April 2nd and 3rd, members of our Advanced Drama class attended the California State Thespian Festival. The International Thespian Society is the international honor society for theatre arts. There were over 1000 students from schools throughout the entire state competing at the festival. Since we had never attended, we limited our entries to monologues and solo or small group musical numbers. Despite our small number of participants, we had two of our students win 1st place in the state in Musical Solo Performance. Additionally, three students were chosen as part of the small group who proceeded to finals for monologues-- an event which had over 250 competitors.
Finally, a majority of our students received Superior rankings from judges. This is the highest score you can achieve and qualifies the student to attend the CA Youth in Theatre Day in Sacramento next March as well as to compete in the International Thespian Festival. Our students supported each other throughout the process.
Here are the results:
Riley Mawhorter— 1st Place Musical Solo Performance 6 Superior Rankings (he received Superior from every judge who saw him perform).
Chloe Reyes— 1st Place Musical Solo Performance Chosen to perform as a BEST OF FEST by the judges. This is an honor given to a student whose performance exemplifies the best that the judges have seen among all festival participants. Best of Fest designees get to perform their piece for the entire assembled festival. 9 Superior Rankings.
Jana Yamak— Called back to Finals for her Monologues. 8 Superior rankings.
Matthew Lee— Called back to Finals for his monologues. 4 Superior rankings.
Amelia Anijielo— Called back to Finals for her monologues. 6 Superior rankings.
Chloe Reyes, Julianna King, Riley Mawhorter— Musical Group Performance— 3 Superior Rankings
Jonah Martinez & Daniel Durkee— Musical Duet— 3 Superior Rankings (received Superior from all the judges who saw them perform).
Other Students Who Earned Superior scores in the competition rounds:
Julianna King— Monologue
Nicholas Azurin— Monologue
Jaden Campbell— Monologue
Amanda Revilla— Musical Solo Performance
Jeremy Labunski— Monologue