Eden Pepos

During an improv night practice from December, Ava Neudeck, senior, practices with theater teacher Steve Beckingham.

The school sent performers to the Thespian Regional Competition at Barlow High School on Saturday, Feb. 3. Among those performers, ten people in five different entries advanced to the state competition.

Among those advancing to state is Ava Neudeck, senior. Neudeck has been acting for over 10 years, including three years at the high school. She has also done all three high school musicals and is an inducted member in the high school’s theater troupe, Thespian Troupe 1915. Most recently, she played Berthe, the protagonist’s grandmother in the Thespians’ production of Pippin.

“Thespian regionals is something our troupe competes in where all the different troupes from around our [region] come and compete and try to qualify for state,” Neudeck said. “It’s a really awesome opportunity and you meet a lot of awesome people.”

Neudeck competed in two categories: Solo Musical Experienced and Small-Group Musical.

“I wanted to do [a] solo musical again because I did it last year and it was really fun,” Neudeck said. “My friend Rowan [Sechrist] reached out and asked if I wanted to do a small-group musical with her, and we did ‘Cell Block Tango.’ We got a group together and that’s the one we qualified for state with.”

Performing ‘Cell Block Tango’ with Neudeck was Hanna Layton, Elizabeth Meyers, Emerson Parker, and Sechrist, juniors, and Lucia LaViolette, sophomore. They practiced together in the weeks leading up to the event to ensure a smooth performance, but the ice storm threw a wrench into their plans.

“Annie [Kaiser] and Steve [Beckingham] have coaching sessions that are so helpful. I can’t recommend them enough,” Neudeck said. “It was a lot about getting together as a group. Finding time can be tricky, and then with the week of the ice storm, that was kind of crazy. You do as many coaching sessions as you can and you start with learning about your character, and then you add choreography and put it all together.”

The regional finalists from the high school were Malaika Ruirie and Sofia Gomez, both seniors, who competed in Solo Experienced Acting, Cadence Cox, sophomore, and Maggie MacKenzie, junior who competed in Duo Dramatic Experienced Acting, and Sechrist, who competed in Solo Experienced Musical. 

The state qualifiers included Josh Caveney, sophomore, who qualified for Solo Novice Musical and Duo Novice Musical, Sophia Burden, senior, and Gomez, who competed in Solo Experienced Musical, and the participants in the Small-Group Musical mentioned earlier.

Another performer who qualified for state is Jori Brady, freshman. Brady has been involved in theater since middle school, acting in both the middle school musicals. She also was a member of the ensemble in “Pippin.” She competed in Duo Novice Musical with Caveney, which is the category she is going to state for.

“I wanted to sing but I didn’t want to sing alone,” Brady said. “Josh overheard me talking about wanting to sing so he was like, “Perfect, my partner just left because they went to do it with someone else, so I have an open spot.’”

The next event for the theater program is the winter play, “Exit the King,” with its opening night being on March 1. Additionally, the State Thespian Competition will take place from April 4-6 in Salem.

“The whole thespian community is just really like a family,” Neudeck said. “We all help each other and support each other and cheer each other on. That’s why I keep coming back; it’s the community.” 

UPDATE: Due to a corrected tabulation error, Emerson Parker and Hanna Layton will also be competing in state in April in the Duet Novice Musical Theater competition.