This past school year, the Old Saybrook High School dRAMa Club got nominations in both the Stephen Sondheim and Halo awards, getting four and 14 nominations respectively. Between the 18 nominations, OSHS student Tess Santarsiero won Best Performance in a Leading Female Role in a Classical Musical, from the spring musical, Chicago! at the Halo awards, May 27th, 2026.
After a few years, OSHS decided to put themselves back in the running of the Halo awards, which turned out to be a fruitful decision as the nominations showed. The Halo awards were held on May 27th, 2026 at the prestigious Palace Theater in Waterbury Connecticut, hosted by Seven Angels Theater. The awards were presented by various renowned members of theater including Constantine Pappas, Maria Burratta, Matthew Brough, Bob Burns, and a multitude of others. Some of Old Saybrook’s most notable nominations included best contemporary play, Little Women, best classical musical, Chicago!, various nominations for best leads in both the play and musical, and especially Best Performance in a Leading Female Role in a Classical Musical, Tess Santarsiero. The Old Saybrook dRAMa club also got to perform during the Halo awards, presenting their number, “We Both Reached for the Gun” from Chicago!, which featured Santarsiero as Ms. Roxie Hart, and 18 other cast members.
Nicole Willis, the director for both Little Women and Chicago!, placed OSHS dRAMa back into the Halo’s because they had more categories in comparison to the Sondheim’s. That being said, “There’s more opportunities for people to win awards, which is why we had 14 nominations rather than 4,” says Willis. Giving students a bigger shot is one of Willis’s main goals. The Halo’s doesn’t offer adult awards, which is different from the Sondheim’s, where Willis got nominated for Best Director. “I would rather it be about you guys,” Willis adds, speaking of her pride and happiness towards her students. Also speaking about her actors and actresses, she presents the idea that students won awards this year that they normally wouldn’t have won in other years, such as some tech crew awards and nominations for dancing – both awards that are not provided in the Sondheim Awards.“They deserve such recognition. This was such a standout year for so many reasons.”
Santarsiero, a new attendee to the Halo’s, describes her reaction to getting nominated twice as “so exciting.” Not only was she nominated for Best Actress in a Contemporary Play, but was also nominated for Best Actress in a Classical Musical, which she went on to win.
Santarsiero was up against over 100 other Connecticut high schools that entered into the Halo awards. In the awards themselves, Santarsiero won against four other nominations, after an incredible performance at the awards as well. Being awarded best female role is such an honor at the Halo awards not only because of it being one of the largest award shows for high school musicals in Connecticut, but also because it displays how excellent of a performance Santarsiero had this year.
The future of dRAMa is nearing as next year’s play and musical were announced. For the 2026-27 school year, OSHS Drama will perform Christmas Lights as their fall play, and Seussical for the Spring Musical. Santarsiero believes the Halo’s will “encourage people to make them believe in themselves a little more in our Drama Club as a whole, and show them that we can do big things.” Willis believes that while this is encouraging, herself and students need to be reminded of the off years that inevitably come with anything students are involved in. “There’s going to be years where we think “well, it wasn’t our best,” and then we win a ton [of awards].”
While the seniors carry on their endeavors at their respective after-high school-plans, dRAMa continues to flourish with new faces, new creativity, and new wins. Willis reminds the Drama department, including herself that, “We have to just remember how proud we are of ourselves, as our own little small, tiny little unit of creativity that we have here at Old Saybrook High School.”
