George Rogers Clark High School fine arts students brought home multiple awards after recently competing in the Kentucky Thespians Festival and the Kentucky Theatre Association regional competition.

The students performed their play, “Digging Up the Boys,” at the two competitions over the past month.

At their first-ever theatre competition, Kentucky Thespians Festival Oct. 18-19 in Owensboro, students competed against 11 other schools. They competed in individual events for monologues and musical theater songs, tech challenges (quick-change costumes, hanging and focusing theater lights, etc.) and for college scholarships and acceptance into prestigious theater programs.

Katherine Lowther, Fine Arts Cohort coordinator, said this was GRC’s first time at a competition. It was also the first time students could present their work to a larger, non-Clark County audience.

Lowther said she was initially worried students would be intimidated by other, more established programs from the state, but students gave it their all and represented GRC and Winchester well. 

“They helped put GRC’s drama program on the map as a competitive and quality program, and received so much positive verbal and written feedback from judges and their peers, as well as some awards to prove it,” Lowther said.

At KTF, GRC brought home the following awards:

— Individual Event SUPERIOR Ratings: Galen Arnett (Monologue and Musical Theatre), Sarina McQuerry (Monologue), Charli O’Dell (Monologue). They are now eligible to participate in the International Thespian Society Festival in June 2020.

— Individual Event EXCELLENT Rating: Natalie Shoemaker (Monologue)

— GRC Troupe 8842 Kentucky Thespian All-Star: Natalie Shoemaker

— Winners KTF Tech Challenge, Drop Fold: Bella Gray, Imani Hooker, Natalie Shoemaker, Tanner Walters

— Winner KTF Tech Challenge, Light Focus: Andrew Roberts

— Grand Champions in the Tech Challenge

Arnett was also one of only two students (out of about 350) selected to showcase monologues on the final stage.

Students followed up with a performance at the regional competition for the Kentucky Theatre Association Nov. 2 at Frederick Douglass High School in Lexington.

There, GRC was named the Outstanding Newcomer Ensemble, and O’Dell, a GRC fine arts senior, was named to the All-Star Cast.

“Digging Up the Boys” is a play by Laura Lundgren Smith about three men working an old mine to keep food on their families’ tables in a poverty-stricken community.

When disaster strikes, their womenfolk above grapple with the situation, getting no answers from the company foreman, according to the play’s description.

Those below and those above must deal with the emotions that arise as they realize time is running out, hoping desperately for a miracle that will change all of their fates, before it’s too late, Lowther told The Sun.

Lowther said she is proud of the students for coming together as an ensemble to learn about Kentucky’s coal mining industry and culture. Students helped with all aspects of the play, including set building, painting, light design (entirely designed and executed by Andrew Roberts), costuming, set and strike.

Lowther told The Sun between the two competitions students traveled to Harlan County to tour the Kentucky Coal Museum, performed at Harlan County High School and went into the Portal 31 mine.

Lowther said the students enjoyed traveling to Harlan County to perform and visit the coal mine.

A former educator and former Harlan County coal miner, Bob Howard, also traveled with the students and arranged for the students to meet with an active coal miner to give a first-hand perspective about Appalachian mining life. Lowther said those stories helped students shape their character choices.

Howard is also an Appalachian Realist artist who painted the main backdrop for the play.

The students performed the play for the public in October.

“GRC hasn’t produced a straight play (non-musical) in at least seven years, and has never gone to competition,” Lowther said. “We don’t have a drama teacher, and only have a general ‘Intro to Theatre’ course in addition to the audition-based Fine Arts Cohort drama group. Despite these obstacles, we have recently sent two students to the elite Governor’s School for the Arts (Galen Arnett and Sarina McQuerry, 2019), earned Superior and Excellent ratings at KTF, and earned other awards during our first foray into the realm of the drama competition.

“It was gratifying for the students to see their hard work — which sometimes is viewed as superfluous entertainment — legitimized and noticed by not only their friends and families but by the state of Kentucky.

“Imagine how much more successful the students and program would be if we had a trained theater teacher at GRC who could move students to the next level of performance.”

Lowther said the public should look out for the cohort’s next large-scale endeavor, “The Sound of Music” in May 2020.

Auditions for GRC students will be Dec. 3, and auditions for the younger Von Trapp children will be Dec. 5.

More information and registration for audition slots are available at grcfinearts.weebly.com.

“As we continue to expand our drama program and reach outside of our walls, we look forward to and appreciate Winchester’s support through sponsorships, volunteer labor and, most importantly, through attendance at our shows,” Lowther said.