MHS wins state drama for
fourth year, NSHS places third
By Linda Petersen
Staff writer
Apr. 26, 2018
Two drama troupes placed high in the state drama competition. For the fourth year running, Manti High School has won state in theater, and North Sanpete High School placed third.
Manti High School
Manti’s theater students were riding high—literally— as they were driven through town on a fire engine Monday to celebrate their state win at Richfield last Saturday.
Manti students beat out students from 17 other schools for the top-place finish in 3A competition—a first for the school which had competed in 2A in previous years.
In pantomime, Justin Bawden and Ellie Christensen took first place; Dallin Brereton and Keyera Cox took fourth in the same category.
For her humorous monologue titled “Coach Bo” which she wrote herself, Danielle Hatch received a first-place award.
Abby Huff was named Best Character Actor for her role as Miss Tweed from “Something’s Afoot.” The play took a thirdplace award in one-act plays.
In musical theatre, Bawden, Cody Alder, Zach Brown and Marcus Bahlmann took first place with their rendition of “Gee, Officer Krupke” from “West Side Story.” Huff was right behind them in second place with “Don’t Rain on My Parade” from “Funny Girl.”
Miriam Bishop and Naomi Boorman placed in the top seven in classical scenes. In contemporary scenes, Bahlmann, Brown and Ashlie Tippetts, along with Kaden Anderson and Matthew Bigelow, also placed in the top seven.
“The students at Manti High School are simply amazing,” drama teacher Kory Howard said. “We had 38 kids on our competition team, and it took every single one of them to make this monumental achievement a reality. I am humbled to be a part of their success and extremely proud of their hard work and accomplishments.”
After the parade on Monday, medal winners shared their performances in the school’s auditorium at the request of Principal George Henrie.
North Sanpete High School
Students, faculty and staff at North Sanpete High School also celebrated as its students took third place overall at the state theater competition.
This is the highest the school has placed in recent memory, according to drama teacher Alex Barlow, who said North Sanpete finished just four points short of second place.
Emily Hill and Brynne Lamb took second place in classical scenes. Spencer Brown and Raelynn Payton took third place in pantomimes. Salem Kimball took fourth place in humorous monologues.
The following students received straight Superiors for their performances: Hill, Lamb, Nicholas Honey, Brooklyn Larson, Serena Smith and Savannah Willden, Katelyn Hill, Salem Kimball, Tausha Simiskey, Isa Wright, Mariah Ashworth, Spencer Brown, Raelynn Payton, Darren Anderson and Lilli Rowan.
“I find competitions like this really encouraging,” Barlow said. “Our drama program is growing every year with more and more student interest in theater. It’s really fulfilling to see kids come into drama with little to no confidence in themselves and see how it changes them for the better. Even if they don’t continue on to do theater as a career, the skills that they develop from doing drama will stick with them and help them in all areas of their lives.”
“In this case, students exercised a lot of diligence, creativity, collaboration and teamwork,” he added. “I tried to work with each piece as much as I could, but they also gave feedback to each other and spent a lot of time trying to help each other improve. Even though they all were doing separate pieces, our team felt really unified and invested not only in their own performances but also in the performance of their teammates. It was a great experience overall, and we look forward to next year.”
