Penn Theatre students, instructors earn WAVE nominations

Posted on May 4, 2025

Penn High School’s exceptional Theatre students and instructors earned recognition for their talents and efforts with numerous WAVE Award nominations from Lake Michigan College. This annual WAVES event, modeled off of the Tony Awards, celebrates outstanding work in area high school musical productions. This year, 12 different schools from 5 counties are participating.
 
Penn High School’s production of “The SpongeBob Musical” earned a total of 12 nominations.
 
“We had a truly talented, passionate, and hard-working cast, crew, and pit musicians involved in the incredible production this past March,” Penn Theatre Instructor Kathryn Hein said. “They worked over the course of months to embody Penn’s Take 3 motto, and we’re excited for some of them to be recognized by name.”
 
The award show and announcement of winners will be on Wednesday, May 21, at Lake Michigan College’s Mendel Center in Benton Harbor.
 
Penn High School will be one of the groups performing to represent our Outstanding Musical-nominated production. The event is open to the public.
 
 
Here are the Penn nominees:
 
Outstanding Musical: The SpongeBob Musical
 
Outstanding Lead Actor: Ava Gallo as SpongeBob and Nix Hardmas as Patrick
 
Outstanding Supporting Actor: Jack Mead as Mr. Krabs
 
Outstanding Featured Actor: Riley Newcomer as the Mayor
 
Outstanding Featured Ensemble: The Sardines
 
Outstanding Direction: Andrew Nemeth
 
Outstanding Musical Direction: Ethan Schopp
 
Outstanding Choreography: Jenn Wolfe
 
Outstanding Orchestra: Zac Coudret
 
Outstanding Set Design: Suzanne Button
 
Outstanding Costume Design: Kathryn Hein
 
 
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Last Modified May 4, 2025