麻豆传媒AV

NBCHS Drama Club competed at the provincial level this past weekend, bringing home four major awards.

Competing against 10 other productions, NBCHS was given the award for Best Visual Production and had the runner up Best Technical Crew.

Head drama coach Kali Weber says one of only four technical performance excellence awards also came to the club, given to Colton Hutchinson for his lighting design, execution and professionalism

Weber says she is also proud to say the club won the prestigious Wayne Apostle Spirit of the Festival Award, given to the one group who truly shows understanding of what festival is really about: having fun, learning and being kind, friendly and welcoming to others.

The NBCHS Drama Club proved their understanding that being at the festival wasn't about winning, Weber says. It was about learning, meeting new people and cheering them on, taking risks, being accountable and humble.

"It's an amazing accomplishment," she says.

In addition to the above awards, acting certificates of merit also went to Ainslie Milley and Emma-Leigh Gerlinsky and technical certificates of merit for scene design went to Maddy Fiddler, Allysha Dyck and Pilar Bernal-Wouters.

The play presented by the NBCHS Drama Club was The Trojan Women, adapted by American author Tonya Hays from the Greek tragedy written by Euripides circa 415 BC.

Weber says the adaptation was written specifically for young actors and was ideal for the festival. It is historical in context and asks the actors to understand what it must have meant to become the prizes of a defeat with no control over their destiny. The one-act play centres on Hecuba, the fallen queen of Troy, and her grief at the loss of her city and her family at the conclusion of the Trojan War.

The actors had to work hard on the rhythm and the pace of the syntax, says Weber, as it is written in an older style. It took a tremendous commitment on their behalf, and they rehearsed for an hour and a half after school twice a week, beginning in January. Fortunately, she says, there were times when not all the characters had to be at rehearsal.

NBCHS opened the festival Thursday, May 8 at the University of Regina with The Trojan Women, having earned a spot in the provincials at the Region 8 festival in Meadow Lake April 3-5.

In the last 15 years, NBCHS has won at the regional level eight times, moving them on to provincial competition.