#districts2014

[5476thespian-blog]

Medea Kills it at District One Acts

From left to right: Kaylin Kaun as Glauce, Sam Spencer as Jason, and Madison Morton as Medea

Troupe 5476 took home a Superior for Medea in the 2014 District One Act Competition on December 5, 2014.

District One Acts is a winter theatre competition and festival where high schools from across Brevard and Osceola meet and compete. Performances start on Friday morning at 8:00 AM and end that night at about 10:00 PM. That Saturday is another full day, ending only slightly earlier at about 7:30 PM for closing ceremonies.

Each school puts on a one act show, maxing out at 40 minutes. The given 40 minutes includes tech setup, performance, and tech break-down. Before beginning, each show must "load-in" with their costumes, props, set pieces, and actors. The tech crews and actors are then briefed. Tech is allowed to setup lights and sounds while the actors prep in the dressing rooms.

Cocoa Beach High School performed Medea on Friday at around 3:00 PM. The show clocked in around 35 minutes, with a comfortable amount of remaining time. Last year's show, The Rules of Comedy, clocked in at 39:57 minutes -- only three seconds before being disqualified. 

Judges were thrilled with the quality and caliber of the show, "especially considering it was classical theatre." Medea was the only classical show to perform at District Competition this year.

The festivities closed with a massive awards ceremony. While the show was not selected for State Competition, it did receive a Superior award. Chelsea Donnelly, the Medea Chorus Leader, was selected as the All Star Cast Member for the festival. Gwyn also received her gigunda Critic's Choice trophy from District Competition at the beginning of November.

[5476thespian-blog]

Medea One Act: Cast List

The official cast list for Troupe 5476's Medea One Act follows below. This one act will be performed at District One Act competition on December 6. If selected, the One Act will go to State Competition in March. Let's get back to performing at State!

Medea: Madison M.

Jason: Sam S.

Aegeus: Jeff S.

Nurse: Mari S.

Medea Chorus Leader: Chelsea D.

Greek Chorus Leader: Julia C.

Glauce: Kaylin K.

All of the other women will be placed in one of the Chorus groups Monday morning.

Have your lines memorized by November 19.

[5476thespian-blog]

Districts 2014: One Critic’s Choice, Three Best of Shows

District competition: a massive gathering of theatre kids and professionals from Brevard and Osceola County. Students prepare pieces for adjudication in numerous categories, including monologues, duets, large group musicals, pantomimes, costume / set design, among many others. Each year, theatre troupes from around the county meet to showcase their talent, receive feedback on performance and technical pieces, and compete among other troupes. Students receive awards based on their adjudication; awards are based on a scale of poor, fair, good, excellent, and superior (in that order). Awards for best of show are given for each category. When the day concludes, all of the best of shows perform an additional time in front of the entire district. A best, best of show is then chosen for both technical pieces and performance pieces; this is known as the Critic’s Choice. A critic’s choice piece will perform in front of thousands of people on the opening night of state competition.

The moment State competition ended last March, students began preparing for this year’s competitive thespian season. A long period of selection, rehearsal, and preparation began. On the day of districts, members of Troupe 5476 awoke to an alarmingly early alarm clock (around 5:00 AM). The bus pulled out from the school, after a slight delay, around 6:30 AM. The Troupe was greeted by a chilly breeze and hundreds of other energetic thespians on arrival at St. Cloud High School. Events began at 9:00 AM and continued through 3:30 PM with an hour break for lunch.

The thespians of Troupe 5476 spent the day with their buddies; attending their events, performing, and presenting. Even Hairlip III participated in events of the day. He appeared at various performances to support the troupe.

When the performances ended, the Troupe gathered around in the commons waiting for their awards and critiques. Mr. Buck soon appeared with good news, “It’s been a long time since we’ve had a best of show. This year we have three.” Best of Shows were awarded to Sam Spencer for Monologues, Isabel Prado for Solo Musical, and Gwyneth Maio for Costume Design. Paige Boulton received a Superior for her Costume Design and was runner-up for Best of Show. Sam and Isabel performed at the closing ceremonies in front of an audience of more than 700 people. Gwyneth and Paige were recognized, at the same ceremony, for their technical presentations. The ceremony ended with the announcement of Gwyneth Maio as the technical Critic’s Choice. Well-deserved cheers and applause erupted from the audience. Troupe 5476 knocked it out of the park, chanting “One of us” and “Go Gwyn” as they departed from Districts 2014.