Conestoga's Alice in Wonderland Earns More Curtain Calls

The cast and crew of Conestoga High School's production of Alice in Wonderland took one more curtain call at the sixth annual Philadelphia Cappies Gala Sunday night. A thunderously enthusiastic sellout crowd of 1,700 students, parents, mentors, teachers, and broadway professionals honored the best of the Philadelphia region's high school theater at the Upper Darby Performing Arts Center in Drexel Hill. 

Alice in Wonderland was honored with an impressive nine nominations

Conestoga's Gabrielle Niggerman was honored with a spirit award, given to one student from each participating school for dedication, enthusiasm and contributions to each production.

The Cappies might be described as the high school answer to the Tony Awards. Student critics from 36 schools in Southeastern Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey and Delaware review high school theater productions throughout the year.  The student critics then nominate their choices for the best in forty categories that include performances as well as production support like make-up and stage crew.

The Cappies also pay tribute to the student critics who review productions at schools other than their own. The student critics submit their edited reviews to local newspapers for publication. The reviews for Alice can be seen here.

Conestoga's Drama Director Nicole Gerenyi was beaming as she and her students cheered loudly each time a Conestoga nominees was mentioned.  "I'm very proud of them, especially since we had a show at the beginning of the year so it's nice to be remembered toward the end of the year, months later." Gerenyi said it was a great way to wrap up her first year at Conestoga.

Next year's major theatrical production choice at Conestoga is still under consideration, according to Gerenyi.

Conestoga's production of Alice in Wonderland was nominated in these categories:

Lighting: Rebekah Atchinson, Caroline Gonzalez, Caroline Baldwin

Make-Up:  Wonderland Make-up Mayhem

Stage Crew: Shannon Martin, Stephen Panaro, Arleigh Dolph, Shanna Wedtke

Best Ensemble in a play: Cheshire Cats

Comic Actress in a play: Robyn Weiner, Alice in Wonderland; 

Comic Actor in a play: George Stern 

Supporting Actress in a play Laura K. McCauley

Lead Actress in a play:Julianna Quazi

Lead Actor in a play: Fritz Fischer