By Florida Catholic staff - Florida Catholic
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
Archbishop Coleman Carroll High School's Drama Team competed at the 2014 District 8 Thespian Festival where they all received a superior rating. In this photo are members of the Drama Team: (front row, left to right) Mariana Brown, Olivia Griffith, Alicia Varona, Brittany Lemus, Alanis Aviles; (back row, left to right) Vanessa Crisman, Katelyn Bourke, David Castillo, Theater Instructor James Puig, Luis Ibarra, Claudia Arroyo Batista and Carmelite Sister Rosalie Nagy, principal.
MIAMI | To get a "superior" rating for a few members of a Thespian team in a competition is an honorable feat for any school. To have every team member receive a "superior" rating during competition is a very rare occurrence. Archbishop Coleman Carroll High School’s drama team accomplished such a feat at the 2014 District 8 Thespian Festival held at Braddock High School and Felix Varela High School.
Under the direction of James Puig, Carroll High's theater instructor and International Thespian Society moderator, students competed at the local festival alongside hundreds of their peers from public, private, charter or magnet high schools in Miami-Dade County. The competition encompassed performances and technical categories including solo musical, duet musical, monologues, duet scenes and costume design.
Students presented their work to a three-judge panel of respected members of the professional and academic theater community. The ratings scale ranged from poor to superior, with the final rating being a combination of the judges’ ratings. Presentations were evaluated based on a number of indicators such as character (development/consistency/believability), emotional commitment, delivery/style, developed relationship, staging/choreography, vocal delivery (volume/clarity/interpretation/pitch), and so on.
Carroll High students demonstrated talent, enthusiasm and integrity, a reflection not only of academic excellence but also the integration of their moral Catholic foundation. The drama team members and their superior-winning performances were:
- Claudia Arroyo Batista, junior, solo musical, “Not a Day Goes By” from “Merrily We Roll Along”
- Luis Ibarra, senior, solo musical, “Extraordinary” from “Pippin”
- Alicia Varona, sophomore, solo musical, “Witch’s Rap (Greens)” from “Into The Woods”
- Olivia Griffith, senior, monologues from George Bernard Shaw’s “Saint Joan and Catholic School Girls”
- Katelyn Bourke, senior, monologues from “Brighton Beach Memoirs” and “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown"
- David Castillo, junior, monologues from “Lost In Yonkers” and “The Drowsy Chaperone”
- Alanis Aviles, sophomore, and Brittany Lemus, sophomore, duet acting, “The Children’s Hour”
- Claudia Arroyo-Batista, junior, and Luis Ibarra, senior, duet musical, “A Little Priest” from “Sweeney Todd”
- Katelyn Bourke, senior, and Vanessa Crisman, junior, duet musical, “If Momma Was Married” from “Gypsy”
- Mariana Brown, senior, costume design for “Aida, the Musical”
The Carroll High drama team students are members of Troup #6348 of the International Thespian Society, an honorary organization for high school students located at more than 3,600 affiliated secondary schools across the United States, Canada and abroad. The mission of the International Thespian Society is to honor student excellence in the theatre arts. Its motto is “Act well your part, there all the honor lies.” (Alexander Pope)
Up next, the Carroll High drama team will be competing at the Miami-Dade County Youth Fair. Later, the students will reprise their award-winning performances at the high school's Spring Drama Show, held at the Karol Wojtyla Little Theatre.
