Youth theater group tops in state
Backstage at Tiffin’s Ritz Theatre August 6, eight groups of young actors from across the state prepared to take the stage at one of Ohio’s premiere youth theater competitions – the Ohio Community Theater Association’s OCTAFest Junior competition.
Among them were the cast of the Wayne County Performing Arts Council’s production of the hilarious comedy Hello, Shakespeare - Herbert Cremeans, Robert Dittman, Sonja Dittman, Megan Hamm, Nick Hurst, Alex Miller, Amanda Gail Nelson, Hans Qu, Maggie Stutz, Madison Swyers and Kayla Villegas.
WaCPAC’s youth theater program has a rich tradition of excellence in the six year old statewide theater competition that brings together some of the top youth theater talent in Ohio.
For five of those six years WaCPAC has been selected as one of only six to eight theater productions to be featured in the daylong competition.
From the moment they took the stage it was obvious that something very special was about to happen once again.
“You could just feel the audience hanging on their every word and wondering what they would do next,” said Margaret Leatherman, WaCPAC president, who was part of a contingent of WaCPAC members who traveled with the cast to Tiffin.
“They owned the stage,” said Leatherman. “You could tell they were having fun.
“It was magical.”
When the long day of competition was over, the production received four awards, including OCTA’s highest honor - Outstanding Ensemble, which is the equivalent of the best show award.
Three cast and crew members were also singled out for their efforts. Kayla Villegas walked away with the Excellence in Acting award while Alex Miller netted the Merit in Acting award. In their directorial debut, Tiffany Noe and Zack Armstrong also took home the Excellence in Directing award.
As one of the top two productions in the competition, the cast and crew also have the honor of performing the show at OCTA’s annual state conference in Independence over Labor Day weekend.
WaCPAC’s youth theater program was started in 2006, the inaugural year for the OCTAFest Junior competition, when WaCPAC’s board of trustees began seeing the significant impact that ever-tightening school budgets were having on performing arts programs.
Giving junior high and high school age students the opportunity to participate in theater productions became one of the organization’s major focuses.
Since its inception the youth theater program has performed to acclaim at OCTA’s state competition.
WaCPAC’s first youth theater production, Saturday Matinee, was selected to compete in the first OCTAFest Junior competition in 2006 and earned no less than six of OCTA’s highest honors, including Outstanding Ensemble.
The following year the group was invited to compete again with their production of The Write Stuff, and earned eight top honors, including the best show award for the second year in a row.
After taking a year off the group returned to competition in 2009 with a production of the comedy Take Five, walking away with four awards, including the Merit in Ensemble Acting award.
During last summer’s OCTAFest Junior competition, WaCPAC’s young actors presented the one act comedy Five Pound Sack, and took away three awards including the Excellence in Ensemble Acting award.
In addition to WaCPAC’s strong youth theater program, the group has also branched out from its traditional theater roots to provide opportunities for area performers to showcase their musical talents at Battle of the Bands and Music of the Night open mic night events.
WaCPAC’s 2011 season concludes Dec. 9-11 when the group reprises its successful Readers Theatre production of A Christmas Carol.
For more information on WaCPAC, visit their website at http://www.wacpac.org.
Among them were the cast of the Wayne County Performing Arts Council’s production of the hilarious comedy Hello, Shakespeare - Herbert Cremeans, Robert Dittman, Sonja Dittman, Megan Hamm, Nick Hurst, Alex Miller, Amanda Gail Nelson, Hans Qu, Maggie Stutz, Madison Swyers and Kayla Villegas.
WaCPAC’s youth theater program has a rich tradition of excellence in the six year old statewide theater competition that brings together some of the top youth theater talent in Ohio.
For five of those six years WaCPAC has been selected as one of only six to eight theater productions to be featured in the daylong competition.
From the moment they took the stage it was obvious that something very special was about to happen once again.
“You could just feel the audience hanging on their every word and wondering what they would do next,” said Margaret Leatherman, WaCPAC president, who was part of a contingent of WaCPAC members who traveled with the cast to Tiffin.
“They owned the stage,” said Leatherman. “You could tell they were having fun.
“It was magical.”
When the long day of competition was over, the production received four awards, including OCTA’s highest honor - Outstanding Ensemble, which is the equivalent of the best show award.
Three cast and crew members were also singled out for their efforts. Kayla Villegas walked away with the Excellence in Acting award while Alex Miller netted the Merit in Acting award. In their directorial debut, Tiffany Noe and Zack Armstrong also took home the Excellence in Directing award.
As one of the top two productions in the competition, the cast and crew also have the honor of performing the show at OCTA’s annual state conference in Independence over Labor Day weekend.
WaCPAC’s youth theater program was started in 2006, the inaugural year for the OCTAFest Junior competition, when WaCPAC’s board of trustees began seeing the significant impact that ever-tightening school budgets were having on performing arts programs.
Giving junior high and high school age students the opportunity to participate in theater productions became one of the organization’s major focuses.
Since its inception the youth theater program has performed to acclaim at OCTA’s state competition.
WaCPAC’s first youth theater production, Saturday Matinee, was selected to compete in the first OCTAFest Junior competition in 2006 and earned no less than six of OCTA’s highest honors, including Outstanding Ensemble.
The following year the group was invited to compete again with their production of The Write Stuff, and earned eight top honors, including the best show award for the second year in a row.
After taking a year off the group returned to competition in 2009 with a production of the comedy Take Five, walking away with four awards, including the Merit in Ensemble Acting award.
During last summer’s OCTAFest Junior competition, WaCPAC’s young actors presented the one act comedy Five Pound Sack, and took away three awards including the Excellence in Ensemble Acting award.
In addition to WaCPAC’s strong youth theater program, the group has also branched out from its traditional theater roots to provide opportunities for area performers to showcase their musical talents at Battle of the Bands and Music of the Night open mic night events.
WaCPAC’s 2011 season concludes Dec. 9-11 when the group reprises its successful Readers Theatre production of A Christmas Carol.
For more information on WaCPAC, visit their website at http://www.wacpac.org.
Published: August 8, 2011
