All the world’s a stage for Canyons District theater, music, and dance students who won major honors at the recent national high school Shakespeare competition.
At the end of the judging, Hillcrest was announced as its division’s Sweepstakes winner — the Huskies’ sixth consecutive overall win. It also was an all-CSD sweep in the Oxford division, with Brighton in second place and Corner Canyon in third.
But that’s not all: All five of CSD’s traditional high schools earned at least one national first-place award and claimed runner-up honors in multiple acting, singing, dancing, and stage-tech categories.
“Our schools fully dominated in our divisions,” says Hillcrest Performing Arts Department Chair Josh Long. “It’s the greatest educational experience. Our kids worked so hard again this year and it’s great to see that acknowledged and awarded.”
Competition organizers report that some 3,000 students from 102 schools entered The Bard-focused competition held Oct. 2-4 at Southern Utah University in Cedar City, the home of the Utah Shakespeare Festival. More than 300 coaches and teachers helped prepare students for the competition, the largest scholastic Shakespeare competition in North America.
Hillcrest, Brighton, and Corner Canyon took top awards in ensemble, duo/trio and monologue categories in their division. An Alta student captured the championship in monologues in the Hawks’ division, and Jordan’s talented singers won the national championship in the Troubadour category.
Hillcrest also took third in the Tech Olympics.
Corner Canyon’s choir took awards in every category and captured second-place Sweepstakes. Charger singers won second in Troubadour, second in Canzonetta, second in Minstrel, and third in Madrigal. In addition to the Troubadour win, the Beetdiggers captured third in Canzonetta and third place overall.
“For being such a young team, we were pleased at the hard work and efforts of our students and the awards they received,” said Corner Canyon Theater Director Phaidra Atkinson. “We had a wonderful experience being on the SUU campus, bonding, collaborating, team building and making connections.”
Drama teachers from Canyons high schools said how happy they were to see all five Canyons high schools do so well during the competition.
CSD winners include:
ACTING COMPETITION
Buckingham Division
Monologue first place: Layna Johnson, Alta
Oxford Division
Sweepstakes first place: Hillcrest
Sweepstakes second place: Brighton
Sweepstakes third place: Corner Canyon
Ensemble first place Corner Canyon
Ensemble second place: Hillcrest
Ensemble third place: Brighton
Duo/Trio Scenes first place: Airton Oliveira, Camille Fisher, and Sophia Magleby,
Brighton
Duo/Trio Scenes second place: Gabe Abbott, Gideon Kirby, and Jordan Cecil, Hillcrest
Duo/Trio Scenes third place: Cooper Runnells, Ginger Witkamp, and Henry Jeppeson,
Hillcrest
Monologue first place: Avery Rinke, Hillcrest
Ray Jones Award: Camille Fisher and Sophia Magleby from Brighton
Barbara Barrett Award: Airton Oliveira from Brighton
DANCE/CHOREOGRAPHY COMPETITION
Oxford Division
Ensemble second place: Hillcrest
Music Competition
Troubadour first place: Adam Lindsay, Evelyn Shore, John Hamm, Kate Barnes, and Titus Tyler, Jordan
Troubadour second place: Brynlea Forchuk and Olivia Smith, Corner Canyon
Minstrel second place: Corner Canyon
Canzonetta second place: Corner Canyon
Canzonetta third place: Jordan
Madrigal third place: Corner Canyon
Sweepstakes second place: Corner Canyon
Sweepstakes third place: Jordan
TECH OLYMPICS
Overall Winners
Third Place: Hillcrest(Overall Time = 9 min 46 sec)
Tech Portfolio Winners
Overall Winner: Elise Parry, Hillcrest
Runners-up: Elsie Slabbert, Hillcrest
