Portales students earn nominations

PORTALES - A pair of Portales students earned nominations last week for the Enchantment Awards, an annual awards show and night of performances recognizing the top high school theatrical productions in the state.

Senior Bailey Grady was nominated for best supporting actress for her role of Queen Constantina in the Portales High School production of "Cinderella," while junior Julian Valero earned a best supporting actor nomination for his performance of Lionel, the Royal Steward.

"I'm very proud of them because there's usually a lot more supporting roles than major roles in productions so they had more competition than the other roles in the show and they came out on top," PHS drama teacher Melody Gallagher said.

For Valero, he said this marked the first year where he played a large enough role to be eligible for best supporting actor.

"It really means a lot to me because my freshman year I joined theater as kind of like a last chance to try to find what I enjoy doing ... It really means a lot to me to have developed so far enough to be recognized for it," Valero said.

Meanwhile for Grady, this was her last chance to take part in the Enchantment Awards' annual celebration at Popejoy Hall in Albuquerque, scheduled for May 4.

"This is a really big deal for me actually because I have been in theater since I was a freshman and making it to Popejoy in one way or another has been a dream of mine since I knew it was a thing I could do," Grady said. "So being able to win this award my senior year is just the cherry on top of my big senior year."

Terry Davis, a co-producer for the Enchantment Awards, said both students were nominated in part because of the comedic aspect they brought to "Cinderella."

"In both cases really the comments (from the adjudicators) had to do with their comedy ability, their comic timing and their ability to play the comic moments," Davis said.

Valero said he thought the comedic parts of the show stood out more because of the chemistry of the cast.

"Because, with me at least, I don't think there's anyone in the cast I don't know that well so I was already pretty good friends with everybody, so I was used to joking around with them," Valero said. "So when it came to the comedic parts of the scene it was a lot more natural than if I didn't know them beforehand."

In addition to their chance at winning an award, Davis said Valero and Grady will also participate in the director's choice chorus where, along with the other best supporting actor and actress nominees, they will take part in a medley of Broadway songs specifically created and choreographed for the event.

"I don't have very much prior dance experience, but because I've been in so many musicals at the high school I can pick up on the choreography really easily," Grady said. "And just singing and dancing with a group of really talented people is a huge honor and I think if worst comes to worst, enthusiasm will make up for my lack of prior dance knowledge."

Both Grady and Valero said they plan to continue pursuing theater as a minor at Eastern New Mexico University following graduation.

Davis said the Enchantment Awards are held every year to recognize the top theater students in the state because of the importance fine arts play in the education process.

"The things you do in theater basically take all your lessons from all your other subjects and put them to use in a practical way. History, sociology, psychology, language arts - all those things come into play when you're doing theater," Davis said.

"Basically you think about a theater project and it's a committee of a whole putting on a project with a strict budget, absolute deadline and sort of a can't-fail premise. Is that a life skill? That's why we think theater education is so very important."