By ED COURRIER

Special to The Press

Student thespians from area high schools gathered on Easton’s State Theatre stage for the 2024 Freddy Awards May 23.

Having garnered 12 Freddy nominations, Parkland High School’s “The SpongeBob Musical” won four, including Outstanding Overall Production of a Musical.

Lead actor Vasilis Motsenigos and Maansi Birru, who played Sandy Cheeks, gratefully accepted the award on behalf of the Parkland production.

Motsenigos returned to the podium a second time to accept the Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role Freddy Award for his performance as SpongeBob.

Parkland’s Agidio Poloni tied with Emmaus’ Noah Hover for Outstanding Featured Performance by an Actor. Poloni was honored for his role as SpongeBob’s best friend Patrick Star. Hover portrayed Sebastian in Emmaus’ “Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (Broadway Version).”

Parkland’s spring musical scored a Freddy for Outstanding Ensemble. Accepting the award were Andrew Sachse (Larry the Lobster/Gary) and Aspen Ott (The Mayor of Bikini Bottom).

Before winning top honors, the Parkland company enthusiastically performed “Bikini Bottom Day” during the evening’s awards event.

Select “SpongeBob” cast members, along with fellow actors from other participating schools sang and danced across the stage for the opening and closing numbers.