LOS ALAMITOS, CA — Last weekend, drama programs from hundreds of other high schools competed in the California State Thespian Festival.

Los Alamitos High School did exceptionally well, winning top places in several areas of the competition. Mrs. Castiglione and Mr. Barker, the Los Al drama teachers, were very proud of their students’ performances.

“We competed against 43 other schools, a total of 1100 students from throughout the state,” Mrs. Castiglione said.

Drama is split up into several subcategories, each with a different area of theater production. Some of these areas include monologues, songs, theater tech, costumes, and improvisation. Students are able to choose what area of theatrical element they perform in. 

“We also have students who applied for Thespian scholarships and won,” Mrs. Castiglione said.

The two students were Grace DeJongh, senior, and Brooke Singleton, junior.

“We also had students who were chosen to perform in a number of events that only occurred within the 72 hours that we were there,” Mrs. Castiglione shared. “Six students from our school were chosen to sing the opening number of the musical Moulin Rouge, and then four were also the California premiere of a high school version of the musical Prom. There were also numerous workshops that students took when they were there; keep in mind all of this took place in 2 and half days.”

The class received the following awards: 1st place in all in Improv, 1st place in RoFisk, 2nd place in Group Acting, 3rd place for Costume Design, Judge’s Choice award for Group Acting, 1st place in Cable Coiling for Theater Tech, 1st place in Button Sewing for Theater Tech.

The drama program received 15 superior ratings in total for all their performances.

“Every event that is performed gets ranked,” Mrs. Castiglione explained. “If you receive a superior that means you are qualified to go to nationals. They get to compete against thousands of other students from other schools at nationals.”

The national competition for drama is the International Thespian Festival on June 23rd held at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. 

“We also won the California state chapter select, meaning that out of 30 participating schools, we are the one school that will represent the entire state of California at the International Thespian Festival in June,” Mrs. Castiglione explained excitedly. “It would be the equivalent of a sports team winning CIF championships.” 

Landon Small, a senior, shared his pride in how well the whole program did at regionals.

“The competition was so much fun and I had a blast,” he said.

Small competed on the LosAl Live Improv team, the duet musical with fellow senior Sophie Luttig, and a solo musical.

“I am most proud of being able to participate and see my friends succeed,” Landon said. “I am also proud of performing in front of over 1000 people.”

As mentioned above, the LosAl Live team also competed and won 1st place of all competing high schools in the state.

“A lot of people think you can’t practice improv,” Mr. Barker said. “However, at the state festival, it was clear that Los Al Live’s practice each week paid off. I am very proud of the effort of our team and the dedication of the students to improve in improv continually. I couldn’t be more proud of them for being named [California] State Champions.” 

Overall, the drama program is very proud of what they achieved last week, and they look forward to doing exceptionally well at nationals during the summer.

Landon Small, when asked about giving any advice to future students, said, “The two things that I will say to future students is that you will meet people with who you will be friends for most of your life, and make sure to get involved and take it seriously!”