The Nevada High School Musical Theater Awards, an annual celebration of outstanding student achievement in high school musical theater from schools throughout the state of Nevada, returns to the stage inside majestic Reynolds Hall on Sunday, May 3, 2026.

Tickets go on sale Tuesday, April 1 at 10 a.m. at TheSmithCenter.com. Discounted $10 early-bird seats will be available while supplies last.

The Nevada High School Musical Theater Awards is a regional awards program of the National High School Musical Theatre Awards, also known as the Jimmy Awards®. The Smith Center invites public, private and charter high schools throughout Nevada to participate in its NVHSMTA program.

This year’s participants will be: American Heritage Academy, Arbor View High School, Bishop Gorman High School, Bonanza High School, Boulder City High School, Carson High School, Centennial High School, Ed W. Clark High School, Coronado High School, Del Sol Academy of the Performing Arts, Desert Oasis High School, Desert Pines High School, Doral Red Rock High School, Faith Lutheran Conservatory of the Fine Arts, Foothill High School, Green Valley High School, Procter R. Hug High School, Lake Mead Christian Academy, Las Vegas Academy of the Arts, Legacy High School, Liberty High School, The Meadows School, Pahrump Valley High School, Shadow Ridge High School, Sierra Vista High School, Somerset Sky Pointe, Spring Valley High School and Western High School.

More than 20 awards will be presented during the event, in categories such as Outstanding Student Orchestra, Outstanding Costume Design and Creation, Outstanding Set Design and Construction and Outstanding Choreography Execution.

The show will also feature showcase performances from four schools, ensemble performances featuring all Lead Actor and Actress nominees and solo performances from 10 lead nominees.

In recognition of their dedication and talent, last year’s Outstanding Lead Actor and Actress – Chris Hayes from Las Vegas Academy of the Arts and Marie Muñoz from Bishop Gorman High School – received a complimentary 10-day trip to New York City, where they performed on a Broadway stage and represented Nevada in the Jimmy Awards®, named after legendary theater producer James M. Nederlander.

Hayes ultimately won the prestigious top spot for Best Performance by an Actor at the Jimmy Awards®, becoming Nevada’s first-ever male or female champion.

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit TheSmithCenter.com or call 702-749-2000. Box Office phone hours are Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Please note that The Smith Center Box Office is open two hours prior to each performance.

Nevada’s leading authorities in preventing and treating problem gambling are joining state regulators and the casino industry to combat prediction markets, which, they contend, threaten to cut into the action of Nevada’s gambling enterprises and worsen the nation’s addiction to betting, especially on sports. 

In less than a decade, legal sports betting, with the help of a U,S. Supreme Court ruling and the omnipresent smart phone, has morphed from a Nevada-centric novelty to a ubiquitous national pastime, with a slew of harmful side effects.

Nevada, once the only player in the legal sports betting game, has been relegated to the minor leagues in terms of revenue generated. 

The American Gaming Association projects wagering on the 2026 NCAA tournament, excluding prediction market betting, which has not been officially estimated, will reach $3.3 billion, up 54% in the last three years. 

Nevada’s 2025 March Madness betting was estimated at $466 million.

ESPN reports bettors wagered $1.9 billion on college basketball games in February on Kalshi alone. 

In late December, the Financial Times reported trading volume on sports bets on Kalshi since its inception reached $16.8 billion, compared with $4.9 billion on other topics. By comparison, Nevada’s sports betting handle for 2025 was $8 billion, down 9% from the previous year.

Prediction platforms, critics argue, threaten to upend Nevada’s nearly 100-year history of profitable, regulated gambling. 

Two betting sites, Kalshi and Crypto.com, are wrangling with Nevada gaming regulators and the Nevada Resort Association in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The platforms are challenging the constitutionality of state law, which requires that gambling enterprises have a state gaming license.

The Ninth Circuit last week denied Kalshi’s emergency motion to stop Nevada from enforcing its regulations pending the outcome of the appeal, according to Nevada Current. The ruling allowed Nevada to obtain a temporary injunction in state court prohibiting Kalshi from taking bets from gamblers in Nevada, at least until an April 3 hearing.

The Nevada Council on Problem Gambling, which specializes in prevention, and The Dr. Robert Hunter International Problem Gambling Center, a leading treatment center, filed amici, or ‘friend of the court’ briefs in the Ninth Circuit case, where a hearing is scheduled for April 16.   

“Kalshi and similar prediction markets are the newest craze in sports betting and have exploded into the cultural zeitgeist,” the NCPG’s brief asserts. 

The council rejects the argument that prediction platforms engage in commodity trades. “If it behaves like gambling, it should carry the same guardrails, accountability, and public health obligations — otherwise you create a parallel market with fewer protections and higher risk,” says NCPG’s Executive Director Trey Delap.

Chief among Delap’s concerns is the speed at which prediction platform gambling moves.

“It eliminates ‘friction’ — virtually eliminating any sort of time delay in accessing money and breaks in play,” Delay, a recovering problem gambler, said Thursday. “These breaks allow for a moment of awareness where one may judge the impact of their play.” 

State regulators argue Kalshi is subject to Nevada law when taking bets in Nevada. Kalshi and others contend their federal regulatory status under the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission exempts them from state oversight. 

The CFTC “does not propound or enforce gaming regulations, especially those related to preventing and addressing problem gambling,” NCPG’s brief argues. “To allow Kalshi’s sports betting to be regulated only by the CFTC is effectively to allow it to be unregulated with regard to problem gambling risk.” 

I was disappointed this week watching the daffodils fade already. It seemed they only lasted a week. I had expected them to bloom longer. Fortunately, the ones in the shadier areas of the yard are just coming into bloom, so I should be able to enjoy them for another couple of weeks.

My grape hyacinths are blooming, and the regular hyacinths may bloom next week. After the vole infestation of a couple of years ago, I don’t have many hyacinths left. They didn’t eat them, but their tunneling destroyed the bulbs. 

The crabapples have really come into color in the last couple of days. Unfortunately, high winds are expected, and the blossoms may get blown away. The red delicious apple doesn’t seem to have any blooms at all, while the old-fashioned apple has just a few. It may be that the flower buds were pruned off when I had the trees done. Other than missing their lovely display, I really don’t mind the lack of flowers. Less flowers means less fruit, which means less work picking apples. This may also mean fewer yellowjackets on rotting fruit on the ground.

Lovely to see are the purply-blue violets taking over the lawn. They grow so low that my husband can mow right over them without hurting them. All the violets in my yard reseeded from one or two volunteer plants of many years ago. Now there are hundreds. While some people want a pristine green velvet turf, I’m not one of them; not when I can enjoy violets. I even welcome dandelions because their color is so happy.

I spent the morning trimming back the dead leaves on the crocosmia. I wait until spring before doing this to remind me where the new shoots are so I don’t step on them. After I cleaned them up, I marked their location with flags. They are still too small to see above the sedum they are growing in. I also cut off the declining daffodils. 

Then, I got out my watering can and the water-soluble blue fertilizer made famous on TV, which shall remain nameless, and gave all my flowers, including the daffs, a good feed. It is definitely time to fertilize the lawn too. 

With the hotter weather, I have been irrigating every other day with both the high pressure in-ground system and the low pressure drip system. I read that rain and snow may be coming, but the probability of significant precipitation is minimal. 

Hurrah for Spring!

— JoAnne Skelly is an Associate Professor and Extension Educator, Emerita, University of Nevada Cooperative Extension. She can be reached at skellyj@unr.edu.

Related