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Las Vegas Student Wins National Theater Competition

A spotlight is on Las Vegas this month as The Smith Center for the Performing Arts and its Nevada High School Musical Theater Awards (NVHSMTA)celebrated top honors at the National High School…

Wendy Rush
Las Vegas teenager, Chris Hayes, stands with his Jimmy Award.

Las Vegas teenager, Chris Hayes, stands with his Jimmy Award won at the 2025 National High School Musical Theatre Awards in New York.

NVHSMTA

A spotlight is on Las Vegas this month as The Smith Center for the Performing Arts and its Nevada High School Musical Theater Awards (NVHSMTA)celebrated top honors at the National High School Musical Theatre Awards.

Nicknamed the Jimmy Awards, the event recognizes outstanding student achievement in the theater arts. The event is presented by the Broadway League Foundation and was hosted this year by Josh Groban.

Top Honors At Jimmy Awards First For Nevada

This year's Jimmy Award winner for Best Performance by an Actor was Las Vegas's Chris Hayes. NVHSMTA's 2025 Outstanding Lead Actor and a recent graduate of Las Vegas Academy of the Arts, Hayes was one of two Nevadans to be honored at the ceremony.

The other, Elena Ferrante-Martin, was one of only two educators also honored at the ceremony. The Jimmy Awards honors educators who inspire and make a lasting impact on their school and community. Ferrante-Martin is Director of Performing Arts at Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas and also serves as Hayes's vocal coach.

The National High School Musical Theatre Awards was held at the Minskoff Theater in New York on Monday, June 23, 2025. The event welcomed over 100 competitors from 55 regional programs. Hayes performed "She Loves Me" from She Loves Me, which debuted on Broadway in 1963.

Hayes is the first person from Nevada to ever take home the top honors at the Jimmy Awards. In addition to the prestigious Jimmy Award, Hayes was also gifted with a $25,000 scholarship.

Prior to the awards ceremony, Hayes spent a week in New York with other competitors practicing with acting professionals, attending Broadway workshops and training with vocal coaches. The students also got to take time out from working to enjoy the New York City landscape.

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Jimmy AwardsLas Vegas Academy of the ArtsThe Smith Center for the Performing Arts
Wendy RushEditor
Wendy Rush is the midday host on one of Vegas's top stations, 96.3 KKLZ. She has been with the station for ten years and comes with a diverse career background. In addition to being a radio host, Wendy has lived the Vegas life as an entertainer. She has been a celebrity impersonator, rock band singer, and improv comedian. As a content creator for 96.3 KKLZ, Wendy writes about music, celebrities, mental health and wellness, and life as a Las Vegas local.
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