Valleywide : 4 Schools Win Top Honors in Drama

Students at four San Fernando Valley schools captured several top honors at an amateur drama competition in Rancho Palos Verdes last weekend, returning with a total of 11 first-place awards.

Sponsored by the Drama Teachers Assn. of Southern California, the annual fall festival for sixth-, seventh-, eighth- and ninth-grade students followed a competition for sophomores, juniors and seniors held last month in El Monte.

Pacoima Middle School swept the middle school division, winning five first-place awards and the prestigious sweepstakes prize. Hale Middle School in Woodland Hills won first place in the dramatic category.

Misha Cummings, 12, who played Gwendolen in Pacoima’s 10-minute production of “The Importance of Being Earnest,” said she wasn’t rattled by having to perform in front of a crowd.

“I don’t really think of other people being there,” she said. “I just do it.”

In the festival’s second division, for eighth- and ninth-grade students, three first-place awards went to El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills and two to Cleveland High in Reseda.

Jacqueline C. Young, Hale’s drama teacher, said the festival offers aspiring performers an opportunity to witness a wide variety of material and acting styles.

“It’s a wonderful thing,” she said.

Saturday’s event drew 750 students from about two dozen Southern California schools. Valley finalists included Maclay, Porter, Reed, Sierra Canyon and Sutter.

First-place winners from both festivals are invited to perform Tuesday at Paramount Studios in Hollywood before an audience expected to include show-business agents and managers.

“I’m actually hoping I can pick up an agent there,” said 12-year-old Pacoima student Shontal Green.