Ross Turkington '16 wins the Paper Mill Playhouse 2016 Rising Star Award for an Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role!

A huge congratulations to MKA's Ross Turkington on his win of the Paper Mill Playhouse 2016 Rising Star Award for an Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role as "Cookie McGee" in this year's Upper School Musical "Nice Work If You Can Get It!" Nicole Hoppe, Fine and Performing Arts Department Chair says, "The F&PA department congratulates Ross Turkington for his Rising Star Award WIN for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role! It is the perfect conclusion to his four years in MKA's Upper School theatre department and we couldn't be happier for him."

The Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Awards presented by the Investors Foundation are modeled after Broadway's Tony Awards. Paper Mill Playhouse's program serves the entire state of New Jersey, with nearly 100 entered productions from public, private and parochial high schools. Since their inception in 1996, the Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Awards for Excellence in High School Musical Theatre have ignited the careers of many notable performers, all of whom attended high school in New Jersey. Among the early nominees and winners are Academy Award winner Anne Hathaway (Les Misérables), Tony Award winners Laura Benanti (Gypsy) and Nikki M. James (The Book of Mormon), Tony nominee Rob McClure (Chaplin), Shanice Williams, star of NBC's The Wiz Live! and Olivier Award nominee Jared Gertner (The Book of Mormon).

Students receiving final nominations in the lead and supporting acting categories win a scholarship to Paper Mill Playhouse's competitive Summer Musical Theatre Conservatory, a professional training program which along with advanced classes in singing, acting and dance, offers the nominees an opportunity to perform on the Paper Mill stage in their annual "New Voices Concert."

Head of the Upper School Dr. David Flocco adds, "This is quite an achievement for Ross and the musical theater program that Nicole Hoppe so ably directs. Congratulations, Ross!"