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Ryan Doerr

Play writes, Eleanor Alger and Genevieve Cowardin get into character before performance.

The HHS Stage Streaks have placed first at the 4A West VHSL conference for two consecutive years. “That Was Then”, a student-written one act musical, has come back from the Virginia Theatre Association conference in Norfolk, Virginia, and the cast has made all the changes they believe are necessary for the show’s success in competition this year.

“[The story] resonates with people, it touches them. The fact that it’s a true story and a universal theme that’s very important today makes me confident that we’ll do well,” Assistant director Susan Comfort said of the show’s chances.

In 2013, “Pieces,” the Stage Streak’s last original one act, placed second at the conference level, and eventually placed third in the state. In 2014, with “The Beggar’s Opera,” the show placed first at the conference, regional and state levels. In 2015, “The Insanity of Mary Girard” placed first at the conference and regional levels and second in the state. The Stage Streaks have successfully placed on the state level for five of the past seven years, and this year they hope to make it eight.

“It was a lot of fun watching the shows last year, since we hosted districts. Winning felt really good, and I hope we can do that again this year,” senior Andrew Ansah said of last year’s conference.

The VHSL one act competition follows a unique judging process. All shows must be 35 minutes or less, and the top two schools from the conference level advance to regionals. There are four judges, all of whom rank each show by place and on a 1-100 scale. The ranks from each judge are added, and the summation of rankings determines final places (for example, a school ranked by all four judges as first would have a score of 4). If there are tied scores, the final places fall to the 1-100 rank.

Genevieve Cowardin, a four-year member of the one act cast and co-writer of this year’s show, knows the judging process on a fundamental level.

“It’s difficult to judge theatre because people come from a whole bunch of different backgrounds, so when you look at a show you’re not going to view it the same as other people. It’s all very subjective. I think we’ve included a lot of elements that have done well [with the judges] in the past, like using a dancer and abstract elements. Those tend to go over well, but it all depends on what judges we get this year,” Cowardin said.

Last year, the Stage Streaks were district hosts of the competition. Today they will be traveling to Woodgrove High School in Loudoun County to compete against John Handley, Woodgrove and Sherando. James Wood and Millbrook, the two other high schools in the 21B conference, have dropped out of this year’s competition.

Results:

 The cast and crew of “That Was Then” placed first out of four schools with a unanimous judge’s vote and a superior rating. The cast was awarded with the following three acting awards:

Ben Hollenbeck: 4th place Best Actor

Kate Cummings: 3rd place Best Actress

Noelle Warne: 1st place Best Actress

“That Was Then” will be competing at regionals on November 19 at Charlottesville High School in Charlottesville.