Best in show: VHHS theater department brings home state championships

Vestavia Hills High School theater director Jamie Stephenson has always told her students to not expect to win state championships.

If the students have connected with their audience, they’ve accomplished their primary goal, she said.

“I told them to leave it on the stage,” Stephenson said. “This is for the audience.”

After receiving a standing ovation from their peers following their early December performance of Shakespeare’s “The Comedy of Errors,” they knew they had done their job, Stephenson said.

As students left the Walter Trumbauer High School Theatre Festival in Troy, Stephenson said fellow performers were shouting, “You’re amazing!”

“This is why we do it,” Stephenson said.

But when the virtual awards ceremony was held later that day, all of the students’ hard work was further rewarded as they won first place in the state championship.

“They couldn’t be denied,” Stephenson said. “It was really a feeling of pride for those students. It was their show.”

Senior Brantley Newsome said it was “so, so special” to be able to compete this year and bring home a championship after losing all of 2020 to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was a culmination of everyone’s work,” Newsome said.

Newsome was with three of her fellow theater students. Exhausted from the competition, they were relaxing with ice cream while watching the ceremony from her phone. Newsome first heard she had been named best supporting actor. The car went silent, stunned by the good news, before hearing the group’s performance had won Best in Show.

“It was just very special,” Newsome said.

Fellow senior Evan Moreno was at a friend’s house, baking an apple pie when he heard the good news.

“It was so exciting,” Moreno said. “There was a voice in my head … there’s always that doubt. … I’m so proud of everyone.”

Performing Shakespeare comes with challenges of its own, and that was made harder by the structure of the state competition. If a school chooses to perform a studio production, it is much more focused on the individual acting, and they only have 30 minutes to set up, perform the show and exit the stage, Stephenson said. The play itself was 27 minutes, she said.

In addition to having to scale “Comedy of Errors,” usually a four-hour production, down to 30 minutes, the group also scaled it back from the one-hour production they performed for their fellow students and community.

“Our students are so talented and so gifted,” Stephenson said. “It was not as difficult as I thought it would be.”

Moreno said at first it was frustrating to switch back and forth between the shows, but once he saw them as two separate shows, it helped. Newsome said the struggle for some performers was the difference in lines between the performances, but everyone worked hard to make it a success.

“You had to be ready to be flexible,” Moreno said.

The studio format also limits what can be on stage, with no freestanding set pieces allowed. Only a few wooden pieces and handheld props could be used.

“I actually like that,” Stephenson said. “It challenges me to think outside the box.”

Students formed a “human table,” and used their bodies to be a door, she said. Students used a flashlight as a prop to create a unique lighting effect that added to the show, Stephenson said.

Rehearsal started in September, with community shows following and then the Trumbauer district competition, where Vestavia Hills High School won six awards and qualified for state.

Stephenson said this year’s group was a “dream team,” and despite their initial hesitation over Shakespeare, they learned to appreciate the play and were able to put on an award-winning performance.

Newsome is a “powerhouse,” and Moreno stepped up during the performance, Stephenson said. Sophomore Colton Smith also took home an individual award, winning best lead actor. Norah and Ryanne Trench also made the all-star cast.

Newsome also took home two first-place awards in individual competitions, one for “solo acting classical comedic varsity” and one shared with Norah Trench for “duet acting contemporary comedic varsity.” Jillian King won first place for “makeup design varsity.”

The following students earned “superior” rankings in their respective individual event:

► Bella Grace Baker: solo musical contemporary dramatic ballad: novice

► Dana Cheek: solo acting contemporary comedic: novice

► Ruihuang Ding: costume design: novice

► Katelynn Holt: solo acting contemporary dramatic: intermediate

► Reagan Kessler and Adeline Smith: duet acting contemporary dramatic: intermediate

► Sara Kate Lynch and Ava Moore: duet acting contemporary comedic: varsity

► Hannah Beth Smith: stage management: novice

► Ryanne Trench: solo musical contemporary dramatic ballad: varsity

While Vestavia Hills High School students won the top prize about five years ago for their performance of “Almost, Maine,” this is the most awards they’ve won at the state level, Stephenson said.

The energy at the state competition was “crazy,” Moreno said. “It’s a whole different experience of performing.”

While he made friends, the state competition is really competitive, Moreno said. Some of the schools Vestavia competes against are dedicated to the arts, allowing them to focus more time on their shows, whereas Vestavia’s performers have other academic and extracurricular responsibilities, he said.

Both Newsome and Moreno have been involved in theater since middle school, and this year’s theater group has been together for a long time.

“It’s been really fun to see everything grow,” Newsome said.

Newsome said she’s enjoyed being the “carpool mom” this year, driving ninth grade students from the freshman campus over to the high school for rehearsals.

“Those are the moments you get people interested,” Newsome said. “That was a really fun part of the process.”

While Newsome plans to become a doctor and Moreno plans to pursue a career in psychology, they both want to keep theater in their lives. The lessons and memories of being part of a production will last beyond their high school years, Moreno said.

“It’s such a fulfilling thing to work so hard on something for weeks and months and then put it on in front of an audience that wants to see it, and feel that fulfilling moment of, ‘I did it; I did this and it made people happy,’” Moreno said.