Sara Bareilles didn’t have to think twice when BroadwaySF approached her about the possibility of using her name on its awards for high school students.
“I was just an immediate all-capital YES,” the three-time Tony Award nominee recalled during a recent Zoom interview. “I feel so honored and so lucky to be invited into this amazing network of what I see as the land of opportunity for young artists.”
The newly christened Sara Bareilles Awards, formerly known as BroadwaySF High School Musical Theatre Awards, will be given out to students from San Francisco and Alameda counties as well as throughout the northernmost regions of California.
The program complements Broadway San Jose’s Rita Moreno Awards program, which is open to students from San Mateo and Santa Clara counties and into parts of Southern California.
“We are beyond thrilled to have Sara Bareilles as the namesake for the BroadwaySF High School Musical Theatre Awards,” says BroadwaySF general manager Jamie Budgett. “Her dedication to and advocacy for the arts align perfectly with the spirit of these awards, emphasizing the importance of fostering creativity and nurturing the stars of tomorrow.”
Of course, it’s an honor to have an award program named after you, no matter where the program is based. That it’s happening in Northern California is extra special for Bareilles, given that the two-time Grammy Award winner was born, raised and first fell in love with theater in Eureka.
“I live in New York now, but there is a piece of me that is always going to feel like (going to) Northern California is going home,” says Bareilles, who is known for such popular pop tunes as “Love Song” as well as the hit Broadway musical “Waitress.” “I feel so proud of where I come from. It’s a scrappy small town. We are kind of like a mess — but we make it work. I really love that. And I feel like that kind of resiliency lives really proud and loud in a lot of Northern California communities that I know and love. It just feels like who I am.”
Registration for The Sara Bareilles Awards continues through March 10 at broadwaysf.com/awards/. The Awards Ceremony will take place May 17-18 at the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco.