Coal City’s ‘Tuck Everlasting’ nominated for musical theatre awards

Coal City High School Theatre Department’s production of “Tuck Everlasting,” is in the running for four Illinois High School Musical Theatre Awards presented by Broadway in Chicago.
“We are ecstatic to have nominations for Best Actor, Best Scenic Design, Best Direction and a first for our program, Best Production,” Coal City Theatre Department’s director Jack Micetich said.
Coal City is one of five schools to be nominated for Best Production, an award that recognizes overall achievement including acting, vocals, choreography, direction and technical elements.
Schools nominated in this category include Benet Academy, Cary-Grove High School, Deerfield High School and York Community High School.
In a video announcement presented by members of the national touring company of “Chicago,” the nominees for this year’s awards were presented and included senior Gavyn Williams in the category of Best Actor and Micetich has been nominated for Best Direction. Additionally, the program is in the running for Best Scenic Design.
Nominated for his performance as Jesse Tuck, Williams is one of a dozen high school actors across the state to earn a spot in the program that also recognizes the state’s best high school actresses.
The 24 nominees in the two categories will spend a day in Chicago working with theatre professionals and participating in individual and group numbers that will be presented during the IHSMTA ceremony.
Micetich is one of five nominees in the category of Best Direction that includes the directors of productions taking place at Stevenson High School, St. Charles East High School, Deerfield High School and Benet Academy.
This is the second consecutive year Micetich has been nominated for the award that highlights the work of high school musical directors.
In comments received from Broadway in Chicago evaluators who viewed the performance commended Micetich’s work with his students.
“The cast was obviously cohesive and extremely well-directed and it played out on stage,” the evaluators wrote.
The production is also one of five nominees in the category of Best Scenic Design. This is the sixth year the award will be presented as part of the annual awards program. Coal City has been nominated all six years and won the award in 2014 and 2016.
The scenic design was designed and created by Celeste Sheridan with assistance from Micetich, the cast and students enrolled in the school’s theatre tech course.
The other scenic design nominees including Benet Academy’s “Pippin”, Bolingbrook High School for “Jekyll & Hyde,” Cary-Grove High School’s “All Shook Up,” and “Chicago,” presented by Hinsdale South High School.
Broadway in Chicago selected 72 Illinois High Schools for participation in the program.
The eighth annual award ceremony, sponsored this year by NBC 5 Chicago, will be held Monday, May 6, in Chicago.