Creston catches 8 theater awards

While the last week of school might have most students excited for summer break, there’s a small group of high schoolers preparing for one of the biggest events of their year: the Iowa High School Musical Theater Awards.

Held at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 29 at the Des Moines Civic Center, this awards ceremony will honor high school musical theater performances from around Iowa while also showcasing select performers from each school.

Creston High School has been attending the IHSMTA since 2016, though the awards received each year vary. CHS theater director Jennifer Gaesser explained the process to get to the showcase generally involves long waits.

“It’s always exciting to see how you did after performing in November, but you don’t know the results until later in the spring,” Gaesser said. “We had [a judge] every single night of our show.”

This year, Creston’s performance of “Catch Me If You Can” received eight awards: Outstanding Performance in a Principal Role - Carson Beer; Outstanding Achievement in Behind-the-Scenes Role - Karlee Capson (Lighting Design); Outstanding Achievement in Behind-the-Scenes Role - Malachi Webber (Stage Management); Outstanding Achievement in Behind-the-Scenes Role - Carson Beer (Publicity); Outstanding Achievement in Behind-the-Scenes Role - CCHS Construction Class (Set Construction); Special Recognition for Performance in a Principal Role - Rhianna Weems; Special Recognition in Behind-the-Scenes Role - Jameson Hanson (Sound Technician); Distinguished Scene - “Live in Living Color.”

Creston will be sending five students to the event. Senior Rhianna Weems, junior Wyatt Hitz and junior Carson Beer will be performing in the showcase, while juniors Karlee Capson and Malachi Webber will be walking the stage in recognition of their backstageachievements.

For the performing students, the month of May has been busy with both practice and nerves.

“They get to work closely on Saturday all day with the Broadway choreographer,” Gaesser said. “They figure out the choreography and they sing with the Broadway director. They just get to spend some quality time with people in the field, which is a lot of fun.”

Beer got a couple extra days of practice due to his involvement with the Triple Threat Program.

From more than 100 schools, 140 students auditioned for the Triple Threat Program, with 80 students going forward into the program. From those 80 students, one male and one female student will be chosen to represent Iowa at the Jimmy Awards at The Juilliard School in New York City, where students from across the nation will compete.

While any participation in Triple Threat is a big deal for high school students, this isn’t a first for Beer. He competed last May alongside then-senior Sam Duncan.

“It is a really big deal. He’s going to get to go for the second time. That’s not easy to do,” Gaesser said. “It doesn’t really happen all that much. He said last year, he noticed that there were a lot of seniors last year and he was just a sophomore.”

Auditions to see who will move forward to the Jimmy Awards are already complete, but the competitors and the crowd will find out together on Thursday who wins.

Though Beer will be performing in a medley with other Triple Threat performers, Weems and Hitz will be performing separately from Beer in the finale medley alongside students from 49 other schools.

No matter what their role in Thursday’s performance is, the students all have a sense of nervous excitement.

“I think they’re all super excited, but there’s also that nervous energy of what to expect. They just all want to do a great job,” Gaesser said. “It’s just another level, just a matter of putting all the effort in like they did in the fall to something to another level because that awards ceremony is amazing. You think you’ve seen it, and every year the show gets better and better.”

Though tickets are sold out for the in-person performance, the event can be viewed for live for free at iowapbs.org. The showcase will also be aired on TV in July.

“It’s going to be about a 2.5-hour production, high impact, high energy, lots of great musicians performing starting at 7 p.m. I think they’re just going to be super amazed at what these Iowa musicians can do,” Gaesser said. “I’m just super proud of our students. They really work hard every year and they just want to do something better and better than the year before. It just doesn’t stop.”