And the winners are ...

Broadway Dallas honors DFW high school theater stars at 2026 Awards

The 15th Annual Broadway Dallas High School Musical Theatre Awards celebrated the best local student theater productions.

Photo by Thomas Garza

The 15th annual Broadway Dallas High School Musical Theatre Awards celebrated student productions and performers from around Dallas-Fort Worth for their recent work on Saturday, May 2 at the Music Hall at Fair Park.

The Tony Awards-style ceremony, hosted by Dallas native and Broadway star Rachel Simone Webb, featured student performances, award presentations including $70,000 in scholarships, and acceptance speeches from the winners.

The Broadway Dallas High School Musical Theatre Awards aim to inspire and honor excellence in high school musical theater, and to recognize the importance of musical theater and arts education within the North Texas community, a release says.

15th Annual Broadway Dallas High School Musical Theatre Awards Rachel Simone Webb hosted the awards ceremony.Photo by Thomas Garza

Awards were presented in 15 categories and scholarships were awarded to outstanding graduating seniors who are nominated by their teachers and selected by the Broadway Dallas scholarship panel.

The 2026 Outstanding Musical Award went to JJ Pearce High School’s production of Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812, and the awards for Outstanding Lead Performer were presented to Towdah Kiima (Rockwall-Heath High School) and Nevaeha Wilson (Cleburne High School).

"On behalf of everyone at Broadway Dallas, I proudly extend my heartfelt congratulations to all the talented winners and nominees who made our 15^th anniversary year of the High School Musical Theatre Awards truly unforgettable,” said Ken Novice, president and CEO of Broadway Dallas, in a statement. "We commend the hard work demonstrated by these exceptional high school theater departments and it’s clear that the future of live theater in our region is exceptionally bright.”

15th Annual Broadway Dallas High School Musical Theatre Awards Towdah Kiima of Rockwall-Heath High School accepts the award for Outstanding Lead Performer.Photo by Thomas Garza

In honor of the Music Hall Centennial, a symbolic 100 high school productions from 90 participating high schools were evaluated by a group of judges from the North Texas theater community.

A list of all 2026 winners, participating high schools, and their productions can be found at BroadwayDallas.org/HSMTA.

2026 BROADWAY DALLAS HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL THEATRE AWARDS WINNERS

Outstanding Musical: JJ Pearce High School - Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
Outstanding Direction: Liberty Christian School - Curtains
Outstanding Choreography: Liberty Christian School - Curtains
Outstanding Music Direction: Liberty Christian School - Curtains
Outstanding Orchestra: JJ Pearce High School - Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
Outstanding Costume Design: Midlothian High School - Mamma Mia!
Outstanding Lighting Design: Byron Nelson High School - Matilda
Outstanding Set Design: North Forney High School - Sweeney Todd: School Edition
Outstanding Sound Design: Byron Nelson High School - Matilda
Outstanding Stage Management: Memorial High School - Little Shop of Horrors
Outstanding Crew and Technical Execution: Wylie High School - Little Shop of Horrors
Outstanding Ensemble: Tyler Legacy High School - Hadestown: Teen Edition
Outstanding Lead Performer: Nevaeha Wilson (Cleburne High School) - Mary Poppins and Towdah Kiima (Rockwall Heath High School) - Hadestown: Teen Edition
Outstanding Supporting Performer: Aly Delloro (Guyer High School) - Disney's Frozen, Megan Le (Mansfield Lake Ridge High School) - Disney's The Little Mermaid, and Thuc Le (Mansfield Lake Ridge High School) - Disney's The Little Mermaid
Outstanding Featured Performer: Jaidah Wilson (Melissa High School) - Pippin and Willie Austin (Bryan Adams High School) - Chicago: Teen Edition

All Eyes on Them

Dallas alt hip-hop group wins prestigious Tiny Desk Contest by NPR

Cure for Paranoia/Facebook

As winners of the Tiny Desk Contest, Cure for Paranoia will record their own Tiny Desk concert and go on tour.

Few live recording studios or musical web series have the cultural sway of NPR's Tiny Desk, and a Dallas band is poised to make an impactful debut: Cure For Paranoia, an alternative hip-hop project by rapper Cameron McCloud and producers Tomahawk Jonez and Jay Analo, has won the high-stakes annual Tiny Desk Contest for 2026.

They'll record their official Tiny Desk show "soon," the announcement by NPR says.

Winning the concert also means Cure for Paranoia is going on tour. The only Texas stop will be at Emo's Austin on June 24.

Tiny Desk is known for platforming both niche and majorly successful artists — NPR posted a new Foo Fighters set on YouTube on May 13 — for stripped-down sets that are literally played behind former All Things Considered director Bob Boilen's old desk. (Fun fact for Texans: Tiny Desk was created because folk artist Laura Gibson was disappointed with the sound at her South by Southwest show in Austin in 2008, and she wanted a redo.)

Most artists who appear on Tiny Desk more than 15 years later are already well-known, at least in their specific circles. But the Tiny Desk Contest, which launched in 2015, helps a growing group of newer, unsigned artists get their foot in the door. Contestants record one video of them performing a single song behind a desk, and a jury of radio staff and musicians chooses their favorite.

In their audition video, Cure for Paranoia gathered 11 musicians around a truly tiny desk and in front of downtown Dallas' iconic gigantic eyeball sculpture. They played the song "No Brainer," a frenetic track that starts with clever boasts and becomes a criticism of racism in the United States.

McCloud, a pre-school teacher, is known independently of Cure for Paranoia for rapping to his social media following about politics and current events. Some of those lyrics made it into "No Brainer." He says he started the group because he found that music was more helpful than medication for coping with bipolar depression and paranoid schizophrenia.

Alex Marrero, host of the Austin-based KUTX show Horizontes, was one of the judges this year. He was impressed with the visuals in Cure for Paranoia's audition.

“When this popped up, I immediately felt something different," he wrote in a blurb for the announcement. "It just jumped out. The visuals were super cool and creative, BUT I could still totally envision them bringing the heat behind the Desk.”

Madison McFerrin, jazz vocalist and daughter of the famous singer Bobby McFerrin, was one of the musical judges.

"Cure For Paranoia’s energy is infectious, fresh and distinctly theirs — exactly what you want in a Contest winner!" she wrote.

McCloud's post on Instagram announcing the group's win has only been up for three hours at the time of this article's publication, and it already has more than 8,000 likes. The YouTube audition has garnered 74,000 views.

music music video npr radio live music concerts

And the winners are ...

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All Eyes on Them

Dallas alt hip-hop group wins prestigious Tiny Desk Contest by NPR