A few months ago, Gabi Karl of ThunderRidge High School was on the verge of being homeless. Today, she is a champion.

Karl was honored for Outstanding Performance in a Leading Role at the 10th annual Bobby G Awards on Friday at the Buell Theatre. The awards, hosted by the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, celebrate achievements in Colorado high-school musical theater over the past school year. 

Karl played revenge-minded Janis in ThunderRidge’s production of “Mean Girls.” Meaning that, yes, the nice girl playing the mean girl finished first. 

“Gabi is a super-kind person who’s also super-talented,” said her teacher, Kylene Hurley. “But what makes her special is she is unique. She perseveres. She’s gone through a lot, and she has made it out on the other side.”

As Karl explains it: “A little bit ago, I went through an abusive relationship with my mother, and that didn’t turn out so well. I was in danger of being homeless. But it was around that time that the theater at school really took me under its wing. And I was able to have a family with them.”

Friday was a family affair of a different sort for Caleb Kezeor and his mother, Kelly, of Woodland Park, 20 miles northwest of Colorado Springs. Caleb won the other award for Outstanding Performance in a Leading Role for playing Quasimodo in Woodland Park High School’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.” That means the two Special K’s – Karl and Kezeor – will now advance to represent Colorado at the prestigious National High School Musical Theatre Awards (also known as “The Jimmy Awards”) on June 24 at the Minskoff Theatre, home of Disney’s Broadway production of “The Lion King.”

“It means a lot” to win,” said Kezeor, who played the iconic hunchbacked bellringer who longs to join the outside world. “I’m totally so excited. But honestly, even if I had not, this has been such an awesome experience.”

But Caleb was not the only Kezeor nominated on Friday. Kelly Kezeor was part of a trio that was nominated for creating the scenic design for “Hunchback.” (That award went to another trio from “Into the Woods” at Fossil Ridge High School in Fort Collins.)

“It’s been pretty amazing to be nominated along with my mom,” said Caleb, “especially since this is our school’s first time at the Bobby G Awards.”

Kelly Kezeor is also a board member for the Jr. Woodland Players, a children’s theater in Divide. “But the performing arts really didn’t enter our family until we had kids,” she said. “Both Caleb and his sister are amazing at what they do, and they love every second being on the stage, behind the stage, whatever they’re doing – as long as it’s in the theater.”

The Bobby G Awards, which shower high-school theater students with the kind of glory normally reserved for prep athletes, were attended by about 2,000 at the Buell Theatre.

ThunderRidge High School, in Highlands Ranch won three awards for its teen-appropriate production of “Mean Girls,” including the biggie: Outstanding Musical. But the most honored production of the night was Castle View High School in Castle Rock, which won four awards for  “Frozen.” Castle View and Cherry Creek High School (“Chicago”) led all schools with 13 nominations each.

“We love the work, we love the work ethic, we love creating something that’s bigger than ourselves – and we believe in each other,” said “Frozen” co-director Rochelle Walter, who said it costs about $60,000 to mount a large high-school music – and the department raises all of it on their own. 

“We had to go out there and do that,” she said. “There’s nobody to do that for you. We talk to our kids about how we have be our own advocates. Just like you’re going to have to go out and be your own advocate in the world.:

In all, 51 Colorado high schools were considered for Bobby G Awards and 11 won at least one. And while the evening inevitably comes down to the awards, the spirit is one of camaraderie and making plain the value of arts education in Colorado high schools. There is no comparable program that gathers high-school students from a single discipline with the prevailing goal of building bonds across schools.

The highlight of the evening was once again performances from each of the five nominated musicals. Also nominated alongside “Mean Girls” and “Frozen” were Cherry Creek’s “Chicago,” Denver North’s “Rock of Ages” and Durango’s “Urinetown.”

In addition, all 10 individual nominees for Outstanding Performance in a Leading Role were invited to the Denver Center two weeks in advance to create an original medley that is then performed as part of the awards ceremony. It’s a creative exercise that often bonds otherwise competing students as friends for life. The other nominees (in alphabetical order) were: Nathan Adams, Vista PEAK (“The Addams Family”); Tate Dewhurst, Denver North (“Rock of Ages”); Charlotte Hearn, Denver School of the Arts (“Bright Star”); Jake Larson, Arvada West, (“Something Rotten!”); Logan Richardson, CIVA Charter, (“Ride the Cyclone”); Hannah Schnorr, Fossil Ridge (“Into the Woods”); Ashton Showers, Castle View (“Frozen”); and Leah Taylor, Castle View (“Frozen”). This past week, Hearn was accepted into The Juilliard School.

“This has been such a bonding experience,” Kezeor said. “I’m already best friends with all these people now. We have a group chat. We found each other very quickly.”

Same for Karl, who credited everyone involved with ThunderRidge for her award, but especially her teacher, Hurley.

“She was basically like my mom through it. I didn’t have one, and all my friends became my chosen family,” she said, calling the past two weeks “truly an honor,” and winning the icing on the cake.

“The other day, I came down here for rehearsal, left for graduation, then came back,” said Karl, who called the Bobby G Awards the perfect way to end her high-school experience. Next up: New York City.

Elsewhere Friday: Molly Arndt, who was nominated last year for costume design, won this year, for Castle View’s “Frozen.”

Of late, the prestigious Jimmy Awards have served as a short-cut to many teen performers’ Broadway and film careers. The list includes Reneé Rapp, who starred in the recent “Mean Girls” movie musical; Andrew Barth Feldman, who starred opposite Jennifer Lawrence in the Netflix film “No Hard Feelings”; and many Broadway actors including Eva Noblezada (currently in “The Great Gatsby”), two-timer Casey Likes (currently in “Back to the Future: The Musical”) and Justin Cooley (“Kimberly Akimbo”).

The Bobby G Awards have a similar, eventual impact on the Colorado theater landscape. For example, the Arvada Center’s recent production of “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812” had among its ensemble two previous finalists for Outstanding Performance in a Leading Role: Elleon Dobias, who won in 2017 for her portrayal of Catherine in “Pippin” for Valor Christian High School, and Bella Hathorne, who was nominated in 2019 for playing Jo in “Little Women” at Littleton High School.

Last year’s top winners are both now studying musical theater in college: Connor O’Brian at the University of Northern Colorado, and Camille Nugent at Carnegie Mellon University.

The complete list of 2023-24 nominees is posted at denvercenter.org.

2023-2024 BOBBY G AWARD WINNERS

OUTSTANDING MUSICAL

• “Mean Girls,” ThunderRidge High School

LEADING ROLES

• Gabi Karl, Janis; “Mean Girls,” ThunderRidge High School

• Caleb Kezeor, Quasimodo; “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” Woodland Park High School

SUPPORTING ROLES

• Ana Barringer, Bambi Bernet; “Curtains,” Liberty High School

• Ben Davis, Monster; “Young Frankenstein,” Littleton High School

RISING STAR

• Zack Rymkiewicz, Damian in “Mean Girls,” ThunderRidge High School

DIRECTION

• Rochelle Walter, John Dreher and Sophie Lemire, “Frozen,” Castle View High School

MUSICAL DIRECTION

• Jay McGuffin, Heath Walter and Rochelle Walter, “Frozen,” Castle View High School

CHOREOGRAPHY

• Alec Doherty, Emily Burkart and Alex Burkart, “Chicago,” Cherry Creek High School

SCENIC DESIGN

• Alexa Fritzler, Hillary Slezack and Christian Cote, “Into the Woods,” Fossil Ridge High School

LIGHTING DESIGN

• Alexander Heinrich, “Into the Woods,” Fossil Ridge High School

PERFORMANCE BY A CHORUS

• “Bright Star,” Denver School of the Arts

PERFORMANCE BY AN ORCHESTRA

• “Frozen,” Castle View High School

STAGE MANAGEMENT

• Zoe Goldman, “Catch Me if You Can,” Erie High School

COSTUME DESIGN

• Molly Arndt and Edy Lang, “Frozen,” Castle View High School

HAIR AND MAKE-UP DESIGN

• Kendall Wilson, “Frozen,” Castle View High School

SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

• Sound Design: Mallory Clark and Stella Epstein, “Heathers,” Fort Collins High School

• Puppetry: Noah Reske, Kayden Hill and Cain Housand, “Little Shop of Horrors,” Riverdale Ridge High School