On Friday, Feb. 27, all seven theatre departments in the William S. Hart School District came together to celebrate the art of theatre during their annual competition entitled “Hart District Theater Festival,” also known as HDTF.
This year, Canyon was given the privilege to host the festival in their Performing Arts Center. From the early morning to mid afternoon, students district-wide came together to showcase their various scenes. The festival features six categories: Monologue, Small Group Classical, Small Group Contemporary, Small Group Musical, Large Group Contemporary, and Large Group Musical.
Canyon, as always, did a phenomenal job, placing in top three for five out of the six categories! The placement of every scene is as follows: first place Large Group Musical for “By Now the Room Was Moving” and “The Juggernaut” from “The Wild Party” by Andrew Lippa, first place Small Group Contemporary for “Children’s Hour” by Lillian Hellman, second place Monologue for “Jitney” by August Wilson, second place Small Group Musical for “Trouble in Tahiti” by Leonard Bernstein, and third place Small Group Classical for “Medea” by Euripides.
Canyon’s Large Group Contemporary, “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” (an adaptation by Dale Wasserman) unfortunately did not place; however, the scene was still superb and entertaining.
The judges also had the opportunity to select one student from each school whose talents they believed stood out from the whole day. This year, Canyon Drama’s Standout Performer Award recipient was the extraordinary Diane Riser.
Everything about Riser glowed while she performed on that stage, compelling the audience with her gorgeous voice. She did a remarkable job, and there isn’t any doubt that she has an extraordinary future in musical theatre before her.
Canyon Drama clearly achieved something truly special this year—so much so that every judge personally took a moment to reach out to and remind Canyon Drama students of what a special and gifted group of kids that they are.
Out of all the kind messages received, this part of Anthony Adu’s message stood out the most: “Friday inspired me in a way that I didn’t even know I needed, and I was beyond impressed with the caliber of performance your school and all the other schools created. It was so moving to see these kids commit so much to every single thing they were doing, and to see the ensemble work really altered me.”
Congratulations to Canyon Drama for everything they have accomplished so far this year! There is no doubt that next year will bring even more wins. Be sure to support Canyon Drama at their upcoming musical “Sweeney Todd” from March 26-28 in the Performing Arts Center!
To stay in the loop with everything related to Canyon Drama, including competitions results and upcoming show dates, be sure to follow them on Instagram @chsdrama661!
