International Thespian Society

California State Thespian Festival 2026

In March 2026, Carlmont Drama spent another amazing weekend at the California Thespian Festival. This year, we brought 29 students and participated in more events than ever before. All of our students took workshops, watched performances, and were wonderful representatives of our program! Some highlights are below:

• Clara Lewis and Lucas Papa were elected to be State Thespian Officers, which means they will serve as student representatives to the California Thespians board. They will attend meetings with the adult board members, give input on policies, and organize and run events at the regional and state level. 

• Tanya Nair took 1st place in the state in Scenic Design, winning for the set she designed for Anything Goes. 

• Michelle Ahl earned 2nd place in Solo Dance.

• Tanya and Michelle both qualified for the International Thespian Festival with an overall Superior rating, and so did the following students:

  • Colin Crockwell (Monologue)

  • Michelle Ahl & Colin Crockwell (Duet Scene)

  • Mia Judkins (Solo Musical)

  • Giselle Lo (Playwriting)

  • Itza Perez (Playwriting)

• Lily Herrera & Grace Stiefel (Duet Scene) and Piper Nguyen & Jake Reed (Duet Musical) were finalists in their respective categories.

• Lily Herrera, Mia Judkins, Jessica Li, and Piper Nguyen took 2nd place in the Improv Spectacular competition.

• Six students were selected for jobs on the Festival Crew:

  • Scenic Lead: Tanya Nair

  • Scenic Crew: Rory Cloyd, Cameron Kishore, Giselle Lo

  • Wardrobe Crew: Kylan Wang

  • Video Crew: Alyssa Ruma

  • Rory, Kylan, and Alyssa all received Outstanding Technician awards.

• Rory Cloyd, Charlie Fine, Cameron Kishore, Giselle Lo, Shoshana Mellon, Tanya Nair, and Noelle Redmon competed in the Technical Theatre Challenge and earned an overall Superior score.

• Clara Lewis and Lucas Papa were selected for the Design Showcase. The pieces (prop and costume) that they designed and built were on display in the theatre lobby throughout the weekend.

• Clara Lewis and Maya Shah performed in the Opening Dance Number.

• Grace Stiefel's short film, Phoenix, was featured in the Short Film Showcase.

A big congratulations to the whole troupe!

California State Thespian Festival 2025

In March 2025, Carlmont Drama brought 26 students to Pomona College for our State Thespian Festival -- our largest delegation to date! Our students were involved in nearly every aspect of the Festival experience: mainstage performances, tech crew, competitions, showcases, and more. They also took workshops in a range of topics and were overall terrific representatives of Carlmont. Here are some highlights:

• A play by Giselle Lo was selected (out of more than 30 entries) for the Playworks New Play Development Program, and a professionally-directed staged reading was performed at the Festival.

• Tae Scholl won 1st place in the state in Scenic Design for the set he created for Carlmont's 2025 production of Once Upon a Mattress.

• Michelle Ahl took 3rd place in Solo Acting.

• Both of these competition pieces earned an overall "Superior" rating and qualified for the International Thespian Festival. Other International qualifiers include: 

  • Tae Scholl (Stage Management)

  • Tonya Mikriukova (Solo Acting)

  • Milena Hanson & Jessica Li (Duet Acting)

  • Clara Lewis, Tonya Mikriukova, Samantha Roberts, & Ryu Shukla (Group Acting)

• Several others advanced to the final round of competition in their categories:

  • Michelle Ahl & Colin Crockwell (Duet Acting)

  • Olivia Baum & Samantha Roberts (Duet Acting)

  • Bailey Fox & Miles Nguyen (Duet Acting)

  • Tyler Neth, Sophia Redkey, Robert Serio, & Isaac Strehlow (Group Acting)

  • Kate Ridgway (Solo Musical)

• Michelle Ahl, Tonya Mikriukova, Kate Ridgway, Samantha Roberts, and Ryu Shukla were cast in the Opening Dance Number and performed for the full Festival.

• Five students were chosen for jobs on the Festival Tech Crew: Emerson Elliott (Audio Crew), Sam Ghazal (Wardrobe Supervisor), Larissa (Amber) Mi (Scenic Crew), Tanya Nair (Scenic Crew), and Tae Scholl (Scenic Design). Both Sam and Tanya earned Outstanding Technician awards for their work.

• Tonya Mikriukova and Ryu Shukla were selected for the Design Showcase, and their costume and make-up designs were displayed in the theatre lobby throughout the weekend.

A huge congratulations to all members of Troupe #1844 for representing Carlmont so well!

California State Thespian Festival 2024

In April 2024, 18 Carlmont Drama students attended the California State Thespian Festival in Upland, CA. It was an unforgettable weekend of performances, competitions, workshops, guest speakers, and opportunities to collaborate with students from more than 60 schools across the state. All of our students received positive feedback and were fantastic representatives of Carlmont. Here are a few highlights:

• Georgia Kelly was cast in the opening dance number and performed for the entire festival.

• Marlo Lewis was selected to be an Assistant Choreographer for the musical finale.

• Bailey Fox earned a role on the Festival Tech Crew.

• Sam Dechaine and Griffin della Gatta were finalists for Duet Acting.

• Several Carlmont students earned an overall "Superior" rating on their competition pieces, which qualifies them to compete at the national level. Griffin and Sam earned a Superior for their duet scene, and so did the following students:

  • • Georgia Kelly (Solo Acting)

    • Marlo Lewis (Solo Musical)

    • Kate Ridgway (Solo Musical)

    • Jessica Li & Jessie Rizvi (Duet Acting)

    • Sam Dechaine, Milena Hanson, Kate Ridgway, Jessie Rizvi, & Robert Serio (Group Acting)

Congratulations to the entire troupe on a job well done!

California State Thespian Festival 2023

In March of 2023, Carlmont's Thespian troupe brought 8 students to the California State Thespian Festival, a three-day event involving close to 1000 students from 48 high schools across the state. Our students performed monologues, scenes, and improv for professional adjudication; took workshops in stage combat, dance, commercial acting, stage make-up, and more; watched performances; and met many other students who love theatre as much as they do. Carlmont earned the following accolades:

• Sam Dechaine, Joshua Jiang, and Georgia Kelly took 3rd place in the Group Acting category.

• Joshua Jiang was a finalist for Monologues.

• The above students all earned overall Superior ratings and qualified to compete at the national level.

• All of our students received positive feedback from judges and made Carlmont proud!