If you happened to attend our spring musical this year, “Into the Woods,” you should know that five of the actors were nominated for an award at the Enchantment Awards, a celebration of New Mexican high school musical theater talent. Albuquerque Academy was nominated for six awards. For Best Actor, Addie Nayback was nominated for the role of the baker. Nori Little, (who played the role of the witch) Jordan Kropka, (who played the role of the Baker’s wife) and Ani Field (who played the role of Cinderella) were all nominated for the Best Actress award. For Best Supporting Actress, Ellie Nuñez was nominated for the role of Rapunzel. Into the Woods was also nominated for a production award. Out of the six nominations, Albuquerque Academy won three of them. Nori Little won best actress, Ellie Nuñez won best supporting actress, and Ms. Scott won the production award for Best Directing.
Organizing a musical of the size of “Into the Woods” was no small task. Auditions and casting happened in November, and rehearsals commenced in January after winter break. The director, Ms. Scott, said that “‘Into the Woods’ [was] a show that has a lot of significant parts, but a very, very, small ensemble. Everyone that’s in it gets to do pretty cool stuff, but…you don’t really get to build [a big chorus]. So I tried to add a few things just so we could have a robust crew.” Once cast, the 25 actors and the 40 crew members spent five days a week rehearsing for five total performances in the beginning of March. With such a “technically strange” musical, as Ms. Scott put it, the many odd storylines can be difficult to “do and make not a joke and make a part of this magical world that we’re creating.” Those who participated in running this musical did a wonderful job because five of the actors were nominated for acting awards and the musical as a whole was nominated for a production award in the New Mexico Enchantment Awards.
The Enchantment Awards is New Mexico’s branch of the “Jimmy Awards” which is the national high school musical-theater competition that young actors from all across the country compete in. Almost all 50 states have a statewide program that high school theater productions can register and compete in. One actor and one actress from each state can win, and they’ll then go to New York to compete in the Jimmy Awards. The Enchantment Awards are relatively new; they’ve only been around since 2016. Ms. Scott said one of its main goals is to “reach as many schools as they can just to get more people involved,” but most competitors are from larger cities like Albuquerque, Las Cruces, and Santa Fe. The people who run the organization see every show in every school that is registered, and then judge their production and actors based on a rubric. Then, based on the numbers, those productions and people get ranked. In the end, it’s narrowed down to 10 best actors, 10 best actresses, 10 best supporting actors, and 10 best supporting actresses statewide. The three production awards are Best Ensemble, Best Directing, and Best Production. They also give out Spotlight Awards which are meant to shine a light on the backstage magic.
The Enchantment Awards are not only based on these actors’ performances in their school’s musical. Depending on what they’re nominated for, each nominee had to learn brand new material. Nominees for Best Actor or Actress dedicated an extra 60 hours of time preparing for the awards. They learned two new solos (in addition to the song that they had already sung in their school’s musical), and several new medleys and dances to perform with the other nominees. For best supporting actress, Ellie Nuñez had to learn a few new dances and medleys that she performed as a part of the ensemble. The people who run the Enchantment Awards brought on a team of volunteers and a couple of paid people to choreograph, direct, and voice coach the nominees. Ms. Scott explained how they were “getting a lot of personal attention on how to improve as performers,” yet by the end of the week were completely exhausted. She said that “they worked really hard all in the midst of still having schoolwork and classes and senior projects…but they also did tell [her] at the end of the week that it was so fun and that they made many new friends.”
Before Into the Woods, Jordan, Ani, and Addie had never headlined a musical before. Ms. Scott “saw them…[working] their butts off throughout the whole rehearsal process. And then for the Enchantment Awards, they went the extra mile, and it was really inspiring.” Through the entire process of making Into the Woods happen, she said she “felt so lucky for the students that [she] was able to work with because they were just so incredible and so dedicated and talented and playful and also knew how to be responsible with the work that had to [be done] because it was a huge show.”
As Nori Little heads off to New York to compete in the Jimmy Awards, the Albuquerque Academy theater program will be applauding her from two thousand miles away. Upon Ms. Scott’s final reflection on the cast of Into the Woods, she said, “There is a really dedicated, really enthusiastic group of theater kids [who] find each other and build really beautiful, wacky safe havens for each other. Some are dedicated to performing and some are dedicated to backstage…And as for directing here, it’s just very clear that there are abundantly talented students who work really hard and take care of each other in the process.” The success of Into the Woods was a beautiful display of our school’s passion for the arts, and there is no doubt that the theater program here on campus will continue to produce phenomenal musicals.
