Lakeview Senior Wins Best Featured Performer at GA High School Musical Theatre Awards
Lakeview Academy senior Noah Caplan was named the winner in the Featured Performer category at the prestigious Georgia High School Musical Theatre Awards – The Shuler Hensley Awards. Caplan won for his role as the enthusiastic but misguided seer in the Broadway hit musical “Something Rotten.” Last year’s Leading Actor Winner, Ari Mikels, presented, and Davison Filson, and Ensemble members Anderson Cheek and McClairin Garmon performed.
Caplan has been nominated for a “Shuler” before, but this is his first win. Lakeview Academy’s ManeStage theatre troupe has been nominated for numerous Shulers, including a 2021 win for Ari Mikels in the Best Actor category for his lead role in last year’s “Urinetown.”
The annual awards were announced April 21 at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center in a live television broadcast on GPB. The broadcast has the look of Broadway’s Tony Awards and is part of the National High School Musical Theatre Awards – The Jimmy Awards.
Over 100 high schools from across Georgia compete for the coveted Shuler awards.
Caplan captured the Shuler judges’ attention with his energetic, spot-on portrayal of Nostradamus, the loopy but creative seer who envisions theatrical performances for musicals written 400 years in the future.
“I enjoyed the flamboyant and sporadic nature of the character,” said Caplan. “I also enjoyed the costume for the role, which included a fat suit and a huge wig of gray hair.”
Other Lakeview thespians, as well as faculty and staff, were nominated for awards this year, including Davison Filson in the leading actor category for his portrayal of William Shakespeare.
Caplan has been a Lakeview student since kindergarten and following graduation plans to attend Duke Kunshan University, a partnership between Duke University and China’s Wuhan University. He believes that his involvement in the theatre will help prepare him for an eventual career in economics, business, or politics, all areas of interest.
“Theatre has helped me learn how to present and tell a story regardless of what field I may eventually work in,” Caplan said. “You learn how to take risks, share information, and communicate with others.”
He is president of the Lakeview student body, an officer of the Georgia State Thespians, and is co-president of Lakeview’s chapter of the International Thespian Society, Troupe 3630.
Lakeview Academy is a private, coeducational day school for students in preschool through 12th grade, located in Gainesville, GA minutes off I-985/Hwy 365.
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