On Sat. May 19, Solon High School’s Drama Club attended the “Dazzle Awards,” an award show for Northeast Ohio high school musical theater programs, hosted in the Connor Palace Theater at Playhouse Square. Solon took home three of the thirteen total awards for their rendition of “The Secret Garden,” including junior J.R. Heckman’s win of The John and Patricia Chapman Best Actor award.

SHS was nominated for eight total awards. The judges went to each school’s show in order to decide on the nominations. In the end, they chose Solon for Best Scenic Design, The AJ & Nancy Stokes Best Technical Execution and Heckman’s best actor award, which he did an additional private audition for.

This was Heckman’s second time winning the award, for which he received $1,500 and a ticket to New York to perform on the Broadway stage at the Jimmy Awards, the national high school musical theater awards. .After the show, director Kristina Ferencie remarked on Heckman’s win of best actor for the second time, the first time being his freshman year.

“I’m so excited for J.R.,” Ferencie said. “As he gave his acceptance speech, I was struck by how much he’s grown as a performer and a person since his win two years ago as Donkey in ‘Shrek,’ and I can’t wait to see him perform in New York.”

As for the Best Scenic Design and best technical execution awards, crew member and junior Morgan Herchick commented on what it was like to hear that Solon had taken home both trophies.

“I thought it was really important, because these were the [only] two crew categories… in the whole awards ceremony,” Herchick said. “And winning both of them is such a huge accomplishment for the crew because we worked so hard and it’s just nice to hold our accomplishments in our hands.”

But before any winners were announced, the group had some time to themselves to prepare for the opening performance, closing performance and, because of the nomination for best musical tier 2 (budget of $10,000 or less), a selected number from their show. During this time, Junior Andrea Friedberg commented on how she believed the cast’s camaraderie would helped make “The Secret Garden” a stronger production.

“I think as a group, we work really well together and I think that’s working in our favor,” Friedberg said. “I think we don’t just look like high schoolers up there and no matter what happens tonight, we know what we did and we put on a great show.”

On a similar note, sophomore Isabella Rothenfeld, who was a Solon delegate to the ceremony, shared her feelings about “The Secret Garden’s” potential. She said that coming off of last year, where no awards were won, she was hopeful for this year’s play, and wanted a Drama Club victory that night.

In addition, Junior Katherine Luciano held high hopes for “The Secret Garden.” She believed Solon would fare much better than last year at the Dazzle Awards, because she thought “The Secret Garden” was a stronger candidate than last year’s show, “All Shook Up.”

Needless to say, it was an interesting night for the students involved, and not just because they got celebrity treatment in the form of a red carpet. None of Drama Club’s seniors were able to attend the event, as they were busy sprucing themselves up before the the Solon High School senior prom.

Junior Destiny Coe explained what it was like to do Dazzle without the seniors.

“We keep them updated through text and social media, so it’s like they’re still here,” Coe said. “A lot of them have wished us good luck and they just really want to [stay updated]. So even if they’re not physically here, they’re still with us in spirit, so it’s kind of the same thing.”

Ferencie also mentioned that because the seniors were at prom, there were three empty slots at Dazzle in need of replacement performers. But she added that this opened doors for other students.

“So really what it meant is that a lot of underclassmen, and new people who haven’t been here before, got a chance to experience [Dazzle],” Ferencie said.

At the end of the day, Solon came out of Dazzle with three new trophies, a new experience and anticipation for many future Dazzle Awards to come.