Moon High School Reacts to Gene Kelly Nominations

This is the first year in a long time that has entered its spring musical for consideration at the Pittsburgh CLO Gene Kelly Awards and the cast and crew are glad they did, as they received two nominations for their rendition of .

Moon student Zach Houston was nominated for best supporting actor for his role as Nicely, Nicely and the student orchestra picked up a nomination as well.

"In the past, I really worried about the competition factor and about students getting their feelings hurt," musical director Laura Mitchell said about why she previously chose not to be part of the Gene Kelly Awards.

Now that Moon Area High School has a beautiful new theater and the ability to put on even more show-stopping productions, Mitchell wants people to know about it.

"Aside from the fabulous acting the students do, we have a fabulous new theater with amazing sound and lighting and I wanted to make sure we get our name out there a little more."

Becoming part of the Gene Kelly Awards is certainly helping Moon's musical theater program garner attention and Mitchell couldn't be more thrilled.

"We have always had an amazing student orchestra that wins award after award, so that nomination came as no surprise to me," she said. "And I'm so excited for Zach, especially because he'll get to sing at the awards ceremony."

Another upside to participating in the Gene Kellys is that students make connections with their peers from other schools.

"Once we entered the Gene Kellys this year, our students started going out to see other schools' musicals to see what they're doing, which is really positive," said Mitchell.

"Three of our students will also perform with students from other schools at the awards ceremony, which allows them to make connections with kids they would have otherwise never met," she added.

The downside to taking part in the high school performing arts awards, according to Mitchell, is the amount of work that goes into it.

Along with filling out paperwork, schools have to have a high-quality video of their performances to send to Gene Kelly Award judges. Some also have to perform at the awards ceremony.

"I didn't realize how much work went into being part of this, but it's worth it to be able to give our students more opportunities, including scholarship opportunities," she said.

Mitchell emphasized how proud she is of her entire cast and crew.

"I think Moon should've won in every category," she said. "Our lead actors, supporting actors, ensemble and crew-- everyone was just fabulous and I'm so proud of them," she said.

The Gene Kelly Awards will take place on Saturday, May 26 at the Benedum Center at 7:30 p.m.

Check back with Patch to see the winners!