WPCNR STAGE DOOR. From Westco Productions. May 3, 2007: Two seniors, Helen Hess and Kirsten Smayda, from White Plains High School have been selected as the first recipients of “Sonny Katz Scholarship Fund” awards from Westco Productions, the White Plains-based non-profit professional theater company. The awards will be presented on Sunday, June 10, at noon, during the organization’s First Annual Awards Brunch at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in White Plains.

                                                                 Helen Hess, String Virtuoso

Kirsten Smayda, Divine Voice

Ms. Hess, (Left) and Ms. Smayda, right,  plan to pursue college-level studies in the performing arts. Each will receive $1,000 to use in order to further their studies. The scholarship awards will be presented by New York State Assemblyman Adam Bradley and New York State Senator Suzi Oppenheimer. The award recipients were chosen through an application process which included talent auditions judged by performing arts professionals. Photos, Courtesy Westco Productions.

The scholarship fund is named in honor of Seymour “Sonny” Katz, who was a founding Board Member of Westco. Sonny is well-known throughout Westchester County for his more than 35-years of service as City Marshall for the City of White Plains, a position he still holds. Photo, Courtesty Westco Productions

Kirsten Smayda is a senior at White Plains High School, where she has been involved in five musical theater productions, with lead roles in three of them. She performs with the school’s Symphony Orchestra, Choir, Mixed Ensemble, and Honors String Ensemble. She owes much of her musical talent to Claudia White, her voice teacher of four years, and Rebecca Eckfeld, her violin teacher of ten years. Kirsten plans to major in vocal performance at Syracuse University.

Helen Hess has studied violin and viola with Rebecca Eckfeld. A senior at White Plains High School, she is concertmistress of the Symphony Orchestra and  performs with the musical “pit” orchestra and the Honors String Ensemble. Helen has performed with the Greater Westchester Youth Orchestras, in Area-All State Orchestras, and with the chamber music group YNOS. Helen will be pursuing a degree in viola performance at Boston Conservatory.

Co-chairs of the Awards Brunch are Westco Board Members Sarina Russell and William Van Vlack.

Members of the community are invited to attend the event, which will feature the Crowne Plaza’s renowned all-you-can-eat Sunday Brunch of more than 200 culinary delights. Tickets are $50, and can be obtained by contacting Westco Productions at (914) 761-7463. Proceeds benefit the scholarship fund, and are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. For information about Westco and it’s programs visit their web site at www.westcoproductions.org.