Senior and stage manager of the ELHS Drama Club Paloma Vazquez was recognized for her impressive efforts in the arts at the 2024 Halo Awards, back in May. From creating 3-D art, to making unique set designs for the school shows, to being stage manager as a junior and senior, Vazquez has done it all.
The Halos are a program that schools across Connecticut sign up for. Judges watch school productions and look for elements that are done very well, and then people are nominated from each school and win based on category. Vazquez actually got nominated for an impressive six different award categories. She was nominated for Props, Program Cover, Running Crew, Stage Management, and Set Design for “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” and “The Laramie Project.” The award she won was called the “Above and Beyond” Award. Becky McCoy, the director of the spring musical, submitted Vazquez’s application to the Halo Awards.
“This award wasn’t a nomination-based award, so they sort of just surprise you. I was really shocked because I didn’t know before,” Vazquez said. McCoy has worked with Paloma for two years including two shows, and Vazquez’s qualities of being a leader stuck out to her.
“We couldn’t do the show without her. She takes on a lot of responsibility for different had buildings on it from the actual town of Laramie, Wyoming,” Vazquez said. In this upcoming school year, she plans to continue her work with the Drama Club as well as train an underclassman to be a future stage manager. In the further-out future, Vazquez plans to study theater and stage management in London. “I think she will do wonderfully [in the future]. She also has such incredible design skills- she just has so many possibilities and opportunities. I’m excited to see what comes next for her,” McCoy said. “She can really do anything.” things just because she loves to do it. I really appreciate how she has such high standards for herself as well as the show. She is truly a leader of the production and everyone both respects and adores her. I wanted to make sure people outside of the Drama Club, outside of the school, and all throughout Connecticut know that she is really a rock star when it comes to technical theatre,”
Vazquez’s accomplishments are definitely not any to be glossed over. Most high school productions do not have a student stage manager, however according to McCoy, Vazquez runs the entire show, with little supervision, at a professional level. Not only that, but she is extremely talented at artwork and set design.
“I’ve always been interested in art and taken art classes. A lot of the art I’ve made ends up being for the shows since I’ve just been so busy with them the past few years,” Vazquez said.
“For ‘The Laramie Project,’ I had looked at other productions’ designs and I just really didn’t like any of them. None of them were really unique to me. I wanted to be able to have a lot of places for people to stand, so that’s where the
platforms came in. I wanted to recognize that the topic of the show was about an LGBTQ+ member so there was a rainbow across the stage. The sign also had buildings on it from the actual town of Laramie, Wyoming,” Vazquez said.
In this upcoming school year, she plans to continue her work with the Drama Club as well as train an underclassman to be a future stage manager. In the further-out future, Vazquez plans to study theater and stage management in London.
“I think she will do wonderfully [in the future]. She also has such incredible design skills- she just has so many possibilities and opportunities. I’m excited to see what comes next for her,” McCoy said. “She can really do anything.”
