Thespian Troupe #185 Says Goodbye, Inducts New Members

Seniors Hardy Kern and Taylor Laster emceed a rousing evening of entertainment and awards in the auditorium Friday evening.

The troupe opened the event with a song, “Anything for Troupe #185,” and soon began handing out awards.

Meredith Karavolis and Jesse Scheirer presented Best Supporting Actress to Bri Wagner for her role as Anita in “West Side Story." Best Supporting Actor, presented by Chance Fornear and Julie Griffith, went to John McGovern for his role as Reverend Hale in "The Crucible."

Best Dance went to Sarah Koch and Best Character Actor was presented to Hardy Kern.

Kern was a multiple award-winner. He also took home Best Actor, and won a coveted space on the wall for the male Hall of Fame award. He will be joined on the wall by Lauren Spinabelli, who won the female Hall of Fame award.

Kern also won an award for Best Line—a line of dialogue he delivered expertly in “Murder in the Knife Room.”

Spinabelli gave a touching speech to the underclassmen, reminding them to "never give up."

“Murder in the Knife Room” was the butt of many jokes of the evening, especially during John McGovern and Cole Marks brilliant comedic performance “The Year in 60 Seconds,” wherein the young thespians reenacted scenes from all of the season’s plays in 51 seconds (under the designated 60-second allotment).

Best Actress went to Carley Adams for her role as Elizabeth in “The Crucible.” The young woman cried tears of joy when she stood at the podium. 

Technical awards were given out as well. Sean Sullivan won the Special Award in Tech. Meredith Karavolis was awarded Best Female Technician and Best Male Technician went to Chance Fornear. 

An award for Best Coffeehouse Performance went to the Ska band, Skasage.

Tony Ritacco won Best Promising Freshman.

There were also awards for Best Kiss, Best Song and a variety of special awards.

The choir performed, “When Do the Good Things Start,” highlighting the talents of John McGovern and Cole Marks as they performed with a talented group of girls.

The Techies had a song, set to the tune of “When You’re a Jet,” only their version was entitled, “When You’re a Tech.” The song, as with almost all of the tech jokes, seemed to revolve around their insatiable appetite for Mountain Dew.

The freshman also performed a skit. Envision all of the season's plays thrown in a blender and set to "frappe." Characters from "The Crucible" interacted with characters from "Murder in the Knife Room," "West Side Story" and "The Mousetrap."

The high school's Thespian Troupe #185 was founded in 1971 by former PTHS teacher Barry N. Wood. The number 185 designates that it was the 185th high school thespian troupe to be established in the nation.

It was the first in Pennsylvania.

Toward the end of the evening, new members were inducted into the troupe. They were sworn in with the troupe’s oath:

I promise to uphold the aims and ideals of the International Thespian Society. I am a student of theater and excellence is my ideal. I promise to perform my part as well as I can; to accept praise and criticism with grace; to cooperate with my fellow thespians; work for the good of the troupe; and to share my love of theater.

Clearly, “the love of theater” was evident in the school auditorium, as the kids sang, dance and praised one another in a joyous celebration of the dramatic arts.