CULLMAN, Ala. – Over the past weekend, Cullman High School Theatre (CHST) played host to the Alabama Conference of Theatre’s District Three Walter Trumbauer Theatre Festival.
CHST Director Wayne Cook is the district chairman.
“We’re just really honored to be able to host this year. It’s a lot of work for our people, but it’s a good experience for our theater department, and the parents and our students,” said Cook. “You know, they were able to do what we normally have to go out of town to do in their own home setting, so that was nice.”
He continued, “As the district chair, one of the things I’m trying to do is I’m trying to grow that District Three, including more schools, trying to get more people interested in participating at a district level.”
District Three covers multiple county and city systems in northwest Alabama, including Cullman City and County, Decatur, Athens and all the way to Florence.
Said Cook, “There’s a lot of participation in places like Florence and Decatur and places like that. What we’d love to see is more schools that join in. And this year, we were able to add West Point, and we were really thrilled about that. We’ve been cultivating a relationship with them- very nice people trying to build a program there. We have tried to include them and include these new schools. This year, we had several new schools, and we’re hoping next year we’ll have even some more.
“The idea is to get a lot of people engaged in the event, so we can have stronger theater education throughout the state. You know, that’s the whole purpose of the Alabama Conference of Theatre, which sponsors Trumbauer.”
CHST festival honors
CHST received a superior for its one-act performance of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.” The show also received:
- Best Ensemble
- Best Sets
- Best Costumes
- Grant Holland, Best Actor in a One-Act Production
- Sam Jones, Laci New, Graffin Shaddrix and Gracie Smith, named to All Star Cast
Individual and duet event Superior honors with invitations to the state festival
- Clay Brown, Solo Dramatic Monologue
- Domenico Brunetti, Solo Musical Theatre Comedic
- Chandler Greer, Solo Musical Theatre Dramatic and Solo Musical Theatre Comedic
- Grant Holland, Solo Musical Theatre Comedic
- Sam Jones, Solo Dramatic Monologue
- Emily Leigeber, Solo Comedic Monologue
- Jubal Lindsey, Solo Musical Theatre Dramatic
- Reagan Martin, Solo Musical Theatre Dramatic
- Olivia Noblett, Solo Dramatic Monologue
- Mary Claire Page, Solo Musical Theatre Dramatic
- Kaitlin Smith, Solo Dramatic Monologue
- Devon Campbell and Gracie Smith, Duet Dramatic Acting
- Grant Holland and Laci New, Duet Musical Theatre Dramatic
- Olivia Noblett and Mary Claire Page, Duet Comedic Acting
- Laci New and Reagan Martin, Duet Pantomime.
- Graffin Shaddrix and Sam Jones, Duet Dramatic Acting
Winners of other awards included Carrie Betts, Domenico Brunetti, Lauren Chapin, Tiffany Dotson, Avery Drake, Annabelle Howze, Brie Miller, Jenn Netherton, Brandy Pylant, Annie Reichert, Kaitlin Smith and Lydia Wells.
Cook said of his students, “I’m very proud of them. We have fantastic theater students. They’re incredibly talented, which is evidenced by their superiors and their invitations to state. The ones that have been invited to go to state and compete on a state level, which is the highest honor you can get, if you get a superior at state level, you can’t get anything better than that. That’s what it’s called; that’s the highest award you can get in the state of Alabama. I have every reason to think that some of them will. Quite a few actually will probably medal at state, because they’re that kind of quality.
“We’re very proud of them, and we’re proud of the students and what they did with our one-act; we superiored in that, and we’re very proud of that. They were really phenomenal, and anybody who’s seen them perform would probably agree. They blow my mind with their talent and their ability, sometimes, with what they can do and accomplish.”
Continued Cook, “Our job is to kind of just keep them within the boundaries and keep them focused on the right direction. We can do that pretty easily, and then they can soar when you do that. It’s amazing to watch them perform like they did. We’re very proud of them. I’ve always said when I first came to Cullman that Cullman has and always will have, because of the caliber of people that are here, incredibly talented students. It just goes to show you: the proof of that is what you see in the results of something like that at Trumbauer.”
On its website, the Alabama Conference of Theatre says of the festival program:
The Walter Trumbauer Festival has provided quality training and performance opportunities for Alabama theatre students at the secondary level since 1940. The educational impact of this event is substantial. The festival consists of 30 individual events, a one act play festival, a studio theatre one act play festival—all for 9th through 12th grades, as well as scholarship auditions and college screening for high school seniors and junior college students. Students qualify for the state competition by earning a rating of “superior” at one of seven district festivals. At all levels of competition, students receive critiques from qualified teachers, professionals and theatre practitioners, allowing them to improve their theatrical skills. The state festival kicks off with the scholarship audition session on Thursday evening. High school seniors and junior college students compete for four $1000 ACT Scholarships. Friday and Saturday events culminate in an Awards Ceremony where trophies, plaques, medals, and other awards are presented to recognize outstanding work in technical categories and performance areas. Two one act productions are chosen to represent Alabama at the Southeastern Theatre Conference in the spring.
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