Advanced Drama’s trip to the Cal Poly Pomona High School Scene Festival

The Advanced Drama students participated in the Cal Poly Pomona High School Scene Festival on Friday, Feb. 7.

The students were exposed to the many workshops hosted at the festival, such as the Stage Combat, Costume Workshop, Lighting workshop and Scene directing and writing. They also attended and watched the production of “Tick Tick Boom!” a play in which the audience is seated on the stage to make it more interactive and engaging for the viewers.

“Their set was very imaginative, so you could tell that it was a restaurant or that you were in an apartment because it felt very intimate. The experience was really cool and I’m glad that I was able to [experience] it. There were dramatic[scenes], there were comedies and even just seeing the production showed the different aspects of acting and how it’s like such a broad profession,” senior Gabriella Hernandez said. 

Walnut High School entered three performances and won awards against the eight schools they competed against. Senior Savannah Castaneda won a medal for outstanding performance, showcasing two scenes, “Pandemonium” from Spelling Bee and “Tango Maureen” from Rent. Senior Gabriella Hernandez and junior Blaise Contryman won third place overall for their performance of the play “Voices from the High School,” in which they acted and expressed the emotions of mourning and grief over their recently deceased siblings.

“It was a really big achievement, especially as it was the first festival I participated in. I’m not the most confident in my own acting abilities, so having gotten that [award] was a lot,” Contryman said. “The scene competitions, Final Edition, was the best. It was the most fun as it had the most lead-up; despite having the most anxiety, it was really worth it.”

The judges chose eight people from the entire competition who stood out as performers in their scenes and awarded them the outstanding performance medal. Castaneda prepared a lot in class and rehearsed multiple times to ensure that everyone did their part and made sure to perform her best.

“I was honestly really shocked and was not expecting that [I would win],” Castanada said. “I’ve been to a festival before but I didn’t win anything at that one. It was [overall] really fun, and it was also my birthday.”

The scene from “Voices from the High School” is a tragic play that allows Hernandez and Contryman to express their emotions in a way that creates tension between their characters and truly brings their feelings to life.

“With our body movements, we made it feel more real. At the start of the scene I could barely look at him because I’m just so upset, but then I started seeing him more as my friend, so even the body language and the scene helped us get into character,” Hernandez said. “I was screaming and was excited when they announced [the winners]. When they said our [scene] I wanted to run up to the stage, I was too excited and it was really cool.”