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Cobb Centre naming high school musical awards for Broadway star Shuler Hensley
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark B. Kent recently discovered that “schuler” is a German word for student.
In a happy coincidence, the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre Foundation, where Kent is education director, announced today that it is creating the Shuler Hensley Awards for excellence in high school musical theater. The student honors, which Kent refers to as the “Shulers,” are named after the Atlanta-born star of Broadway’s “Young Frankenstein,” “Oklahoma!” and “Tarzan.”
The student competition — inspired by Houston’s Tommy Tune Awards and Pittsburgh’s Gene Kelly Awards — is open to all public and private high schools in the metro area. The first round of honors — in 13 categories ranging from performance and direction to choreography and design — will be presented at a glizty ceremony at the Cobb venue next April 14.
Hensley, who plans to attend, lauded the new program and said he is humbled to have it named for him.
“I think high school is pretty much the most important experience in terms of theater that people have,” the Marietta native said by phone from his home in Montclair, N.J. “It’s sort of like people get the taste for theater, and then they decide, ‘This is something I really want to do.’ ”
Hensley remembers performing in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” while a student at The Westminster Schools in the ’80s. He later attended the University of Georgia on a baseball scholarship but decided to leave Athens to study music formally. He won his Tony in 2002, for his portrayal of Jud Fry in Trevor Nunn’s revival of “Oklahoma!” Before that, he received an Olivier Award for the London production of the classic.
“He’s sort of like our local kid made good in the Broadway world right now,” says Kent, who runs the foundation’s ArtsBridge education program. “I think it’s kind of exciting for kids to be connected with someone who is on the move and enjoy that process with him.” Hensley is 41.
The Broadway star, currently playing the Monster in “Young Frankenstein,” participated in the center’s grand opening events last year. Kent says the actor’s approachability was “absolutely inspiring.”
Hensley says he’d like to attend the awards every year. The actor, who has never performed professionally in his home town, also said he’d love to try out “Bad Boys of Broadway,” a new solo show he’s developing, at the center and would be thrilled to offer master classes to students.
“Anytime I can lend my name to this time in kids’ lives and offer encouragement, that’s what I want to do.”
For more information about the awards: 770-916-2808; cobbenergycentre.com.
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