Levittown teacher wins theater excellence award

Adding unexpected drama to an April school day, three of Lisa Levenberg’s former musical theater students made a surprise visit to her chorus class at Levittown’s MacArthur High School. They delivered what she called “unbelievable” news.

Levenberg, who has directed musicals in the Levittown school district for more than 30 years, had won the Broadway Education Alliance Award for Excellence in Innovative Theater Arts Education. The honor is part of the prestigious Roger Rees awards program, named for the “Cheers” and “Nicholas Nickleby” star and recognizing excellence in high school theater at more than 100 schools on Long Island, in New York City and other New York counties.

“The class erupted in cheers,” recalled Levenberg, of Hauppauge. The announcement came on her 57th birthday, prompting a rendition of “Happy Birthday” from her chorus students.

“She really is a very special teacher,” said Jake Schauder, 24, of Levittown, who won a Roger Rees Best Actor Award as a MacArthur senior in 2020 and now serves as a vocal director alongside Levenberg. She has a knack for drawing out “abilities people may not even know that they possess,” said Schauder, who presented the award statuette to Levenberg at a May 17 ceremony at Symphony Space in Manhattan.

“I try to make it [the stage] a very welcoming environment for anyone who wants to be involved,” Levenberg said.

That philosophy often means casting football, baseball and soccer players, as well as coaches, teachers and alumni, in small roles. Over the years, she has directed productions ranging from her 2013 MacArthur directorial debut, “Les Misérables,” to this year’s spring musical, “Alice by Heart.”

Musical theater has long been Levenberg’s passion. Growing up in Slate Hill, New York, she dreamed of a Broadway career. After realizing her dancing skills were unlikely to carry her to the Great White Way, she turned to teaching instead, earning a bachelor’s in music education from SUNY Fredonia and a master’s in music education from what was then LIU-C.W. Post in Brookville.

Levenberg taught music at Salk Middle School for 18 years before transferring to MacArthur in 2013. In addition to directing fall and spring musicals there, she also oversees musicals at Levittown’s Division Avenue High School and Salk.

Jack Sullivan, 18, of Wantagh, a MacArthur senior who has appeared in six Levenberg shows since seventh grade, said “she makes sure that we do the research for the roles so we fully understand our characters.”

Another longtime cast member, Bennett Neglia, 17, of Wantagh, has appeared in eight of her productions. He said performing alongside student athletes in a “Mama Mia” production number “really connected us with the other departments in the school.”

Both seniors intend to study musical theater in college.

“She pushed us all to follow our dreams,” Sullivan said.

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