Liberty Christian’s Advanced Theatre students, “Encore,” were named Tournament Champions at the 20th annual Stone Gate Christian Academy Invitational Speech and Drama Tournament in Irving on Jan. 17–18.
“I am very proud of our students,” said Fine Arts Department Chair Misty Baptiste. “They are learning to work independently on many of their pieces on their own without the help of theatre teachers. They are taking what they have learned in the past and applying it to what they need to know in the present.
“Fellow theatre teacher Kirk Holland and I are so proud to see them succeed by implementing everything they have learned in their fine arts experiences at Liberty.”
At this tournament, students gained experience before judges and insight into their performances before their spring academic and speech competitions at the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools (TAPPS).
Individual awards for the top three places in the categories below were given to the following students:
Poetry – Students understand, experience, and share prose works through the art of oral interpretation.
Third place – Sarai Harding
Solo Acting – Students present a memorized selection and evaluate literary material through research and study, then translate their interpretations into performances.
Second place – Alex Peters
Third place – Sarai Harding
Duet Acting – As in solo acting, students present a memorized selection and evaluate literary material through research and study, then translate their interpretations into performances.
First place – Nathan Griffin and Cole Porter
Prose – As in poetry, students understand, experience, and share prose works through the art of oral interpretation.
First place – Sarai Harding
Second place – Nathan Griffin
Third place – Emily Lentz
Group Improvisation – Students demonstrate their spontaneous creativity in this five-minute contest. Skits have a beginning, middle, and conclusion and are ranked by judges for creativity, character and plot development, continuity, group dynamics, verbal and nonverbal expression, use of stage and blocking, and the inclusion of three randomly-drawn words or phrases that were given to students prior to the contest.
Second place – Jason Clemons, Nathan Griffin, Alex Peters, and Jack Ward
Vivian Nichols is part of the public relations team for Liberty Christian School.