Helen Mirren, Tony Yazbeck Surprise Teeny Award Nominees During Award Ceremony

Broadway producer Rob Hinderliter wanted nothing more than to present at the 13th annual Teeny Awards on Sunday night at Center Moriches High School, he explained to coordinator Anita Boyer. But he had a slight scheduling conflict.As per tradition, the yearly celebration of shining stars in 16 participating high schools falls on the same day as the Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan. This year, three of the East Moriches native’s productions had been nominated: “You Can't Take It With You,” “An American In Paris” and “On the Town.”

He asked Ms. Boyer if she had the capability to project a video during the award ceremony. Her answer was a white lie.

“I said, ‘Yes, we’ll make it happen,’ without knowing what he had planned or if we could even do it!” Ms. Boyer laughed on Monday morning. “He said, ‘Let me see what I can do.’”

Just 12 hours before the ceremony began, Mr. Hinderliter, a two-time Teeny nominee himself, emailed his finished, nine-minute video to Ms. Boyer, who had a backup plan waiting in the wings.

She wouldn’t need it. When she watched the video, she “lost it,” she said.

And, the next day, so did the audience.

The bit opened with a dapper Mr. Hinderliter fixing his bow tie in a dressing room mirror, only to be interrupted by “On the Town” star Tony Yazbeck, nominated for Best Lead Actor in a Musical.

“Whoa, wait—what are you doing in my dressing room?” Mr. Yazbeck asked, startling an intrusive Mr. Hinderliter. “I have to get ready for the Tonys. It’s Sunday. I mean, it’s kind of an important day.”

The remaining banter between the men couldn’t be heard over the shrieks from the audience, Ms. Boyer said.

“I was running the projector, so I got to see everyone’s faces. It was just beautiful,” she said. “And I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, guys, just you wait!’”

After Mr. Yazbeck announced the winner of Lead Actor in a Play—it was Ramsey Pack as Carroll Danes in “Bad Auditions by Bad Actors” at Longwood High School—the scene faded to black, only to resume with Mr. Hinderliter in front of Radio City Music Hall, about to read the nominees for Best Lead Actress in a Play.

Only he can’t locate the envelope.

A moment of reflection leads him, and his camera crew, on a mission to Joe Allen, where he had dined the night before and left his bag. On the way, he has a run-in with Spiderman in Times Square and snaps a spontaneous selfie before arriving at the restaurant’s coat check. It is operated by two-time Teeny Award recipient Christian Nilsson, who points out that Mr. Hinderliter had never clinched a win for himself.

“No, I didn’t—but, as always, it’s an honor to have been nominated,” he said. “So what are you doing here?”

“Ah, just working at a coat check,” Mr. Nilsson replied.

“All right, that’s great.”

“What about you?”

“I run my own theatrical production company and … uh, we’re nominated for three Tony Awards this year,” Mr. Hinderliter said. “And I’m presenting at the Teenys. Say hi.”

“I mean, I own this coat check. It’s my coat check,” Mr. Nilsson said, though he is actually a producer and news host for The Huffington Post. He then informs Mr. Hinderliter that he gave away his black AOL bag to “some dame” headed for the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre.

After a quick stop with the Naked Cowboy, Mr. Hinderliter arrives at the Manhattan theater, currently home to “The Audience,” starring Helen Mirren. When he arrives at her dressing room, and knocks, murmurs rippled across the high school auditorium. “No, no. There’s no way,” Ms. Boyer overheard someone say.

When the Tony nominee opened the door, the audience erupted in cheers.

“Here’s the thing,” Mr. Hinderliter explained to Ms. Mirren herself. “I believe that’s my bag. May I come in?”

“Yeah, sure,” she said. “This is your bag? Well, it doesn’t look to me like it’s your bag, dressed like that,” gesturing to his tuxedo.

“It’s kind of my favorite bag …” he said.

“Well, that’s interesting, because I happen to really like it,” she interrupted him, pointing to the logo. “I’ll tell you why: Because the ‘A,’ ‘Andrew,’ one of my very best friends; ‘O’ for ‘Oliver,’ one of my other very best friends; ‘L’ for Leonard, my third best friend. So it was, like, I thought this is the perfect bag for me. But, anyway, if it’s yours, it’s yours. What can I say.”

Before taking the bag back, he asked her to peek inside and retrieve the elusive Teeny Awards envelope and, while she was there, help him read the nominees and announce the winner for Best Lead Actress in a Musical.

Ms. Mirren graciously accepted and they began—she correcting his pronunciation, he correcting hers, most notably her French take on “Center Moriches.”

They announce the tie: Mackenzie Engeldrum from Hampton Bays as Inga in “Young Frankenstein,” and Isabella Le Boeuf from Longwood as Tracy Turnblad in “Hairspray.”

“Congratulations, both of you!” Ms. Mirren said, who would also take home an award later that night, the Tony for Best Actress in a Play.

After the ceremony, Ms. Boyer bumped into a few of the girls who lost to Mackenzie and Isabella for Best Actress.

“They’re lead actresses, so I expected them to be very upset and, typically, very dramatic,” she said, with a hint of light-hearted sarcasm. “They were not upset at all. They were like, ‘Are you kidding me? Helen Mirren said my name!’”

And that was a win in their books.

The full list of Teeny Award recipients:

Lead Male in a Musical—Denis Hartnett from Pierson as Gomez Addams in “The Addams Family.”

Lead Female in a Musical—tie between Mackenzie Engeldrum from Hampton Bays as Inga in “Young Frankenstein” and Isabella Le Boeuf from Longwood as Tracy Turnblad in “Hairspray.”

Supporting Male in a Musical—tie between Connor Vaccariello from Southold as Uncle Fester in “The Addams Family” and Ramsey Pack from Longwood as Seaweed in “Hairspray.”

Supporting Female in a Musical—Kaylea Scott from Longwood as Motormouth Maybelle in “Hairspray.”

Lead Male in a Play—Ramsey Pack from Longwood as Carroll Danes in “Bad Auditions by Bad Actors.”

Lead Female in a Play—tie between Colleen Kelly from Mattituck as Alice Sycamore in “You Can’t Take It With You” and Olivia Geppel as Anne Frank in “The Diary of Anne Frank” at McGann-Mercy.

Supporting Male in a Play—tie between Denis Hartnett from Pierson as Lady Bracknell in “The Importance of Being Earnest” and James Mancuso from Shoreham-Wading River as Mr. Webb in “Our Town.”

Supporting Female in a Play—Raven Janoski from Mattituck as Penny Sycamore in “You Can’t Take It With You.”

Outstanding Male in a One-Act Play—Miguel Monori from Ross as Barry in “Misfortune.”

Outstanding Female in a One-Act Play—Emily Austopchuk from Ross as Tassie in “Tassie Suffers.”

Nick Auletti from Westhampton Beach won Outstanding Actor in a Musical or Play for his roles in “Godspell,” a category created to recognize a role that is not eligible for adjudication in the leading or supporting categories. Gwyn Foley from Mattituck won Outstanding Actress in a Musical or Play for her role as Essie in “You Can’t Take It With You.”

Emma Galasso from Westhampton Beach won Outstanding Choreography for her number in “Godspell.”

Bridgett Comiskey and Lily Saeli from Southold won the Playbill and Poster Design award for their work on “The Addams Family.”

The Ancestors from Pierson’s production of “The Addams Family” received the Judges’ Choice Award.

Stage manager recognition was given to Jennifer Hall and Christen Hein from Pierson for “The Addams Family”; Catherine Penn from Westhampton Beach for “The 39 Steps” and “Godspell”; Sarah Huneault from Riverhead for “The Seussificaton of Romeo and Juliet,” “The Audition” and, with Bryan Aguilar, “Footloose”; Erin Horan, Anthony Navas, Hannah Oswalt and Sarah Volkmann from Center Moriches for “Bye Bye Birdie”; Kimberly Scheer from Mattituck for “Bye Bye Birdie” and “You Can’t Take It With You”; Sean Walden from Greenport for “Once Upon a Mattress”; and Cara Vaccariello for “Don’t Drink the Water” at Southold-Greenport Drama and “The Addams Family” at Southold.

Also receiving stage manager recognition were Andrea Anketell and Kyra Mears from Shoreham-Wading River for “Suddenly Last Summer”; and Shane Factora, Philip Rossillo, Hunter Mancuso and Benjamin Jazdzewska from Longwood for “Hairspray.”

Sean Mannix from Shoreham-Wading River received recognition for his direction of “Suddenly Last Summer,” as did Cady Vitale for producing “You Can’t Take It With You.”

The following students were recognized for lighting design: Alec Giufurta from Southampton for “The Wizard of Oz”; Shane Hennessy from Pierson for “The Importance of Being Earnest” and “The Addams Family”; Philip Staples and Sarah Tuthill from Greenport for “Once Upon a Mattress”; and Michael Carey from Longwood for “Hairspray.”

The following students were recognized for sound design: Chris Gabrielson from Southampton for “The Wizard of Oz”; Philip Staples and Sarah Tuthill from Greenport for “Once Upon a Mattress”; and Jessica Reyes, Amanda Gallagher, Thomas Gallina, Meaghan McDonough and Ashley Sommer from Longwood for “Hairspray.”

Shannon Colfer and Hanna Land from Greenport were recognized for costume design in “Once Upon a Mattress.”

Amanda Gallagher from Longwood was recognized for set design of “Hairspray.”