State Theater Competition

Ever since Holly, a friend from church and school who is two years older than our daughter, mentioned the state drama competition, our daughter has dreamed of participating, but she was too young until this year. Auditions for the school's competitive team were intense, and our daughter was at a big disadvantage during the first audition because she had been sobbing her heart out just before her audition because a teacher seriously over-reacted to one of her nervous habits and punished her much too harshly.  But she gathered her wits about her and gave it her best effort.  She was at the top of her game for the next two auditions and was thrilled to be selected to play Darby in One Cold Afternoon.  She was also given a smaller secondary role in One Cold Afternoon AND she got to be the understudy for her friend Holly who had the lead role in the team's other play, Tomato Plant Girl.  Our daughter had more lines to learn than anyone with all those parts combined, and she was one of the youngest among the cast comprised of 6th through 8th graders.

Practices took place before school at 6:45, and she had team basketball every day after school, all while maintaining a 4.0 GPA, so she worked long and hard this past semester.  Before taking their plays to the state festival, the cast performed the plays for the school.

Susan joined me in the audience with flowers in hand for our drama queen.

Our actress in stage makeup with "Grandma Susan" and two flower bouquets

From the cast's drama coach after the competition:

"Congratulations to the casts of Tomato Plant Girl and One Cold Afternoon for both earning SUPERIOR Ratings! Awards earned by CCS: Excellence in Overall Production Design for both shows; Excellence in Acting for J____ S____, C____ B____, and B____ M_____; Outstanding Acting for Holly Ficken; Excellence in Ensemble for Tomato Plant Girl; Outstanding Ensemble for One Cold Afternoon; Excellence in Directing for C_____ C____ and L____ B____; Design and Production Awards for E____ Y_____, Holly F_____, and S____ H___; Festival Spirit Award. WOW! They were amazing, and seemed to have a LOT of fun. I'm SO very proud of all of them and thrilled that they were recognized for their hard work and talent. They represented [our school] well in both character and art."

Drama games at the state festival

From me:

"Thank you to our school, our many devoted volunteers, and to the Lord God Almighty" for giving my daughter a stage where she can unleash her abundance of creative and high-energy DRAMA!  Thanks to Susan for coming to her show. Thanks to my husband for taking her to all those 6:30 am rehearsals (except when he traveled for work, and I nearly died trying to get up that early), and kudos to our little actress for learning not only her lines for One Cold Afternoon (and performing them well enough on stage at the competition to help the entire cast get the highest award at the state competition) but ALL of Holly's lines for Tomato Plant Girl as well. I'm sure it must be hard as a 6th grader to be the lowly backup for the 8th grade star of the show because you have to learn all the lines and go to all the rehearsals, yet you don't get to perform a single one of those lines on stage for the show or the competition. I praise God for all the lessons He taught you, sweet girl, as you learned to work for the sake of the team and for the glory of God instead of for your own season in the spotlight. Awards for legitimate effort are one thing, but life lessons like that one last forever!"