Melissa High School senior Jaidah Wilson has been nominated for the 2026 Broadway Dallas High School Musical Theatre Outstanding Featured Performer Award for her role in the MHS Theatre’s production of Pippin, performed back in early February.
Every year, MHS participates in the Broadway Dallas High School Musical Theatre Awards (HSMTA). For evaluations, the organization sends five adjudicators to the entered productions to watch, provide feedback, and score the show in various categories to determine what, if any, nominations the school will receive. This year, the Broadway Dallas HSMTA had 100 total evaluated productions, with MHS entering two shows: The Addams Family and Pippin.
For the Outstanding Featured Performer award, the adjudicators choose independently which ensemble members to evaluate, and four of the five judges for Pippin chose to provide feedback for Jaidah. Of the thousands of eligible students in the area, Jaidah was one of 20 students chosen as a nominee!
Excited for this amazing opportunity, Jadiah said, "Broadway Dallas is such a cool opportunity to get to do more dancing and singing and be a part of an amazing performance group."
"Jaidah was in my Musical Theatre 1 class last year, and I was so impressed with her work ethic and performance abilities,” MHS Theatre Director Megan Moore said. “I encouraged her to get involved with our musical theatre productions, and she joined our production of 9 to 5 as a late addition. At the end of the school year, Jaidah auditioned for our Musical Theatre Production class and was placed in the class as an ensemble member in Pippin. She absolutely shines as a performer, whether on the field with the Ruby Belles, on stage with Melissa Theatre, or even during daily rehearsals. We are so proud of her!"
This isn’t the first time MHS Theatre has had a Broadway Dallas HSMTA nominee. In 2021, alumni Thad Baker won Outstanding Supporting Performer, and Director Megan Moore won the Outstanding Educator Award. This shows the consistent strength of the MHS Theatre program, and they continue to hit these incredible achievements.
Jaidah will attend the 15th Annual High School Musical Theatre Awards that will be held on Saturday, May 2. The night will feature North Texas’ best and brightest young performers with a number of ensemble performances, concert-style mashups of Broadway songs, distribution of scholarships, and the announcement of the awards.
Congratulations to Jaidah on this outstanding achievement. We are proud to see her talent and dedication recognized with such a prestigious organization and wish her the best of luck as she represents Melissa High School among the top performers in North Texas.