Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas
High School in Parkland, Florida performed “Seasons of Love” from
the hit Broadway musical Rent during Sunday's Tony Awards.
The students' teacher, Melody Herzfeld,
the drama department director at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, received
this year's Excellence in Theater Education Award from the Tony
Awards and Carnegie Mellon University.
A 15-year teaching veteran, Herzfeld
hid with more than 60 of her students in her classroom as a former
student opened fire in the school, killing 17 students and faculty
members and injuring more than a dozen.
Appearing on TODAY, Herzfeld said that
February's massacre continues to haunt her and her students.
“Even just being invited here brings
all of that back again, when it's just gone away, for a little while
and given us a break,” she said on the morning show. “And then
it gets a little emotional again. It's not easy. It's very hard to
take any of it.”
The student's moving performance left
many in the audience in tears, and earned the students a standing
ovation.
Angels in America won several
awards at Sunday's ceremony, including acting awards for Andrew
Garfield and Nathan
Lane, both of whom hit political notes in their acceptance
speeches.