

New this year was the presentation of a special non-competitive "Isaacs Stimulus Check" for $1,000, awarded by random drawing to Great Commission School, who this year performed "Anne of Green Gables." The prize, underwritten by Dean E. & Elsie McKnight and William & Judith Rossman, must be used by the school to help fund its production next year.

Also participating in this year's Isaac Awards were Altoona Area High School's production of "Big: the Musical," Conemaugh Valley High School's "Seussical: the Musical," and Everett Area High School's "the Music Man".

For more information, visit the Isaac Awards Web site.