Roger Rees Award Nominations

Rockland Community College and the Visual and Performing Arts department are proud to partner with the Roger Rees Awards for 2025!

The Roger Rees Awards for Excellence in Student Performance recognizes distinction in student performance and outstanding achievement in high school musical theatre programs in the NYC area. This program was formerly known as The Gershwin Awards. The Broadway Education Alliance is the fiscal sponsor of The Roger Rees Awards.

RCC has been chosen to be one of the three host colleges for the nominating process of the Roger Rees Awards.

“This idea of young people showing their acting chops and being recognized for it is something that he would have adored. So, I hope everybody who is competing for the Roger Rees Awards understands this kind of lifelong commitment to trying to be better at what we, who work in the theater, try to do. What Roger’s life is a great example of is that you never stop learning, you never stop working, you never stop striving to be better. These kids here today are on that path, and if Roger’s name is on that path as a signpost, then Heaven is happier today because he’s up there pointing down going, ‘yeah, yeah, yeah, keep going, keep going, keep at it, just keep at it.'” – Rick Elice

Each year the award committee chooses three institutions with whom to partner and host nomination auditions.

While at each institution, the participants will go through a half-day process of checking-in, warming up, splitting into two groups, the first of which will go to a holding area to prepare for their audition, while the other group participates in a workshop.

This year they are doing something new and exciting that we proposed and instead of a traditional workshop in Dance, the nominees will be engaged in a theatrical stage combat workshop with Lightsabers (in honor of May the 4th)! Following the 90-minute workshop, the groups will then switch and the first group to audition will engage in the workshop and the other group will prepare to audition.

The entire process will take approximately 4-5 hours in total on Sunday, May 4th. We will be using the upper atrium, the Cultural Arts Theatre, the Black Box Studio, and the Green Room of the theatre.

This all culminates in an extravagant award ceremony in Manhattan in May.

The nomination process and workshop are closed to the public.