Piedmont Competes in One-Act Play
Piedmont Academy’s One-Act Play cast and crew captured the GISA State AA One-Act Play second runner-up trophy at the competition held at Darton College in Albany.
The group received two second place rankings and one sixth place ranking from the three judges, placing the school only one ranking point behind the first runner-up school which was Sherwood Christian Academy from Albany. This year’s State AA One-Act Play champion was Southwest Georgia Academy from Damascus.
The state competition also featured performances of students from Briarwood Academy, Edmund Burke Academy, LaGrange Academy, Monsignor Donovan Catholic High School, and St. Andrew’s School.
This year the students of Piedmont’s troupe performed Ed Monk’s “Booby Trap,” produced with permission from Playscripts, Inc. This play is a drama about a soldier in a combat zone who is trapped by an explosive device. While the soldier awaits her fate, she has flashbacks to important events of her past and has visions of her family coping without her in the future.
Senior Katie Odegaard played the lead role of “Soldier (Caitlyn Ross Galen),” the person trapped by the explosive device. Serving as in other military roles were junior Abigail Hyde as “Major Harris,” sophomore Steve Martin as “Captain Gruss,” freshman Will Tillman as “Lieutenant,” freshman Danny Ramsdell as “Corporal Wagner,” and junior Andrew Mitchell as “Drill Sergeant.”
The judges at state competition named Mr. Ramsdell as an Honorable Mention for the Outstanding Performance Awards for his role as the clumsy yet lovable corporal.
The civilians in the play who made up the soldier’s family were junior Gabe Courtman as the soldier’s husband “Peter Galen,” senior Savannah McGinnis as the soldier’s mother “Mrs. Ross,” senior Ashley Young as the soldier’s mother-in-law “Mrs. Galen,” junior Chase Olson as the soldier’s son “Mark,” and junior Lena Boyd as Mark’s friend “Stephanie.”
Miss McGinnis played a second role as one of soldier’s elementary school teachers and nuns “Sister Anne,” and senior Emmie Kelly played one of the soldier’s college instructors “Professor Drummond.”
Senior Gabe Hestad and Mr. Mitchell filled the roles of the soldier’s fun-loving college buddies, and the soldier’s high school friends were played by junior Cameron Hallman, freshman Starr Batchelor, and eighth grader Gracie Brittain.
The two technical crew members were senior Austin Bass who ran the sound board and junior P.J. Leonetti who ran lights for this year’s production.
The group earned first runner-up honors from the judges when they competed at the Region 4AA competition at Troup High School in LaGrange.
Region judges named Miss McGinnis as one of the five recipients of Outstanding Performance awards for Region 4AA, and Piedmont beat out performances from Brandon Hall School, Flint River Academy, and Harvester Christian Academy. They lost the region title to LaGrange Academy by only four points.
Piedmont teacher and literary coordinator Bobbi Sauls was the director of this play. Assisting with various aspects of the production was Piedmont teacher and Fine Arts Society secretary and treasurer Mary Ramsdell and Fine Arts Society president David Odegaard.
Piedmont staff member Jessica Robertson provided logistical support as the group’s bus driver for both the region and state competitions.
The Monticello community had an opportunity to view this award-winning production at the annual Dessert Theatre on November 2, at the school’s gymnasium. The students are now preparing for various events as part of the school’s speech and debate program.