Miller Place Students Walk the Red Carpet at the Teeny Awards

MILLER PLACE, NEW YORK (JUNE 2023) — Miller Place High School actors, set designers, musicians and others involved in the Miller Place High School Panther Players productions of the musical Anastasia and the play You Can’t Take It With You were honored recently at the East End Arts’ 21st Annual Teeny Awards. The annual high school theater awards show, given its name as a reference to the Tony Awards, took place on June 11th at Longwood High School in Yaphank.

Carly Shurbet won the Teeny Award in the category of lead role in a musical, drama or jukebox/revue for her portrayal of Anya Anastasia in Anastasia. Julianne Donohue took home a Teeny Award in the category of a supporting role in a musical, drama or jukebox/revue for her portrayal of Lilly Malevsky-Malevitch in Anastasia.

“Congratulations to our students who took home awards and to everyone who was nominated this year. The Teeny Awards is recognition for students to receive acclaim for all their hard work and dedication of our Panther Players.,” said Superintendent of Schools Seth Lipshie. “We had incredible productions this year and we’re so proud of everyone involved for contributing to these outstanding performances.”

The Teeny Awards has been celebrating outstanding performances and remarkable behind-the-scenes work in high school theater since 2002. Anonymous volunteer judges with backgrounds in theatre attend high school productions in Suffolk County throughout the year to select nominations before the winners are decided by a judging committee.

Other Miller Place High School students receiving acting recognition at the awards ceremony included:

Student Nomination Category Role

Kai Schiera lead role in a play Martin Vanderhof (Grandpa)
You Can’t Take it With You

lead role in a musical, Dmitry

drama or jukebox/revue Anastasia

Natalie Cervenka supporting role in a play Essie Carmichael

You Can’t Take It With You

Claire Wagner supporting role in a play Madame Kolenkhov

You Can’t Take It With You

Student Nomination Category Role

Gregory Marino supporting role in a musical, Vlad Popov

drama or jukebox/revue Anastasia

Lucas McGuire supporting role in a musical, Gleb Vaganov

drama or jukebox/revue Anastasia

Vienna Sigismondi outstanding performer in a play Grand Duchess Olga Katrina

You Can’t Take It With You

In the technical categories, Julianne Donohue received a nomination for outstanding student choreography for her work in Anastasia. Emma Rosequist was lauded for her artwork, receiving a nomination for outstanding poster design for creating the poster for Anastasia.

Technical recognition was also given to Rayna Bruno, Sophia Cui, Rachel Leonoff, Erin Maloney, Isabella Romero and Natalie Shurbet for lending their make-up skills to the production of Anastasia.

Lighting designers, assistants and crew members Emma Balamoti, Joseph Costa, Jordan Miletti, Aiden Pace and Alex Trocchio were named for their work in Anastasia.

Stage manager/assistant stage manager Gianna Benavides was recognized for her work in Anastasia and Abby Bosshard was named for her work in You Can’t Take It With You.

Sound designers, assistants and crew members Taylor Higgins and Lauren Soreil were recognized for their work in You Can’t Take It With You.

Stage crew members Gianna Benavides, Jane Delaney, Lorilei Specht, Michael Venegoni and Evie Weiner were recognized for their work in Anastasia; Molly Caufield, Sarah DiPersio, Taylor Higgins, Kaitlyn Lopez, Antonio Minier, Aiden Pace, Lauren Soreil, Alex Trocchio and Gabby Zorn received praise for their behind-the-scenes work in You Can’t Take It With You; and Abby Bosshard, Sophia Necci and Kylie Taylor lent their talents to both You Can’t Take It With You and Anastasia.

Pit orchestra members also received acclaim for their performances in Anastasia, including Analynn Bisiani on clarinet, Brennos Blake on piano, Mia Carvajal on violin, Lucy Chang on violin 2, Bernard Creedon on tenor sax, Mary Duffy on percussion, Eileen Duffy on violin, Kyle Fehling on alto sax, Rosa Fuentes on violin 2, Nathaly Garcia on cello, Jacob Huwer on violin, Hope Jacobsen on flute, Robert John Kalin on baritone sax, Grace Lassiter on viola, Lilah Lindemann on piano, James Loughlin on percussion, Maura Luby on trombone, Taylor McHugh on bassoon, Nick Nania on viola, Nailah Rahman on bass, Jack Serrentino on trumpet, Wyatt Shattes on trumpet, Faith Torres on cello, Emma Venegoni on oboe and Bianca Zou on violin 2.

To learn more about the Teeny Awards, visit https://eastendarts.org/featured-events/teeny-awards/.

For more information about the Miller Place School District, please visit the District’s website at www.millerplace.k12.ny.us. To read more about the great things happening in Miller Place schools, visit www.millerplaceinthemedia.com and ‘like’ our Facebook page.