West Forsyth Wins Four Shuler Hensley Awards

West Forsyth High School's Studio West Productions took home four awards in Tuesday night's Shuler Hensley Excellence in High School Musical Theatre Awards.

"I haven't come down yet, I'm still basking in the glory," said Eric Gray, Artistic Director and Fine Arts Chair for Studio West Productions. "It's quite overwhelming."

The school was nominated for 11 awards for their production of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, Oklahoma!

Gray picked up two awards for Best Direction and Best Overall Production. The other two awards went to West Forsyth for Best Ensemble/Chorus and Mitchell Jones won the Best Leading Actor award for his portrayal of Curly.

Jones will have an opportunity to perform in New York this summer and have a shot at winning college tuition.

"Mitchell, who won best actor, he'll go to New York in June and actually perform at the Marquis Theatre," said Gray. "It'll actually be a Broadway show he'll be in, work with professional Broadway actors and if he ends up being the top two at the end of the week, he'll actually get tuituion money to NYU."

A total of 41 schools from 12 counties, representing 14 Georgia school districts, participated in Tuesday night's "Tony Awards-style" ceremony at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.

"Winning four awards is a huge accomplishment," said Richard Wright, whose son, Connor, performed in the Ensemble.

"We are public high school and we competed against Atlanta Performing Arts magnet schools and Private Performing Art Schools in Atlanta with resources well beyond our school, staff, parents, students reach," said Wright.

For a complete list of the 2011 recipients, click here.