The Bobby G Awards celebrate outstanding achievement in Colorado high-school musical theatre. The sixth annual awards take place at 7 p.m., Thursday, May 24, at the Buell Theatre. (Reserve your seat here)

Today we begin our daily rollout of the five students who are finalists for Outstanding Lead Actor. The winner will advance to represent Colorado at The Jimmy® Awards/The National High School Musical Theatre Awards™ (NHSMTA).

ANTON KARABUSHIN

Frederic, Pirates of Penzance
Eaglecrest High School in Aurora
Class of 2021

• Twitter bio: Singing, acting, and piano are my life. Props to my family, and my theater family too. Hoping to make a difference through music someday.
• College plans: As a freshman, I only have a vague idea; but I plan to either go into musical theater, choral singing or mathematics
• First role: My theatre debut was playing a lobster in the production of Alice in Wonderland
• Why do you perform? To transfer myself into a different persona than the one I fit into at school. Theatre, and the performing arts, allow me to embrace the carefree, joyous side of life where I just get to sing my heart out and make amazing memories with my friends. Singing truly does put a smile on my face.
• One time you saw greatness play out in front of you: Seeing Hamilton opened my eyes to a new genre of musical theater. The moment the actors set foot on that stage, I felt astounded by the skill of the actors, the detail of the set and the musical itself.
• Ideal scene partner: Ryan Gosling

• What’s playing on your Spotify right now? Simon & Garfunkel always make my foot tap along to their songs.
• Favorite moment from your show: That would have to be the minutes before the curtains revealed the set and the actors before every show. While the thoughts running through my head were anxious ones, I felt so calm alongside all the actors with me. I could feel that the culmination of our efforts was going to create an amazing show.  

The complete list of 2018 Bobby G Awards nominees

• How does it feel to be nominated? It is an honor. To start off high school with this type of opportunity is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
• What has this experience taught you about the value of arts education and extracurricular activities at your school? This experience has taught me that the arts bring so many people of so many diverse backgrounds together. It gave me so much understanding of just how big the Colorado theater community is. 

Reserve your seat for the May 24 Bobby G Awards celebration here!

Selected recent coverage of the Bobby G Awards:

• Read all of our 2018 nominated actor profiles (to date)
• 2018 Bobby G Award finalists are announced
• 2017 Bobby G Awards: Persistence pays off at Valor Christian
• Video: The 2017 Bobby Awards welcoming montage
• Videos: Complete coverage of the 2017 Bobby G Awards
• 2017 Bobby G Award finalists are announced
• Mamma Mia‘s Cashelle Butler returns to Cherry Creek High School
• Authentic voices: 2017 student playwriting winners announced

More Colorado theatre coverage on the DCPA NewsCenter