UPDATED WITH WINNERS – Awards Night (Friday) @ The 66th Annual Sears Drama Festival

This post is also published on www.CKReview.ca

The Regional level of The 66th Annual Sears Drama Festival wrapped up this evening with A Case Of The Muschies by Brantford CIVS and Triangle by Westdale Secondary School.

Anne Gilbert once again brought greetings from The Chatham-Kent City Council and assured the crowd that “The Kiwanis theatre will remain here for community events” which the crowd responded with a resounding cheer. Anne went on to comment “the acoustics in this old building are wonderful.”

A Case of The Munschies written and produced by Brantford Collegiate Insititute (Brant-Haldimand) is a wacky Robert Munsch inspired tale that reminds us not to grow up too fast. Liz a 16 year old girl is arguing with her father and her friend Bri about the dress she will wear to her Prom, when all of a sudden she’s sucked down the bathtub drain and winds up in Muschville. An array of Musch characters helps her realize the error of her ways and makes her appreciate her youth. This production made awesome use of music during transitions to keep the audience pumped up for the next scene and lighting was very effective at creating a wacky fun filled world. A black light scene was used to transition from the real world to Munschville and doubled as a period to change the set. Speaking of the set, what a wonderful representation of the animated world Robert Munsch creates in his stories, bright wild colours were used in Munschville and soft pinks and purples made us feel like we were in a young teenager’s bathroom during the real world scenes. A very overly animated narrator takes us through the story, and is never afraid to break walls, speaking to the audience, then the actual characters as well. Make up and costuming was chosen very well, the make up smeared faces of the Munchville inhabitants gave them an animated look that popped even. On the bright coloured costumes and set. Kudos to Andrew Rowe for his awesome work as The Narrator and an amazing monologue!

Triangle a collective creation by Westdale Secondary School (Hamilton-Wentworth) is an intense dramatic look at the worker’s struggle of the early 1900′s. The play examines an extremely tragic story from the 1911 when a sweatshop at 29 Washinton Square New York City burned killing 146 garment workers 62 of them jumped to their death. A Very heavy subject matter for such young actors, but they pulled this off with class. The whole cast worked as a well oiled machine. Every single member of the cast had a very full understanding of the character they were playing, each character knew what they were actually doing as if they had used a sewing machine for hours and hours. Characters made very good use of accents and sounded like they had a very good understanding of the language they were emulating. Very very powerful and emotional acting. Every member of this cast blew my mind with their skills. Set design was obvious a very deliberate choice, arranging the set and chairs in a triangular position to represent The Triangle Company. Hair, make up and costuming worked perfectly, everything looked fitted well and set the time period perfectly. This production literally had me in tears at moments, I hope to see this production performed many, many more times.

Outstanding Production Awards

These school’s will be moving on to The Sears Drama Provincial Showcase held in North Bay!

Triangle - Westdale Secondary School (Hamilton-Wentworth)

Sunnyside Meadows – John McGregor Secondary School (Lambton-Kent)