The Homewood-Flossmoor High School spring musical “Between the Lines” and three of its principal actors have been nominated for top prizes in the 14th annual Broadway in Chicago Illinois High School Musical Theatre Awards (IHSMTA). Winners will be announced Monday, May 12.
Stella Hoyt is nominated in the best performer in an actress role, and Gabriel McKinney and Bryce Stewart are nominated for best performer in an actor role. They are among 24 nominees from throughout Illinois. This is the second time the three have been nominated for IHSMTA honors. More than 315 students from 85 high schools applied to IHSMTA.
H-F graduate Jazmin Rhodes won the best actress award in 2024 giving her a The Jimmy Awards honor and a 10-day trip to Broadway for intensive of coaching sessions and rehearsals with industry professionals in preparation for a one-night-only showcase on a Broadway stage.
The production “Between the Lines” was directed by teacher J.R. Willard-Rose and co-directed by teacher Deena Cassady and is one of five nominated for best production honors. In 2024, H-F took the best production honors for “Urinetown” directed by teacher Anne Calderon.
On Monday, the NBC-5 Chicago-hosted program will have the three H-F students joining the other nominees in musical presentation from “Titanique” now playing in Chicago. Beforehand, they each will have auditioned with a selection from “Between the Lines” and a second song. Judges will name the three finalists during the IHSMTA show who perform again before the winners are chosen.
The three H-F seniors have been involved in theater since a young age.
Hoyt performed on Chicago stages from age 8 until her freshman year when she dedicated her time to theater at H-F. She also is a state champion in speech competitions.
She will be majoring in musical theater at Shenandoah Conservatory Arts Academy in Winchester, Virginia.
McKinney first went on stage at age 7 in the Governors State University production “Caroline, Or Change” directed by Willard-Rose. He said he “was hooked” after that and performed in musicals at James Hart School before taking the stage in various productions at H-F.
He also has been a member of Viking Choir for four years, served on Student Government. He will be attending Oberlin Conservatory of Music majoring in musical theater.
Stewart took the stage at a young age. He remembers playing the Cowardly Lion in a production of the Wiz while in middle school, and the summer before his freshmen year he was in a School House Rock production. At H-F he’s had parts in all the musicals.
He says he came full circle when he reprised his role of the Cowardly Lion in H-F summer children’s theater program this past summer. Stewart served as president of Viking Choir and the Thespian Board. He will be attending Millikin University majoring in musical theater.
The three also won roles through auditions for the All-State Theatre productions presented by the Illinois Theatre Association.
They all say H-F’s arts programs offered them great opportunities to develop their talents.
“I’ve been creating different memories, they’re like engraved in me,” McKinney said. “We have a lot of fun, but we also work hard.”
Willard-Rose put students through intensive practices a month before “Between the Lines” was presented in April. Dance rehearsals with choreographer Kyle Aiden ran from 3 to 9 p.m. seven days a week. There wasn’t much let-up for the following three weeks of rehearsals, either.
“They all want what’s best for us and there are opportunities for that,” Hoyt said of her teachers. “The student-led opportunities … If you took a tour backstage you would see that every single thing done backstage was done by students” whether it was staging, costumes, directing, lighting, social media.
Rose said he selected “Between the Lines” because he loved the music, student performers would be eligible for the Jimmy Awards “and it happened to have so many great parts. That’s one thing, so many kids got featured and with solo singing or dance-featured parts.
“When you can find shows like that, that’s what gives kids confidence. Freshmen had substantial roles, and they want to come back. I think that’s part of the secret sauce of our program that we let freshmen and sophomores feel that success early so they gain that confidence and keep coming back,” he said.