Published On: Thu, Feb 17th, 2022

Lebow Award Offers High School Students a Chance to “Be Not Afraid Of Greatness”

Left to right: Diani Galarza-Alvarez, and Katelyn Daunais both seniors at Forest Hill Community High; Sophia Madden, a junior at Royal Palm Beach Community High School; and Anne-Marie Gousse, a junior at Forest Hill Community High School Photo: Mary Stucchi

Kravis Center sets the stage for annual Shakespearean performances and award presentation

Boca Raton, FL – Celebrating its 12th year of awarding local Title 1 high schoolers for their excellence in Shakespearean performances, the Lebow Awards were presented on January 22 where participating students and teachers also attended the evening’s performance of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Cash prizes totaling $5,000 were bestowed on six Palm Beach County students from two local high schools following an adjudication process.

“This award at the Kravis Center is a fitting tribute to Alan Lebow, a man whose passion in life involved theater, film, art and literature,” said Tracy Butler, Director of Education at the Kravis Center. “We are pleased to honor the accomplishments of the 2022 Lebow Award recipients as well as the commitment of their teachers. The students all gave outstanding performances and this program would not be possible without the support of the Lebow family’s Kids’ Dreams, Inc. foundation.”

Sponsored by Kids’ Dreams, Inc., in memory of its co-founder, Alan Lebow, the Kravis Center award program engages students from Title I high schools and provides the opportunity for them to perform short selections from William Shakespeare’s works before a panel of distinguished judges. In 2015, Kids’ Dreams made a gift to the Kravis Center to permanently endow the Lebow Award.

The student adjudication took place on December 11, where the participants performed their selected works and were evaluated and scored by three judges in five categories of performance: concentration, emotional commitment, energy, evidence of understanding, and overall performance. The Lebow Award Judges included Desmond Gallant, Courtney Poston and Karen Stephens.

The two top winners were seniors from Forest Hill Community High School, Madison McCalla, a Kravis Center DeGeorge Academy alumna, and Curran Stinchcomb. Each won a prize of $1,000. Diani Galarza-Alvarez, and Katelyn Daunais both seniors at Forest Hill Community High; Sophia Madden, a junior at Royal Palm Beach Community High School; and Anne-Marie Gousse, a junior at Forest Hill Community High School were awarded $750 as an Honorable Mention.

The Kravis Center is a not-for-profit performing arts center located at 701 Okeechobee Blvd. in West Palm Beach, FL. The Center’s mission is to enhance the quality of life in Palm Beach County by presenting a diverse schedule of national and international artists and companies of the highest quality, by offering comprehensive arts education programs – serving nearly 3 million students since its inception; by providing a Palm Beach County home for local and regional arts organizations to showcase their work; and by providing an economic catalyst and community leadership in West Palm Beach, supporting efforts to increase travel and tourism to Palm Beach County.

The Kravis Center remains committed to the health and safety of our artists, staff, audience, volunteers, and guests. Like many other performing arts centers throughout the country, we have implemented new health and safety protocols to ensure the comfort and enjoyment for everyone visiting the Center. To learn more about our current health and safety protocols visit kravis.org/healthsafety.

For more information on the Kravis Center Education programs, please visit the website at www.Kravis.org.

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