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THE SUNDAY SANTAN SUN NEWS | JULY 4, 2021
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Chandler actress in running for Jimmy Award BY ASHLYN ROBINETTE Staff Writer
A Chandler performer won the ASU Gammage High School Musical Theatre Awards and is now nominated for best actress at the National High School Musical Theatre Awards – otherwise known as The Jimmy Awards. Kristiana Corona, a recent Hamilton High School graduate, was awarded Best Lead Female for her performance of Ellie Blake in “Freaky Friday” by the seventh annual ASU Gammage HSMTA, which took place in a hybrid, livestreamed format. Now, she hopes to win best actress at the 12th Jimmy Awards, which will be streamed July 15 at 7:30 p.m. “It’s a crazy competition,” Corona said. “All the kids that are up for the awards are the best of the best. It’s been fun so far and I’m excited to see what happens.” The ASU Gammage program is a regional component of the NHSMTA and recognizes and celebrates Valley high school students and faculty that produce musical theatre programs, according to its website. Schools compete in 14 performance and tech categories. Along with receiving a cash award of $500, the best lead male and female winners continue to the NHSMTA where they compete with students across the country for grand scholarships. “In a typical year, we have 25 schools competing with 10 finalists in each category,” said Desiree Ong, ASU Gammage
Left: Kristiana Corona of Chandler, a recent Hamilton High grad, is in the running for the National High School Musical Theatre Award for best female lead. Right: Tyler Baldwin, a recent Queen Creek High School graduate, and Kristiana were feted to a colorful celebration when they won best male and female lead awards, respectively in the ASU Gammage High School Musical Theatre competition. (Tim Trumble/ASU Gammage)
Education Program Manager. “This year, we had 14 schools competing, as well as the nominations from non-participating Title I high schools, with five finalists in each category.” Winners of the ASU Gammage HSMTA are chosen through a process by ASU’s 15 adjudicators who use the same criteria as the NHSMTA: singing, acting and dancing, Ong said.
Semifinalists from participating high schools are chosen based on their show scores while semifinalists from non-participating Title I high schools are selected based on auditions. Title I schools serve generally poverty-level households. All semifinalists audition again for the panel of adjudicators. Finalists are chosen and the winners are announced on the night of the ceremony. “The moment of hearing my name
being called is so ingrained in me,” Corona said. “I had been repeating my name in my head over and over again, hoping they would say it. “So, when they actually did I thought that I had imagined it. Then, everyone was cheering, a confetti cannon went off and balloons came down. It felt like everything I had worked for paid off.” Tyler Baldwin, a recent Queen Creek High School graduate, was awarded See
ACTRESS on page 36
Chandler artist-novelist making the rounds area. Fagen will join visual artist Nicole McCaigue of Santan Valley and Prescott at her location on Congress Street in
SANTAN SUN NEWS STAFF
Fox Crossing resident and former journalist Laurie Fagen will take part in two book signings this summer. She was featured yesterday, July 3, in her hometown of Earlham, Iowa, at JK Books and Gifts, which has been carrying her two crime fiction mystery novels “Fade Out” and “Dead Air,” as well as polymer clay jewelry. On Saturday, July 17, she will be closer to home. She is one of more than 70 authors taking part in the annual Payson Book Festival 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Mazatzal Hotel & Casino, Highway 87, Payson. “I’m thrilled to be part of in-person book events once again,” Fagen said. “The pandemic was challenging for all of us, and I’m looking forward to seeing friends and meeting new readers.” Books will be available for sale at both events, and personalized book signings are available. In addition, Fagen will exhibit her fiber and jewelry at two large studio tours this fall: Prescott Area Studio Tour Oct. 1-3 and Hidden in the Hills Nov. 19-21 and 26-28 in the north Scottsdale
I’m thrilled to be “ part of in-person book
events once again, the pandemic was challenging for all of us, and I’m looking forward to seeing friends and meeting new readers.
”
– Laurie Fagen
Laurie Fagen, a Fox Crossing resident who is a novelist and artist, will be participating in the Payson Book Festival. (Special to SanTan Sun News)
Prescott for the three-day event. She will be one of six artists at The Images Studios, 6925 E. Windstone Trail in Scottsdale, for two weekends prior to Thanksgiving. Fagen’s career started at KTAR News Radio as a student at Arizona State University when she reported live about
traffic conditions while flying around the Valley in a single-engine aircraft. “Radio really gave me a great background in gathering news, and relying on the ear only,” she explained. “I base some of my novel’s radio reporter sleuth on those early days in my career.” After graduation, she worked fulltime for the station as an assistant producer before making a move to television, returning to her home state of Iowa to work for KWWL-TV, an NBC affiliate television station in Waterloo, as a reporter, videographer, editor and anchor. Fagen spent the next 10 years working in commercial and cable television, then started her first business as a writer, producer and director for corporate television, which she ran for another decade before she and her late husband, Geoff Hancock, purchased the Ocotillo News and later renamed it SanTan Sun News. They published the twice-monthly newspaper until his death in 2013, when Times Media purchased the community newspaper. See
FAGEN on page 36
