Apple Awards

League Educator Apple Awards

The League's Education Committee is excited to continue the League Educator Apple Award program, started in 2003. The purpose of this national endeavor is to recognize, reward, and acknowledge the efforts of local schools and community groups that support League member organization/venue's education programs relating to Broadway or touring Broadway shows and promote further development of theatre education.

Educators and collaborators who have partnered with League members on education programs relating to League-member Broadway and touring Broadway productions are eligible for this award.

The League is committed to working with our members in their efforts to develop new audiences and model projects by supporting education initiatives across the country.

Download the 2010-2011 nomination form. For further information, please contact Rachel Reiner at (212) 703-0215.

2009 League Apple Award Recipients

Mr. Donald Hicken, Theater Department Head of the Baltimore School for the Arts

Over the last four years, Mr. Hicken has collaborated with the Hippodrome Foundation to develop an extensive program, offering high school students the opportunity to participate in master classes, young critics programs and discussions with professional actors. Students saw multiple shows at the Hippodrome Theatre, including the Broadway touring productions of Camelot and Twelve Angry Men. As a director and thirty-year educator, Mr. Hicken has a great love of the theatre and inspires with enthusiasm, wisdom and honesty. His students gain a greater understanding of the business side of theatre, personal critique by professionals in the industry, and honest insight into the challenges of arts related careers.

Dr. Janet Scaglione, Professor at the University of South Florida

Dr. Janet Scaglione has been inspirational in encouraging her undergraduate and graduate students to examine controversial issues through Broadway and examine their personal growth from these experiences. Her students have attended numerous touring Broadway productions including Wicked, Doubt and Avenue Q and discussed such issues as racism, sexism and various forms of bias, prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination. Dr. Scaglione is passionate about developing a model to integrate performance arts with workforce education and training, and has been extremely successful with her own work at the University of South Florida.

2008 League Apple Award Recipients

Paul King, Director of Theater Programs, New York City Department of Education

Paul King worked with the Broadway production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee to coordinate efforts with Grace Dodge High School in the Bronx, which had recently developed a Theatre/English class for selected students. Because the Spelling Bee story focuses on children who don’t fit in, Mr. King recognized the need to bring this program to a classroom of exceptional students who need a place to fit in. Throughout the semester-long project, Mr. King oversaw all correspondence and coordination, and provided continuous encouragement for the collaboration, which allowed each student to bring their own sense of creativity to the project. By developing this and other partnerships through "The Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in the Arts: Theater, Grades Pre-K-12," Mr. King and the Board of Education have established a true connection with the New York City Public Schools and the Broadway community by finding material in each show that best suits classrooms and educators’ already established curriculum. Mr. King provided the much needed cheerleading to remind everyone that what they were doing brought the thrill of live Broadway to children who had never experienced Broadway in any form.

Serena Coleman and Peggy Holmes, Amory High School, Mississippi

After bringing students to see touring Broadway productions at the Orpheum Theatre in Memphis, Tennessee, including Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, these teachers encouraged and led their students to use the lessons learned from observing professional theatre to create a high-quality musical for their community by putting on their own production of the same show. Even though the high school is 125 miles away, they became the first high school group in the theatre’s 80-year history to be invited to perform a full-length musical on the Orpheum stage. The small community of Amory came together to raise the necessary funds to reconstruct Joseph for the huge Orpheum stage, which they performed for a crowd of over 2000. This unique opportunity allowed students to see hands on the challenges of a touring show. They experienced the re-building of sets and re-blocking of musical numbers due to the changes in sight lines, lights, acoustics and stage space. The ticket sales from Joseph allowed Amory High School to purchase microphones and rent costumes for future productions and USA Weekend gave the school the state award for Best High School Musical.

Chris Maly, Patsy Koch-Johns, Joann Davis Yoakum and Kathy Marsgall, Lincoln High School; Vernon Miller and John Mangan, Umonhon Nation Public School; and Mike Morris, Crete High School, Nebraska

These teachers collaborated with the Lied Center for Performing Arts and Time Warner Cable on the eighth annual Immersion Project in conjunction with the touring Broadway production of All Shook Up. Students from Lincoln and Crete High Schools collaborated with students from the Umonhon Nation public schools creating positive relationship building between students of different cultures. One such interactive activity allowed for the Umonhon Nation students to share the stories of their family histories, which brought out commonalities between students. The experience provided an opportunity for students to act, dance and really become themselves. The teachers were able to bring great diversity, challenging educational contexts, passion for the arts and enthusiasm to introduce their students to the arts.  The students learned about the arts through workshops on language, music, choreography, scene study and auditioning.

2007 League Apple Award Recipients

Jean Toole, Liberty High School, Liberty, South Carolina

The committee honors Ms. Toole’s collaboration with Liberty High School and the Peace Center.  Ms. Toole has actively been bringing students to Broadway shows at the Peace Center every season since 1993.  Participating touring Broadway productions during the 2005-2006 school year included The Boy Friend and Movin’ Out.  Ms. Toole has also served as Liberty High School’s “Teacher Connection” representative to the Peace Outreach Program since 1999.  Students participated last year in artist-directed workshops in critical review of theatre, staging and design, acting auditions and stage movement, and participated in a year-long facilitated writing activity which documented their improved capacity to engage in each subsequent theatre experience on intellectual, emotional and social grounds. This project also strengthened an existing partnership between the Peace Center and the Pickens County School District, shining positive light on the value of the arts in education and creating the possibility for future programs to develop with an even wider impact.

Kevin Coughlin, Wilson Foundation Academy and Kathleen Coughlin, Willink Middle School, Rochester, New York

The committee honors Mr. and Mrs. Coughlin’s multi-year collaboration with Wilson Foundation Academy, Willink Middle School and the Rochester Broadway Theatre League Middle School Project, where participating touring Broadway productions over the last few years have included Les Misérables, The Lion King and Annie.  Mr. Coughlin, an instrumental and music teacher at the Wilson Foundation Academy, was the first educator to participate in the program.  Within his school, the program became an inter-disciplinary project that brought different teachers and curriculums together to prepare students for the live theatre experience.  Ms. Coughlin, a middle school music and chorus teacher at Willink Middle School, presented her students with a major unit on the American Musical Theatre and brought her passion and knowledge to infuse her students with an appreciation of the art form. She encouraged her district’s involvement and incorporated over 350 eighth graders in the first year. 

Maria Brent, Middleton High School, Tampa, Florida

The committee honors Ms. Brent’s collaboration with Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center and Middleton High School.  Ms. Brent is a committed arts educator who brings innovative teaching ideas to her classroom.  She is dedicated to introducing the performing arts to her inner-city and underserved students, often going above and beyond her required duties.  She was instrumental in coordinating the activities surrounding the After Wicked/After Oz: A Broadway Sequel Project for grades 9 through 12.  This project provided a creative path for continued and expanded learning experiences in reading, dramatic writing and character development while introducing students to the live performing arts.  It established collaborative relationships between the Center, local artists, school and touring Broadway shows, providing a more diverse level of exposure not available in the school system, than the individual participants alone could provide.

Kathleen Dwyer, Kickemuit Middle School, Warren, Rhode Island

The committee honors Ms. Dwyer’s collaboration with Kickemuit Middle School and Providence Performing Arts Center.  Ms. Dwyer, a visual arts teacher, implemented The Lion King Tree of Life Carousel project with her school as part of Providence Performing Arts Center’s ArtReach initiative.  While other schools participated, Ms. Dwyer’s project most personified the intent of the program on all levels through the integration of art, science, critical thinking, planning, research, execution, comparison and reward.  She also worked with a local antique gallery to display the students’ work, bringing the community into the project.

2006 League Apple Award Recipients

Anita Winstead, Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, Louisville, Kentucky

Ms. Winstead made it possible for her third grade class to experience live musical theatre, many for the first time. Not only did she take her entire class to see Annie at the Kentucky Center for the Arts, but she also incorporated the production into many other aspects of the classroom. Her class learned about homelessness, made a Caring Quilt for a homeless family, and were visited by a local social worker to discuss the topic. Students learned terminology and elements of drama and also had visits from actors from the touring company. After viewing the live performance of Annie, the class wrote and performed their own school-wide adaptation, which the adopted homeless family attended. Prior to this program, Ms. Winstead also spent her own money to send 25 students to see The Lion King when alternative funding was unavailable.

Elizabeth Brooks-Gordon, Kennedy Middle School; David Jester, J.T. Williams Middle School; Kim Hotchner, Northwest School of the Arts; Charlotte, North Carolina

These three educators collaborated on an event called Movin’ Stories for their middle school students in conjunction with the North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center and the tour of Movin’ Out. The process had three elements, all inspired by Movin’ Out. First, Ms. Brooks-Gordon’s class researched events from 1990 through 2004 (picking up where Billy Joel’s timeline ends) to create a social, political, and cultural timeline. Next, Mr. Jester’s class turned the timeline into a creative writing story following four friends throughout the years. The collaboration ended with Ms. Hotchner’s students who created a dance interpretation of the other two classes’ work. The project culminated with a presentation highlighting all three schools’ activities.


Tara Kissane, Paradise Valley Unified School District, Phoenix, Arizona

Ms. Kissane, the District Arts Coordinator, helped coordinate the logistics of ASU Public Events’ Kaleidoscope program, an arts education program that recognizes, encourages, and motivates students who might not otherwise, by choice or circumstance, have an opportunity to experience live theatre. Before seeing The Lion King at Gammage Auditorium, Ms. Kissane’s fourth grade students participated in a variety of learning activities during a ten-week unit. The students met twice a week to learn about social studies, history, science, and math as they relate to The Lion King. Three Arizona artists also introduced the students to music, culture, and theatrical techniques. After viewing the live production, students had the opportunity to speak with cast members during dinner. The following week, the students met to assess what they had learned during the process.


Phyllis Sims-Roy and Lisa Stewart, Overton High School, Memphis, Tennessee

Mrs. Roy and Mrs. Stewart have proven great dedication to Overton High School dance students by offering the opportunity to see a touring Broadway show, meet and work with dance professionals and be exposed to different styles of dance. Participating touring Broadway productions over the last few years include Fosse, 42nd Street, The Lion King, Hairspray and Chicago. Mrs. Roy, the Assistant Principal, coordinates the relationship with the Orpheum Theatre while Mrs. Stewart works with the students to prepare them for master classes and introduce them to the shows, helping them to see the connection of various forms of Broadway choreography. This program has also helped enhance the Orpheum’s partnership with the entire student population of the school.


2005 League Apple Award Recipients

Lorie Dewey, Rochester City School District's School of the Arts, Rochester, New York

Ms. Dewey's dedication to the Master Class program has made it possible for participating high school students to learn about live theatrical production by attending touring Broadway shows at a reduced rate, and to study theatre with her and with company and cast members. Ms. Dewey is directly responsible for coordinating and making sure that all drama majors attend at least one master class during the academic year. For each show this season, The King and I (vocal), Mamma Mia! (dance), The Producers (acting), Thoroughly Modern Millie (acting), Chicago (dance), and Movin' Out (dance), 13-15 students of Rochester City School District's School of the Arts will attend a master class and the performance. A total of 90 students participated under her direction.

J.P. Royer III, Midway Elementary School, Tampa, Florida

Mr. Royer's dedication to the arts made it possible for students at Midway Elementary School in Tampa, Florida to see The Phantom of the Opera and study the musical in all its various incarnations. Students read Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera and then watched the silent film and filmed stage version. They wrote comparative essays on the novel and the film and also drafted and asked questions of cast members. Following the show, students wrote thank you letters and were assigned post-show essays describing their experiences with Phantom.

2004 League Apple Award Recipients

Dr. Kathleen Binkowski, Superintendent of Plainville (CT) Community Schools

Having engaged in an ongoing collaboration with The Bushnell Center in Hartford, Dr. Binkowski made it possible for participating high school students to study the novel Ragtime. Before attending the musical based on the novel at the Bushnell Center, students studied the text and discussed the relationships between American culture, democracy, and justice by looking at themes such as social and economic issues and immigration. Dr. Binkowski also developed a curriculum for music and drama students using Show Boat to illustrate that off-stage careers involved with the arts are just as important as the performers. This program featured lectures from staff members of the Bushnell Center who were working on a production of Show Boat, introducing students to the educational and training aspects of their jobs that were required for their individual careers.

Linda Succi, House Leader and Assistant Principal, Edward Martin Middle School in East Providence, RI

Linda Succi has worked continuously with the Providence Performing Arts Center for two years. She facilitated the participation of her school in the “From Books to Broadway” program in conjunction with the touring Broadway production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Before seeing the show, students familiarized themselves with the storyline and studied the creation of the music. Cast members came to the school and discussed their touring experiences, educational background and how they prepare for auditions. Eighty students then attended Beauty and the Beast at the Providence Performing Arts Center.

Ida Rankin, Elementary School First Grade Team, Mount Holly, NC

Working in conjunction with the North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center last year, this team helped to introduce kindergarten through fifth grade students to the touring Broadway production of Seussical: The Musical. They developed programs that incorporated theatre education into their curriculum. The team designed learning programs that identified the rhyme scheme in Dr. Seuss' poetry and encouraged students to create their own Seuss-like poems. They worked with the students to incorporate drama, music, and movement into an original mini theatrical performed for the entire school.


2003 League Apple Award Recipients

Deb Hare, formerly a teacher at the Wilbur Cross High School in New Haven, has worked in conjunction with the CAPA Shubert Theater since 1998 and is currently involved in an eight week arts and education program. Ms. Hare's teaching philosophy offers her students a creative approach to literature, along with engaging and challenging them with her "out of the box" teaching methods. From the beginning, Deb played an integral role with the Shubert in the development of three projects: The Civil War, Art, and Proof. Through these programs her students have had the opportunity to create a public exhibition of their artwork, attend their first live theatrical performance, and learn that students from other communities are just like them. Deb Hare is an educator who allows her students to dream, believe in the impossible, and in themselves.

Dona Beard, a teacher at Park Middle School in Lincoln, Nebraska, and Ann Shrewsbury, Time Warner Cable, have worked with the Lied Center throughout the last two performance seasons. Dona Beard and Ann Shrewsbury are being recognized for their involvement in planning two Broadway Immersion Projects with the Lied Center for Performing Arts involving the national tours of Ragtime and Riverdance. The first project involved 7th and 8th grade Park Middle School drama students in the 2000/2001 season with the production of Ragtime. An "Immersion Day" hosted activities such as a pre-show reception, a post show discussion with cast members, and a workshop that included mock auditions, improvisations, and vocal music selections. The second project took place during the 2001/2002 season. This project involved 7th and 8th grade students and teachers from Park Middle School who participate in the Riverdance Immersion Project. In preparation, students watched segments of Riverdance, and discussed how different dance and choreographic styles both reflect and express culture. The day of the performance was similar to that of Ragtime, with lead dancers from Riverdance providing a hands-on workshop at the school.