By Jeff Bengford
On April 5-8, after a year of steadfast preparation and meticulous coordination by Thespian Officer Noella Thu and her fellow Thespian Officers, Westmont High School Theatre Arts Department took 30 Students, 3 dedicated Chaperones and 1 Troupe Director to join 1,540 other high school theatre students from 65 schools at the annual State Thespian Festival in Upland, California.
For the 25th year, led by Thespian Troupe Director, Jeff Bengford, Westmont’s Thespians took workshops from experienced professionals, earned significant honors, and made outstanding accomplishments throughout the State Thespian Festival.
The Festival produced 4 All State events and each of them had Westmont students as staff members on their artistic teams and running crews. Westmont senior, Hazel Behl was selected to Assistant Direct the original play: “Let the Light In” and featured actors from all over the state.
Our Westmont Technicians also shined this year. All three of our technicians who applied to be on the All State Show Crews were selected: Noella Thu [Lighting] and Jack de Cesare [Scenic] and Logan Bliss [Scenic]. Jack also received special recognition as Most Valuable Player for the Scenic Team.
In the Thespy competition, 11 Westmont students received Superior ratings (the highest rating achievable) for their performances or presentations, including: Nisa Naderi & Otra Phillips for their Acting Duo, Noella Thu for her Lighting Design, Anna Genna for Playwriting, Hazel Behl, Mika Shahar & Shelly Yoffe for their individual Monologues, Holly Williams for her Scenic Design, Kaleb Ma, Quan (Jimmy) Nguyen & Charline Pelloux-Gervais for their individual Solo Musical performances.
In addition to these honors, Noella Thu and Holly Williams also took first place in Tech Challenge. Quan (Jimmy) Nguyen placed first in the state in his Thespy Division taking home the award for first place in Solo Musical for his stunning performance of “Perfect” from Edges. And Logan Bliss placed first in the state in his Thespy Division taking home the award for first place in Prop Design for our production of Sherlock Holmes.
This was quite a year for our Westmont Thespians!