WHS Playmakers go to state
Pictured are, front row, Michael Navarro, Annie Johnson, Lily Smith, Sarah Miller and Carrie Mae Sweeney; and, back row, Candace Parker, Emily Cheshier, Lauren Lehr, William Bushman, Bekah Shoemake, Gabby Godwin, Oisin Reed-Kelly, Nick Younger and Vance Langdon. Not pictured are Brian Greer and Justin Lynch.
Photo courtesy of Marci Parker
The Watauga High School Pioneer Playmakers and Drama Department
hosted 11 visiting schools and 14 one-act productions Nov. 2-3 as a part of the North Carolina
Theatre Conference High School Play Festival.
More than 118 plays from 87 high schools
across the state entered productions in nine different regional festivals.
Eighteen
productions were selected to proceed on to the State High School Play Festival on Nov. 15 to 16, and
the Pioneer Playmakers are one of the high school teams selected to move forward in the
competition.
“I was just thrilled that we ran a great festival and felt good about our
performance,” said Playmaker director Sarah Miller. “I like focusing on the process of making
a play, and I always tell the Playmakers to think of their performance work as making a cake. If
they’re happy with their cake, then I’m happy. I’m thrilled that they got a lot of icing on their
cake at this regional, but even happier that they felt great about the work they shared.”
The
Playmakers received nine different awards, in addition to being selected by the judges to move on
to the state level. Those awards include:
Excellence in Costume Design
Excellence in
Student Design and Production for Lighting and Sound Design and Execution (Bekah Shoemake, Carrie
Mae Sweeney, Isabelle Branstrom and Nick Bozeman)
Excellence in Student Design and
Production for Set Painting and Design (Emily Cheshier, Michael Navarro, Kelly Sweeney, Jake Ford
and volunteers)
Excellence in Ensemble Acting
Three awards for Excellence in Acting
for Michael Navarro, Annie Johnson and Emily Cheshier
Excellence in
Directing
Superior Rating (superior ratings in eight of nine adjudicated
categories)
The Playmakers will have an encore performance of its award-winning
self-written production of “schuld” at 8 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 12, in the WHS Ross
Auditorium. They will perform at the State High School Play Festival at 2:30 p.m. on
Thursday, Nov. 15.
“We had a great time meeting all the schools who came to our
regionals. Everyone was so nice and we’re looking forward to meeting more people at state,”
said Will Bushman, a member of the Playmakers.
The Playmakers and the Drama Department
would like to thank all the volunteers and local businesses which helped them host the
regional festival. “We couldn’t have done it without all the help we got from our
community,” Miller said. “We’re so proud that we can represent Watauga County at
state.”
