Monticello High Drama dominates at state meet

With an incredible sweep of first place in nearly every single event, the Monticello High School drama department excelled at the 1A State Drama meet, held March 28 and 29 in Pleasant Grove.
Monticello thespians took home the top honors in six of the seven events and every one of the eleven team members advanced into the medals round in their events. Eight of the students finished in first place and Ryan Lewis was the state champion in four separate events.
While twelve 1A schools participated in the meet, Monticello dominated nearly every event.
The drama troop includes Ryan Lewis, Dani Black, Coral Delorenzis, Maron Freestone, Alexis Bailey, Dalton Adams, Marah Long, Carter Francom, Hyrum Vess, Lay Petersen, and Emma Wheeler.
They are under the direction of Paige Freestone, with assistance by Lynda Boyle, Cheryl Wheeler and Aaron Petersen.
The winner of the one-act play competition was “Wanted: One Groom” featuring Ryan Lewis, Alexis Bailey, Coral Delorenzis, Carter Francom, and Dani Black.  The play was directed by Lynda Boyle
This is the second year in a row Monticello won this title, and the third win in the past four years.  The cast also received the “Best Ensemble” award.
Ryan Lewis was named “Best Actor” out of all the schools.  This is the 3rd year in a row that MHS received this prestigious award.  
Monticello students also dominated in the individual events, which were under the direction of Paige Freestone and Cheryl Wheeler.
In Classical Scenes, first place went to Alexis Bailey and Maron Freestone for their piece from “Lady Windermere’s Fan.”
In Contemporary Scenes, first place went to Ryan Lewis and Coral Delorenzis for a scene from “Singing in the Rain.”  They are now two-time state champions in this division since they won the category last year as well.
Fourth place in Contemporary Scenes was awarded to Lay Petersen and Emma Wheeler for their scene from “Anne of Green Gables”.
Winning the Humorous Monologue competition is Hyrum Vess, for a hilarious scene that he wrote entitled “the Good Ole Days.”  This is his first year competing at state. 
Carter Francom took fifth place with his written piece, “The Brave Little Lamb.”
Marah Long was first place in Dramatic Monologue for a scene “Shelby” from Steel Magnolias wherein she played a grieving mom.  Her intensity and superior acting received a perfect score from all the judges. 
Dalton Adams was sixth with his original adaptation of his childhood.  This gripping tale showed his vast improvement in his acting skills this year.
In the Pantomime category, the actors cannot speak and must show the scene with only their bodies. Monticello actors won four of the five top awards.
First place was awarded to Dani Black and Ryan Lewis for “The Perfect Puppet.”  Ryan played puppet master while Dani showed amazing dance moves and played the puppet on the strings. 
With four first place finishes, this scene topped off Ryan Lewis as the most decorated drama student Monticello has seen. He is only a Junior.
Winning third place were Emma Wheeler and Lay Petersen for “Escaping my Reflection.”  They were perfectly in sync as they mirrored all their movements. 
Dalton Adams and Hyrum Vess finished fourth in their adorable pantomime “Minions: Operation Banana.”  They choreographed the piece with the help of Aaron Petersen.  
Finishing in fifth place is Alexis Bailey for her original piece called “One Woman Band.”  She played multiple invisible instruments and her immense skills in music made her performance very believable.  
The last category, Musical Theater, is the most coveted category that had 32 entries this year. The contestants had to prepare a song from a Broadway show.”
It was the only event in the meet that Monticello did not win, even though MHS performers claimed three of the top five finishes.
Third place went to Maron Freestone for her beautiful song “With You” from Ghost, that had the audience in tears. 
Marah Long earned fourth place, singing “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Misérables. 
Finishing in fifth place is Carter Francom for “You’ll Be Back” from Hamilton.  He played up the part of King George and had everyone laughing.
Coral Delorenzis belted her amazing voice with an amazing rendition of “Beautiful Little Fool” from Great Gatsby. 
With scoring that rewards participation more than performance, Monticello finished second in the sweepstakes competition. 
Coach Paige Freestone said, “The tabulation judges stated that the scores Monticello pulled in were the highest they had seen such a small group of students. 
“We did not just have one or two shining stars, they all were rated at the top of their genres.”
The state competition closes the year for the drama department, which presented White Christmas to close the fall semester. It was also under the direction of Paige Freestone.