Century HS Drama Finds Success At Thespian Festival With "Miracle Worker" And More

On January 6 and 7, 2017, members of Century High School's drama club and directors, Lucas and Caitlyn Hewitt, attended the Maryland State Thespian Festival and had great success. Each year, every high school in Maryland (both public and private) is invited to attend the festival, this year held at Towson University, where they may compete, watch other schools perform one-act plays, and attend various workshops. Schools may sign up to perform a One-Act 45 minute play in the festival’s One-Act Play Competition. Schools perform their play before a live audience and are adjudicated by and receive feedback from theatre professionals and/or college theatre professors from around the Nation. The winner of the One-Act Play Competition is invited to be showcased at the National Thespian Festival held each year at the University of Nebraska. In addition to the One-Act competition, individual students may perform a monologue, musical theatre piece, duet, scene, and present technical portfolios for adjudication.

This year, Century Drama's Thespian Troupe performed the one-act play, “The Miracle Worker”, and earned 2nd place out of the 22 schools who performed one-act plays! Two actors, senior Hannah Johnson ("Annie Sullivan") and sophomore Gillian Boline ("Helen Keller"), were honored with “Best Actor” awards for their outstanding performance in this play.

In addition, three students involved in the one-act play also competed in individual events. Sydney Dickinson earned the top score of “Superior” for her musical theatre solo piece “My Party Dress”. She was subsequently invited to the national festival to be adjudicated at the national level in June! Cassie Saunders (solo musical theatre) and Delaney Debinksi (acting) both earned “Excellent” ratings on their pieces. As one judge gave them a Superior and the other gave them Excellent, they both almost made it to the national festival as well - quite a wonderful accomplishment!

Four Century drama students, Mary Murdock, William Blauch, Markie MacFee, and Delaney Debinski, earned the honor of All State Thespian for dedicating over 600 hours participating in so many theatrical productions and for holding a leadership role within the Troupe/Drama Club.

The cast and crew of “The Miracle Worker” includes:

Mary Murdock……Stage Manager

Hannah Johnson….Annie Sullivan

Gillian Boline….Helen Keller

Jack Perdue…..Mr. Keller

Cassie Saunders….Kate Keller

Will Gounaris….James Keller

William Blauch…..Doctor/Anagnos

Mackenzie Brady….Percy

Haley Dickinson….Martha

Markie MacFee….Lighting Technician

Sydney Dickinson….Spotlight Operator

Shane Navarre…..Crew

Eva White….Crew

Delaney Debinski….Crew

Century drama club's next performance will be "Into The Woods", which will run early this year - March 23, 24, 25, 31 and April 1 at 7pm and March 25 and April 1 at 2pm. This musical, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault fairy tails, exploring the consequences of the characters' wishes and quests. The main characters are taken from "Little Red Riding Hood", "Jack and the Beanstalk", "Rapunzel", "Cinderella", and others. The musical is tied together by a story involving a childless baker and his wife and their quest to begin a family (the original beginning of The Grimm Brothers' "Rapunzel"), their interaction with a witch who has placed a curse on them, and their interaction with other storybook characters during their journey. This is a not-to-be-missed performance that will appeal to all ages. For those who prefer, a shorter one-act version will be performed at the matinees on March 25 and April 1 at 2pm.

And - if you can't get enough of Century drama - please plan to attend the Honors Theater Production Class' performance of "Teach Me How To Cry" this Friday (1/13) and Saturday (1/14) at 7pm.

For more information about Century drama and its performances, check out our website at www.centurydrama.com. You can also follow us on Facebook at "Century HS Drama", Instagram at "OpeningKnights", and Twitter at "@CenturyDrama". We look forward too seeing you at our next show!!