YORKTON —The Saskatchewan Drama Association [SDA] Region 4 High School Drama Festival was held March 20-21, at Sacred Heart High School [SHHS] in Yorkton.
At the awards ceremony on Saturday, the SHHS Drama Club was presented the Best Overall Production Award for its staging of Romeo Revised. The play is a comedy that speculates about what might have occurred if the two main characters hadn’t died at the end of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
Romeo Revised was also selected as Best Visual Production and Best Technical Production. The festival’s top acting award, the Mary Ellen Burgess Performance Award, was presented to Danica Shewchuk for the role of Juliet. Sam Wagner won the second-highest acting award, MEB Runner Up, for playing Romeo. Danica and Sam were also awarded SDA Technical Theatre Certificates of Merit for Swordfight Choreography.
A third cast member, Jucika Tieszen, received an SDA Certificate of Merit for Live Vocal Performance. The top individual technical theatre award, the Bob Hinitt Technical Performance Award, was also awarded to Romeo Revised, to Josiah Dyste for Set Design, Set Painting and Set Decoration. SDA Technical Certificates of Merit were given to Elizabeth Young, Danessa Pritchard and Esobelle Comedes for the design and creation of the stained glass windows used in the set.
Romeo Revised now advances to the SDA Provincial High School Drama Festival, to be held April 30 to May 2, at A. E. Peacock High School in Moose Jaw. Romeo Revised was directed by Gregory Digout, who, before retiring, directed four provincial-winning productions for SHHS, most recently in 2019 with a play called The Last Fill.
The SHHS Drama Club’s second entry in the festival also had a productive weekend. Among Friends and Clutter, co-directed by student Esobelle Comedes and teacher Mary-Anne Maduck, was awarded the runner-up to Best Overall Production Award, the runner-up to Best Visual Production and the runner-up to Best Technical Production.
Among Friends and Clutter also won the Best Technical Crew runner up; the Bob Hinitt runner up, given to Alma Liccud for Lighting; and the Best Stage Manager runner up, won by Elizabeth Young; and SDA Acting Certificates of Merit, awarded to students exhibiting acting excellence, were given to Emily Smith for the role of Melissa, Aiden Brazeau [Ichabod], Sienna Turcotte [Katherine], Edgar Comedes [Bobby], Hannah Willems [multiple roles], Emry Lozinski Gage [multiple roles] and Alicia Mapayi [multiple roles]. Esobelle Comedes was given an SDA Certificate for Excellence in Student Directing.
The Best Technical Crew Award was won by Langenburg Central School for The Actor Games. Lyla Schwatrz won the Most Promising Performance Award for her role as Host. The Best Stage Manager Award was given to Makinly Giroux for her work in Esterhazy’s High School’s Mustardseed. All four actors in Mustardseed won awards of merit for Acting Excellence: Zenobia Kuzub [Mustardseed], Stefaniya Senyk [Moth], Helaina Anderson [Cobweb] and Kendelle-Lynn Toth [Peaseblossom]. The Spirit of the Festival Award was presented to the Yorkton Regional High School’s production of The Rehearsal.
The front-of-house adjudicator for the festival was Bradley Hayward, a noted Saskatchewan playwright who currently resides in Toronto. The backstage adjudicator was Michael Koops, a longtime high school and university drama educator from Regina, currently completing a Doctorate of Education focusing on Embodied Creative Spaces.
