Theatre Banquet

 Cora ended her high school theatre experience with a lovely banquet on Friday. Given the importance of theatre in her life, this was really a more momentous event than graduation itself, which comes next week. 

I helped with setup, and we all later helped with cleanup. We had yummy Stone Fire for dinner in a dressed-up cafeteria, and then the awards ceremony in the auditorium.

For the first time, Violet came to the banquet, given it was Cora's senior year and a special event for the family. She hung out with Cora and her friends the whole night and had a great time. 

It's too bad they couldn't have gone to the same school this past year. (Well, they could have, but Vi chose the other school because her friends were going there...I digress...)

The whole group (I think!) pre-awards ceremony

All the seniors were given lighthearted recognition by their peers. Mackenzie gave Cora hers, an award for being not just good, but good enough. Cora used the same phrase as her yearbook senior quote.

We also watched a sweet tribute video for the seniors, with lots of behind the scenes footage from Percy Jackson.

Cora was awarded honor cords and the master thespian stole for graduation, for accruing the most points in their International Thespian Society troupe, with 325. Each point represents 10 hours in theatre work, be that in class, rehearsal, set-building, outside theatre work, etc. Yes, that's a heck of a lot of hours. I've joked that Cora majored in theatre in high school, but it wasn't really a joke.

The graduating honored members of the International Thespians Society.

Cora gave out the Reliability award, which she had won last year.

Then, the big awards - Crew Person of the Year and Performer of the Year.

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Jarod said in his speech, "Every now and again a student walks through the door, and right away, they just have it. There's an instinct, an innate ability to understand all of it - what to say, how to say it, how to feel authentically," he said. "They know where to go without needing blocking; they create characters in such a real way, you ask, are they acting? We've enjoyed so many characters from this theatre artist. Looking back, there's already a career in place. ...

"This is the kind of student that when they graduate, you're not asking 'If,' but 'When?' For me personally, this is bittersweet because their four years has been my four years (as a classroom teacher). It's indeed going to be a challenge to see them go, but man, am I excited to see what happens when they do. 

"This person has worked on stage, behind the stage, in the booth, in the shop, and their question, "What can we do to make it better?" has echoed my own thoughts time and time again. Indeed a Master Thespian, this year's Performer of the Year is Cora."

Jarod didn't name off all of her roles - especially since half of them were directed by him at another school. But this girl has killed it as Jordan (Great Gatsby), Rosencrantz, Brooke Windam (Legally Blonde), Vera Claythorne (And Then There Were None), Megan (Puffs), Velma Kelly, Our Town's Stage Manager and Percy Jackson himself. 

And for competitions, she won awards for portraying MacBeth and Hamlet, and one of Henry VIII's wives in Six.

Watching Cora perform has been one of my highlights as a parent. I'm sad to see this stage come to an end ... but of course excited to see which stage she performs on next.

Jarod also gave some volunteer awards, and gave me a special recognition for four years of stepping up in whatever way needed. 

I was even given an honorary membership in their International Thespian Society Troupe.

Thanks to Grandpa for taking many of the photos here! 

Post awards photos!

Rowan, Lucas, Mackenzie and Cora - a great group of hard-working actors and young people.

Volunteer mamas!

Love these two with all my heart!

Theatre Festival!

 Cora participated in her final Hart District Theatre Festival on Friday, and delivered a masterful performance as Hamlet. She was awarded Best Actor in the Shakespeare category!

You can see it by clicking this link:https://youtu.be/LmJ0Xg-URsU?si=10V9DWqzSKpiveud

West Ranch hosted the event, so I got to attend and volunteer all day. So happy I got to watch all the amazing scenes live! And thankful for another mom, an amazing photographer, who took all of these shots.

 

Hamlet is raging at his mother in this scene because he thinks she killed his  father (the king) before marrying his uncle.

Here, he is comparing his uncle to his late father, using two photos he accessed by smashing their frame into a side table.

But here comes Hamlet's father, as a ghost! But only Cora/Hamlet can see him. His mother thinks he is bonkers.

Hamlet killed an advisor, thinking he was his uncle. He had to drag the body offstage.

Winner winner! In her first HDTF, she won best supporting actor in a large group Shakespeare - full circle? She also played Rosencrantz as a freshman, in a play based off Hamlet. Full circle.

And a final full circle moment - we all went out for ice cream together, and the kids were running around playing tag. I was flashing back to Cora's elementary theatre experiences with the GATE Musicals, when the families would gather at the same Stevenson Ranch amphitheater for ice cream. 

I'm grateful Jarod suggested ice cream - it was a great finish to a long and memorable day.

Awards Night

Violet's school held its 8th Grade Awards Ceremony on Thursday night, an event that takes the place of a graduation. About half the students are invited. Violet was given an award for earning As throughout her junior high years in science. 

(She also earned straight As in PE, Yearbook, English and History, but since she has been taking most of those subjects at her independent study site, it didn't count for awards night.)

She made it through junior high! She didn't love it, but she did enjoy life much more once we made the move to the independent study school.

It was nice that Grandma and Grandpa came out in support, despite the ceremony length. It was SO packed, too! Standing room-only in a huge auditorium.

Violet's best part of junior high was becoming friends with these two girls. Lea and Sofia have been very good for Violet! They are now chatting often on their headsets while playing their favorite video games, and they have frequent plans to meet up for boba and swimming this summer.

Theatre Showcase

On Tuesday night, we got to see Cora's district Theatre Festival scenes, interspersed with choir solos from the school's choir.

Cora is Macbeth here, in a choreographed fight scene. It was so impressive, with blood packs to add to the realism. 

This scene won an award at the competition. And Cora, as I already said, won a Judge's Choice award for her overall work that day..

I so wish I had good photos - these are just from the audience with my cell phone. Next year, we need Grandpa back in action! 

The moment of death - that's a head flying!

Macduff, the victor.

Here's the school's musical number, Live in Living Color, from a musical centered around the con artist in the film Catch Me If You Can.

And, I don't have any good photos of Cora in their scene from The Play That Goes Wrong. But Cora was funny!

Theatre Success

 Another district theater festival in the books, and another great award for our favorite actor.

Cora and Jay performed the death scene in Macbeth, when Macduff kills Macbeth after a sword fight. How awesome is that - an actual choreographed sword fight, ending with the head of Macbeth (Cora) flying. They won tons of cheers for their performance Friday, and a third place award in the Small Group Shakespeare category.

Cora doesn't really have photos from the day, and I wasn't there, so I'm taking nearly all of these photos from the theatre's Instagram page. 

These actors performed a scene from The Play That Goes Wrong, and yes, things literally went wrong, but the judges loved it and they were awarded 2nd place in the Large Group Contemporary category!

Cora also took part in her school's Large Group Musical entry, and she had a nice length solo in the song.

Most exciting for us, Cora was chosen for a Judge's Choice award, given to the five top performers of the day. Seven schools competed, so there were probably 150-200 actors involved. She was honored alongside two actors from her old high school, Char and Sam (on the right)

We celebrated that night with celebratory boba.

Most of the awards were little trophies, other than the Judges Choice awards; Cora got this little pin.

Here, Cora and Jay are putting their Shakespeare trophy in the theatre lobby trophy case. Congrats!

Cora has even more to celebrate with theatre - she will be portraying Velma Kelly in the school production Chicago in May! We're so excited and proud of her. (This was the birthday card we got for her.)