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Ossining Drama Students to Perform at Theater Festival in Scotland Next Year
OHS' Drama Program has been chosen from more than 2,500 applications to participate in the 2016 American High School Theatre Festival.
The Ossining High School Drama Program has been selected from thousands of applicants to participate in the 2016 American High School Theatre Festival in Scotland.
The program was among more than 2,500 that were nominated to be in the 22nd annual festival, which runs in conjunction with the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Some 50 high schools from the United States and Canada are expected to attend the festival in August 2016.
“It is an honor to be recognized by the American High School Theatre Festival,” said Jessica Beattie, Ossining High School’s theater director (pictured above). “The Ossining High School Theater Program reflects a community of students from diverse backgrounds who are passionate about creating theater arts together.”
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About 16 Ossining students will spend 10 nights in Edinburgh and two nights in London next August.
If community members would like to make a donation or help with fundraising, email Beattie at Ossiningdrama@gmail.com.
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“We need help in making this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity happen for our students,” she said.
Students will audition in the upcoming weeks for the Roadshow Production. They will work on a play throughout the school year and take it on the road to Scotland next year. The Ossining students involved in the production will include actors and crew members.
The American High School Theatre Festival’s Board of Advisors ranked applications based on recent bodies of work, honors and awards, technical ability, community involvement, overall dramatic excellence and other factors.
Long Island University, C.W. Post Campus, theater professor/director Maria Porter Clements and Michael Boatman, a professional actor and parent of an OHS theater alumni, nominated Ossining’s program for the festival. Ms. Beattie submitted a lengthy application that included course curriculum, press releases and DVDs of “The Road to Rent,” a student documentary about the production of Ossining’s “Rent School Edition” musical in 2013.
The Edinburgh Fringe Festival dates back to 1947, when eight theater groups turned up uninvited to perform at the Edinburgh International Festival. The Fringe Festival is the world’s largest performing arts celebration. In 2014, there were nearly 50,000 performances of 3,193 shows in 299 venues.
