Tioga's thought-provoking One Act Play 'Biedermann und Die Brandstifter' is taking the show on the road to state.
The cast and crew took to the stage in their high school on Monday evening to perform for their family, friends and educators, and their director Haley Hertel took the opportunity to tell the community about the students' achievements.
'Really quickly, I want to run through the awards,' she said. 'It's actually not fast, because we got a lot.'
At district, Gabriela Cuellar was outstanding technician; the crew of Mackenzie Lewter, Isabella Lewter, Gabriela Cuellar, Jimmy Hendricks, Stephanie Ngene, Allie Hammer and Francheska Perez took overall best tech crew; Lacie Gray earned honorable mention; Kooper Vandagriff was named all star cast and Kallin Henderson was the best male performer.
At the Bi-District round, Mackenzie Lewter took outstanding technician, the crew again won best overall tech crew, Gray and Vandagriff got honorable mention, and Henderson and Marcello Torres were named all star cast.
At area, Isabella took all star crew, Henderson and Kendal Kearns earned honorable mention, Gray took all star cast and Vandagriff was the best male performer.
At regionals, Cuellar again was named outstanding technician; Henderson brought home honorable mention; Torres was joined on the all star cast list by The Chorus— Cooper Fisher, Graci Whisenant, Amelia Strittmatter, Gavyn Redfearn, Lena Koiner and Chloe Neal; and Gray earned best female performer.
'That does not happen,' Hertel said. 'I don't know if you noticed three different performers got best performer. Usually it's one person just kind of all the way through, and I think that's a huge testament to the fact that we're a really solid group right now.'
She thanked the community and especially the Tioga ISD administrators and other staff members for their support.
'This year has been mind-boggling, and you would think after last year, we kind of messed it up a little by being disqualified in Round One, that that support would have slipped and the belief would have slipped a little,' she said. 'But I think everyone came back and believed in us even more, and so we would not be here without those people.'
After the performance, Superintendent Josh Ballinger said having faith in Hertel, Shelton and their students was never a question.
'We have to be a team in Tioga, so that's the ultimate example of that—our One Act Play, led by Haley,' he said.
Also during her pre-show speech, Hertel drew the crowd's attention to her fellow director, Cynthia Shelton, who was standing at the back, giving her credit for all things fabric in the show as well as for the way she bolstered the group from the start.
'If you ever need a cheerleader, it's Cindy Shelton,' Hertel said.
That cheerleader came to the front to highlight Hertel.
'She has poured her blood, sweat and tears into these children day and night, over and over and over again, and they have reciprocated it back, and that is why we are where we are today, because of them and because of her,' Shelton said.
Hertel showed her pride in her cast and crew, which includes eight seniors.
'There are 21 of the best people in the world on this stage right now,' Hertel said before the performance.
Those performers and tech crew poured their heart onto the stage Monday night.
'No matter what happens next week and a day when we are performing at state in Austin as one of the top eight schools in 2A, we have won,' Hertel said to the crowd.
To purchase tickets to watch Tioga compete during Session 2 on Tuesday at state in Austin, go to bit. ly/3OQDsEx.
