The seventh annual Independent School Theater Festival (ISTF) was held on November 3rd in the Pingree Theater on the Christ School campus. Participants included Becky Stone and her students from Veritas Academy and their production, “Scenes from The Tempest”; David Dvoscak and the Carolina Day students presenting David Mamet’s The Duck Variations; and Owen High School’s Lyn Nihart and students presenting two separate performance works, The Women of Lockerbie and Miss You, Wanda’s Visit, and Post-Its (Notes on a Marriage) by David Auburn, Christopher Durang, Paul Dooley and Winnie Holzman. Christ School director Mary Dillon and her students presented Act One of their Fall musical, The Fantasticks. Winning the Best Ensemble Performance award was Carolina Day School. The Best Actress award was given to Christina Maxwell for her performance of Luisa in The Fantasticks. Christ School senior Richard Walden Mull won Best Actor for his performance of “El Gallo.” The Fantasticks was named the Best Play in the festival.
The ISTF was begun in 2003 as a collaboration between Carolina Day school theater teacher Sue Ellen Sims and Christ School’s Mary Dillon. Also in participation that first year were Veritas Academy and Asheville School. The festival continues to provide the opportunity for theater teachers and students to share and learn from each other’s work, in addition to receiving instructive feedback from the judges. This year’s adjudicators were Graham Paul, Chair of the Warren Wilson Theater Department and Lauren Kriel, a Warren Wilson graduate and intern at the North Carolina Stage Company professional theater located in downtown Asheville.
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| Christ School director Mary Dillon and her students presented Act One of their Fall musical, The Fantasticks. | The Best Actress award was given to Christina Maxwell for her performance of Luisa in The Fantasticks. |
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| Christ School senior Richard Walden Mull won Best Actor for his performance of “El Gallo.” | Christ School senior George Wolfram in the role of the comical Henry. |
See more photographs from the fall production of The Fantasticks in the Media Gallery.
