Sunday, June 4th, marked the 15th annual Islip Town Arts Council Teeny Awards ceremony held right here in the East Islip High School for the second year in a row. With over 25 nominations and special recognitions across nearly every category, the high school’s fall production of Murder on the Orient Express and spring musical, Catch Me If You Can, were very successful.  

To start off the night, director of both the fall and spring productions, Mrs. Bethany Affelt, presented her Director’s Choice Award to Marisa Triolo and Andrew D’Amico for their work in both productions. The Director’s Choice Award is the director’s chance to recognize any student that they believe went above and beyond for their production. Marisa showed hard work both on and off stage in both shows this school year. Playing Michel in the fall production of Murder on the Orient Express, Triolo had to learn a French accent and in the spring musical she learned almost an entire show’s worth of music and choreography as well as understudying the female lead, Brenda Strong. Also, her work behind the scenes as prop master was extremely helpful in both shows. Affelt’s second Director’s Choice went to Andrew D’Amico for his hard work in Murder on the Orient Express as Samuel Ratchet. Seeing Andrew’s growth throughout the years, Affelt had to recognize his talent and performance in his senior year.

But, that wasn’t all for East Islip students. Hanna Ross was fortunate enough to be given the CM Theater sponsored scholarship and senior Bella Pepe won the Islip Art Council sponsored scholarship. Both of these students received these scholarships out of recognition for their hard work throughout the week of rehearsals leading up to the award show event.

Also, this year East Islip had 8 students get recognized for their dedication and effort behind the scenes. Aine O’Boyle was recognized for Scenic Design (Catch Me If You Can), Ian Schneider for Stage Crew (Catch Me If You Can), Nick Weber for Stage Manager (Catch Me If You Can), Keira Tantillo for Lighting Design (Murder on the Orient Express), Emily Ferrell for Sound Design (Murder on the Orient Express), Steven D’Amico for Art Design his poster (Catch Me If You Can), Brooke Lubin for Student Choreographer (Catch Me If You Can) and Marisa Triolo in her own category for Prop Master (Murder on the Orient Express). All of these students put forth so much effort for very little recognition, but these tech/crew awards help acknowledge all the behind the scenes work that’s necessary for a show to be successful on stage.

Last, but not least, East Islip was lucky enough to have received over 20 nominations across almost every acting category and even won two categories. In the Comedy or Drama category, Murder on the Orient Express had almost its entire cast nominated. Ryan Kelpie was nominated for Leading Actor (Monsieur Bouc), Tristan Hearth for Leading Actor (Monsieur Poirot), Brendan Kroupa for Supporting Actor (Colonel Arbuthnot), Sophia LoMonaco for Leading Actress (Countess Andrenyi), Brooke Lubin for Supporting Actress (Greta Ohlsson), Hanna Ross for Supporting Actress (Princess Dragomiroff), Kelly Waldron for Supporting Actress (Mary Debenham), and Andrew D’Amico for Featured Actor (Samuel Ratchet). The cast’s ensemble was also nominated for Best Ensemble in a Comedy of Drama. It was a very competitive year this year and East Islip’s only win for Murder on the Orient Express went to Tristan Hearth in a three way tie for Best Leading Actor in a Comedy or Drama.

Although there weren’t as many nominations in the acting categories, East Islip still had a win for the musical. Lorelai Mucciolo won Best Supporting Actress in a Musical for her role as Brenda Strong in this year’s spring musical Catch Me If You Can. Her performance was well deserving of that award and every ounce of applause she received each night. Alongside Mucciolo, Tristan Hearth was nominated for Leading Actor (Carl Hanratty), Andrew D’Amico for Supporting Actor (Frank Abagnale Sr.), Sophia LoMonanco for Supporting Actress (Paula Abagnale), Bella Pepe for Supporting Actress (Carol Strong), Tyler Hilms for Featured Actor (Agent Dollar), Ryan Kelpie for Featured Actor (Agent Branton) and Anderson Ross for Featured Actor (Agent Cod).

Both the fall straight play and the spring musical were huge successes and the entire cast of both shows should be very proud of their nomination and accomplishments.