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Stafford High School theater students win first place at VHSL conference

by | Nov 20, 2022 | Arts and Entertainment, Schools & Education

From Stafford County Schools:

Stafford High School’s 2022 festival play, METAMORPHOSES, had an outstanding showing at the Virginia Theatre Association (VTA) Conference on October 30, 2022. The production won nine awards, with all aspects of the production recognized with top honors for individual and group achievements to include: Best Play, Outstanding Technical Merit, Outstanding Acting Ensemble, two Best Actor awards, and three All-Star Cast acting awards. While this success is a significant accomplishment on its own, it marks the second year in a row that Stafford High School (SHS) has won the VTA High School Theatre Festival.

“This was an exceptional weekend for Stafford High School’s theatre students. They have worked extraordinarily hard and demonstrated tremendous dedication and talent in order to garner these well-deserved honors,” said SHS Theater Director Michael D’Addario. “Winning at VTA and going on to SETC is a great honor for our school and our community. It amounts to winning a state championship and then competing for a national title.”

With this win comes a significant opportunity for Stafford High School, as students will go on to represent the Commonwealth of Virginia at the Southeastern Theatre Conference (SETC) in Lexington, Kentucky in March 2023. At this conference, Stafford High School will be competing with the top twenty high school theatre productions from the southeastern United States.

The SETC is held annually in March and attended by 5,000 secondary and college theatre students, educators, and professionals. The conference also hosts more than 300 workshops and classes. During this year’s event, Stafford High School will compete against the top twenty high school theatre productions from the southeastern United States.

Students audition in May, and spent the summer researching the play, the characters, and the myths on which the play is based. When the 2022-2023 school year started in August, they faced two major challenges: The first is that METAMORPHOSES deals with mature themes beyond what is typically found in work tackled by high school students, which was commended by the judges at VTA. The second was that this play is originally written to be performed in a giant pool of real water onstage– impossible for a traveling festival play that only has 45 minutes to set-up, perform, and strike, so the troupe replaced the water with hundreds of feet of flowing chiffon fabric, and used it to create the illusion of water.

“We are so very proud of the hard work of our students, but the trip to Lexington will be an expensive one, said  D’Addario. “Our students will be working very hard over the next few months to raise funds to support this trip. We greatly need the help and support of our community in order to attend and represent our school, our county, and our state. We are hoping that our community will support their efforts by attending an upcoming fundraising event.”

Stafford Theater students will host several fundraising events from now through early February:

·         December 3 (9am-9pm) Book Fair at Barnes and Noble (Central Park)

·         December 9 (7pm) and December 10 (2pm and 7pm) The Velveteen Rabbit at Stafford High School; Tickets available at the door, or online (https://staffordhs.seatyourself.biz)

·         December 13 (5-9pm) Spirit Night at Freddy’s Frozen Custard (S. Gateway Drive)

ABOUT METAMORPHOSES:

At the edge of a pool, a woman calls upon the gods to help her tell the story of how humans are created, change, and end. Her narrative unfolds in a series of ancient myths about passion and love. Performers change with each new story, exploring the transformation between and within characters.

Donate online at:https://gofund.me/4ce16374

Mail Donations to:

Stafford HS Drama BoostersStafford High School, Attn: M. D’Addario63 Stafford Indians Lane, Fredericksburg, VA  22405

Stafford HS Drama Boosters is a 501c3 Nonprofit Organization.

For more information about Stafford County Public Schools visit www.staffordschools.net.

Photos courtesy Stafford County Schools

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