Theatre department bustles during Oregon Thespians Acting Competition

Posted Feb. 11, 2022

By Graciela Del Rosario

Staff Editor

The theatre department was bustling and alive Feb. 4-5 as the annual Oregon Thespians Acting Competition commenced, hosted by Parkrose High School.

For several weeks students and thespians have been conducting and refining scenes in and out of class to perform at the first in-person Regionals competition, since the start of COVID. Twenty-seven acts were entered to perform within the Northwest region of thespian competitions high schools, including Centennial, Sam Barlow, Gresham, and Oregon City, competing alongside David Douglas. In addition to the in-person competition, schools had the option to fully participate in a brand new, virtual region, which was open to the entire state.

Prior to the Parkrose competition, Douglas hosted its own showcase at the PAC the day before. Open to spectators, students were asked to perform the pieces they were bringing to regionals. These ranged from musical numbers, duo scenes, and solo monologues. The showcase allowed for the actors to not only present the fruit of their labors, but open themselves to feedback from a panel of five judges, including theatre teachers Michael Givler and David Rosenbaum.

“It is so cool to see so many actors doing a huge variety of performances, with everyone’s personalities coming out in their acting,” said showcase judge Lily Rosenbaum. “It’s amazing to see the support between the actors too, seeing one person finish and get overwhelming love and support from their peers is wonderful. I just love seeing this every year, and it’s so cool to see everyone growing and changing over the years.”

Bright and early the following day, Douglas made its way over to Parkrose. Student actors from across the Northwest region were welcomed in an enthusiastic ceremony, commemorating the return of in-person theater and competitions. Shortly after, students were ushered into specific cohorts to begin their rounds. Rounds were one hour long and consisted of three to eight acts of the same category and level, including a judge and timekeeper. Depending on the act, actors performed two to three times to different judges and cohorts, and the judge each round would score them on a 20 scale (additionally adding feedback to the score sheet). Once all rounds were finished, officials tallied up the points and awarded the actors who scored the highest in their categories at the awards ceremony. Douglas saw multiple actors walk away with awards: senior Ariana Gsell, junior William Massegee, and sophomores Scarlet Stokes and Sydney Kimpton won as Regional finalists in the “Solo Experienced” category. Meanwhile, freshman Rhys Westlund scored first in “Solo Musical Novice” and was recognized as a Showcase Qualifier.

Regional competitions are split into three main categories: Acting, Musical, and Pantomime–all which can be split into novice and experienced. Experienced competitors who score in the top 10% of their categories (minimum of two) and the top scoring novice competitor are considered Showcase Qualifiers, students who are invited to advance to the State Showcase auditions at the State Festival. The next 10% of each category (or the remaining 20%) are recognized as Regional Finalists, all presented with a blue and yellow ribbon commemorating their achievements.

“I thought we had a really, really, really great showing,” said Givler. “Our students really did their job of preparing and creating strong, dynamic pieces and a huge variety of pieces.”