(MILLBURN, NJ) -- Paper Mill Playhouse has announced the winners of the 30th annual Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Awards for Excellence in High School Musical Theater following the ceremony on June 3, 2025. The awards presented by Investors Foundation and Citizens Philanthropic Foundation are modeled after Broadway's Tony Awards and serve the entire state of New Jersey.
Paper Mill Playhouse conceived and created the awards in 1996 to give schools the opportunity to showcase their musical arts programs on a statewide level. Among previous nominees and winners are Academy Award winner Anne Hathaway (Les Misérables), Tony Award winners Laura Benanti (Gypsy) and Nikki M. James (The Book of Mormon, Suffs), Tony nominee Rob McClure (Mrs. Doubtfire, Chaplin), Jelani Remy (The Lion King, Ain’t Too Proud), Josh Dela Cruz (Blue’s Clues & You!, Aladdin), Shanice Williams, (NBC’s The Wiz Live!) Najah Hetsberger (Six the Musical), Khailah Johnson (& Juliet) and Olivier Award nominee Jared Gertner (The Book of Mormon).
The 2025 Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Awards Production Round began January 13 and continued for 20 weeks through April 13. During the Production Round, musicals at more than 130 New Jersey high schools in 20 counties were reviewed by more than 60 Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Awards Evaluators, with each school receiving three independent evaluations. Schools nominated for Outstanding Overall Musical and all the Leading Performer nominees performed at the 2025 Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Awards Ceremony. Recipients are presented with an engraved crystal award from MTM Recognition.
Paper Mill Playhouse also awards more than $6,000 in scholarships at the Rising Star Awards ceremony, presented by presented by Investors Foundation and Citizens Philanthropic Foundation. Seven cash scholarships are given to outstanding individual students who plan to continue studying theater performance or technical theater in college. Paper Mill Playhouse is pleased to award a prize of $500 to Ridge High School (Basking Ridge) for receiving the 2025 Educational Impact Award, which acknowledges a school that successfully connects the musical to the district's curriculum, using the production as a teaching tool for the greater student body and local community. Through the Rising Star Theater for Everyone Inclusion and Access Award and a partnership with The Cultural Access Network of New Jersey, a project of the New Jersey Theatre Alliance and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Paper Mill Playhouse presented a cash award of $1,000 to Atlantic County School of Technology (Hamilton) to recognize their excellence in the promotion and practice of creative inclusion of students and adults with disabilities as performers, designers, musicians and production staff. This award recognizes a school that takes steps to ensure their performances are accessible to audiences with disabilities. Ten Student Achievement Awards were given to outstanding student production designers, creative directors and theater technicians. The Outstanding Educator Award was awarded to Jillian Trader of South Brunswick High School, which garners a $1,000 prize for the school’s theater program.
Lastly, students receiving final nominations in the lead and supporting performance categories receive a scholarship to attend Paper Mill Playhouse's competitive Summer Musical Theater Conservatory and New Voices Concert, a pre-professional training program with advanced classes in singing, acting and dance. New Voices offers the nominees an opportunity to perform on the main stage at Paper Mill Playhouse in the season finale concert, this year honoring the shows that defined and redefined American musical theater, "New Voices of 2025: Groundbreakers,” on August 1 and 2. New Voices tickets are on sale at PaperMill.org.
The Rising Star Awards presented by Investors Foundation and Citizens Philanthropic Foundation are supported by the Michael J. Kosloski Foundation. The Hearst Foundations are Paper Mill’s Education & Outreach Partner.
Rising Star scholarships are made possible by Ruth Bedford in memory of Jane Burgio, The Mosser Family in memory of late father and husband James K. Mosser, Walt Santner in honor of Janet Sovey, and the Douglas Michael Krueger Scholarship Fund. The Theater for Everyone Inclusion and Access Award is supported by the New Jersey Cultural Access Network. The Rising Star Awards are made possible, in part, by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, A Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. The Rising Star Awards are made possible, in part, by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, A Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.
2025 Rising Star Awards Recipients
Outstanding Overall Production, Summit High School, THE PROM
Outstanding Performance in a Female-Identified Leading Role, Rosie Gaeta as “Emma Nolan,” Summit High School, THE PROM
Outstanding Performance in a Male-Identified Leading Role, José Gonzalez as “Patrick Star,” Grunin Performing Arts Academy at OCVTS, THE SPONGEBOB MUSICAL
Outstanding Performance in a Female-Identified Supporting Role, Jeylene Lugo as “Penelope Pennywise,” Academy for Performing Arts at Union County Vocational and Technical School, URINETOWN
Outstanding Performance in a Male-Identified Supporting Role, Nolan Lardiere as “Sir Evelyn Oakleigh,” Morris Knolls High School, ANYTHING GOES
Outstanding Performance in a Featured Role, Anti Garcia as “Charlotte,” Ridge High School, CINDERELLA
Outstanding Solo Performance, Bandaid Isaacs, “Diva’s Lament,” Howell High School, SPAMALOT
Outstanding Performance by a Featured Ensemble Member, Reilly Kearney as “Bird Woman,” Gloucester County Institute of Technology, MARY POPPINS
Outstanding Performance by a Featured Ensemble Group, The Barbershop Quartet, Rahway High School, THE MUSIC MAN
Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction, Andrew Finck, Voorhees High School, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF
Outstanding Performance by an Orchestra, Morristown High School, LES MISÉRABLES
Outstanding Performance by a Chorus, Academy for Performing Arts at UCVTS, URINETOWN
Outstanding Choreography/Musical Staging, Raven Abbott, Academy for Performing Arts at UCVTS, URINETOWN
Outstanding Direction, Stan Cahill, Princeton Day School, ALICE BY HEART
Outstanding Hair and Makeup Achievement, Samantha Davis, Delsea Regional High School, THE WIZARD OF OZ
Outstanding Costuming Achievement, Paul H. Canada, Gill St. Bernard’s School, SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE
Outstanding Lighting Achievement, Colin Shields, Harrison High School, BUBBLE BOY
Outstanding Scenic Achievement, Brian Lynch, Whippany Park High School, GREASE
Educational Impact Award, Ridge High School, CINDERELLA
The Rising Star Theater for Everyone Inclusion and Access Award, Atlantic County Institute of Technology, CINDERELLA
The Rising Star Outstanding Educator Award, Jillian Trader, South Brunswick High School, MEAN GIRLS
2025 Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Award Student Achievement Awards
Daania Fakhar, Asst. Lighting Designer, Madison High School, SISTER ACT
Aidan Orbeta, Pit Ensemble, Morristown High School, LES MISÉRABLES
Brendan Harvey, Lighting Designer, Mount Olive High School, GREASE
Ben Jacobson, Head of Marketing, Ocean Township High School, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
Puppetry Crew, Ocean Township High School, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
Alexis Broderson and Xavier Clayton, Costumes, Pinelands Regional High School, MEAN GIRLS
Michael Berry, Asst. Stage Manager, Princeton Day School, ALICE BY HEART
Sahana Karthik, Stage Manager, Princeton Day School, ALICE BY HEART
Colin Lansky, Sound, Video and Turntable, Princeton High School, GROUNDHOG DAY
Aeron Hollenbeck, Student Choreographer, Shawnee High School, ANYTHING GOES
PAPER MILL PLAYHOUSE, recipient of the Regional Theatre Tony Award, is a nationally renowned not-for-profit theater under the direction of Mark S. Hoebee (Producing Artistic Director) and Michael Stotts (Executive Director). A beloved New Jersey arts institution since 1938, Paper Mill creates and produces groundbreaking new musicals and reimagined classics. Several productions have gone on to Broadway and launched national tours, including Disney’s Newsies, Honeymoon in Vegas, A Bronx Tale, Bandstand, The Great Gatsby and Les Misérables (25th Anniversary production). The theater is also the home to an award-winning center for musical theater education and artist training, with outreach programs that impact thousands of students each year. As one of the nation’s premier musical theaters, Paper Mill fosters a creative environment to advance the art form, educate students, develop future theater lovers, nurture inclusion, and provide access for all.
They acknowledge that their theater stands on the traditional land of the Lenni-Lenape, and they honor the Indigenous people who inhabited it for thousands of years before European settlers arrived.
Paper Mill Playhouse programs are made possible, in part, by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. Paper Mill Playhouse is a member of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, the Council of Stock Theatres, and the New Jersey Theatre Alliance.
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