News

Meet East End Arts’ new Teeny Awards coordinator

Morgan Vaughan

East End Arts recently announced that renowned theater actress Morgan Vaughan will be the new coordinator for the Teeny Awards program.

The Teeny Awards has celebrated the best in East End high school theater productions each year since its inception in 2002.

Ms. Vaughan, an East Hampton native with an MFA in acting from The Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Academy for Classical Acting at George Washington University, said she hopes that in her new role she can showcase what past Teeny Award recipients have gone on to do in their theatrical careers.

“What we will show is how important the high school play and theater program was to these people,” she said in a press release. “It taught them confidence, team-playing and how to accomplish goals. Something they might or might not have learned in World History.”

Ms. Vaughan previously served as a judge in the Teeny Awards competition and she says she looks forward to seeing local students’ work come alive on stage again this school year.

“I don’t think the importance of teaching theater and working on plays in high school can be overestimated,” she said. “Besides the knowledge gained from doing great plays and musicals in an academic sense, there is the character building that comes from being part of an ensemble.”

She is currently seeking judges for this year’s Teeny Awards competition.

Judges will be selected based on experience and knowledge of theatre. Judges attend high school productions anonymously and adjudicate students with the use of an evaluation tool based on the academic rubric. Orientation is provided. Theatrical performances take place at 15 high schools in eastern Suffolk County. All judges are invited to the gala awards ceremony in June 2012.

Applications for judges may be obtained by contacting Ms. Vaughan at [email protected] or East End Arts at (631) 727-0900.

An application will also soon be available on East End Arts’ website.