Contact: Sammy McDavid
Ten student thespian groups should be in high form next week when the 33rd Annual North Mississippi High School Drama Festival begins at Mississippi State University.
Sponsored on campus for the 29th year by the communication department, the productions will be staged in the McComas Hall theater during the afternoon and evening of Oct. 31st (Friday) and the morning of Nov. 1st (Saturday).
Interested members of the general public are invited to attend any or all performances.
Schools represented include Coldwater High School, Corinth High School, Jackson Preparatory School, Meridian High School, Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science in Columbus, Olive Branch High School, Shannon High School, Starkville High School, Tupelo High School, and Washington High School in Greenville.
"Though three of the schools go on to the state festival, these performances never have been treated as 'competitions,'" said Dominic J. Cunetto, communication professor emeritus and founder of the state high school drama festival. "Instead, we always have stressed learning and creativity, and the schools are encouraged to choose their scripts accordingly."
Each play receives a certificate rating the performance as superior, excellent, good, or honorable mention, he explained. The three judges will select an all-star cast and awards also may be given for outstanding direction, overall merit and technical achievement.
Cunetto said the festival schedule demands significant commitments of time and effort by the young actors and actresses. In addition to dramatic skills, the students must bring to the performances their own furniture, stage and hand props, costumes, and other accessories.
"Each group has a maximum of 60 minutes for set-up, performance, strike, and critique," he said. The rigorous schedule is required under Southeastern Theater Conference rules that the Mississippi Theater Association observes.
Three schools will be selected for the Jan. 16-18 state drama festival being held on the Gulf Coast in conjunction with the annual MTA convention. The Jeff Davis Campus of Gulf Coast Community College is serving as this year's convention host.
One from the state festival then will represent Mississippi in March at Birmingham, Ala., for the Southern Theater Conference's 1998 convention.
North Mississippi festival performances include:
--1 p.m., Oct. 31, Washington High, "Pirates of Penzance"; Sonya Bixler, director.
--2 p.m., Starkville High, "Amelia Earhart"; Donna Wright, director.
--3 p.m., Corinth High, "Mirrors"; Myra Byrnes, director.
--4 p.m., Shannon High, "A Friend Like Artie"; Faye Saxon, director.
--(Two-hour dinner break)
--7 p.m., Olive Branch High, "Domestic Violence"; Carol McRae, director.
--8 p.m., Tupelo High, "A Playwright's Dilemma"; Debbie Gibbs, director.
--9 p.m., MSMS, "I Know I Saw Gypsies"; Claudia Carter, director.
--8 a.m., Nov. 1, Coldwater High, "Last Chance"; Sharon Morgan, director.
--9 a.m., Meridian High, "PED Xing (Pedestrian Crossing)"; Elliott Street, director.
--10 a.m., Jackson Prep, "The Dancers"; Francine Thomas, director.
--Noon (approximately), awards presentations.
For additional information on the festival, telephone the communication department at (601) 325-3320.