Awards continue for West Orange High School thespians

Photo Courtesy of WOSD
Pictured in the back row are Ben Pierre, left, and Shane Donagher; pictured in the front row are, from left, Delia Kravits, Abigail Rothstein and Amina Anekwe.

WEST ORANGE, NJ — The awards continue to roll in for students in the West Orange High School theater program following the virtual Speech and Theatre Association of New Jersey competition on Feb. 22.

Thirty-seven theater students from WOHS competed against students from across the state for awards in categories including dramatic and comedic monologues, best actor, best actress, improvisation, pairs, and senior scholarship. 

According to STANJ, it “is the voice of advocacy for the inclusion of speech and theater arts in the educational curricula. The association includes members from elementary, middle, high school, college and professional theater who are interested in acting, directing, forensics, musical theater and technical theater.”

WOHS senior Amina Anekwe won fourth place in contrasting monologues, freshman Abigail Rothstein won sixth place in contrasting monologues, senior Ben Pierre placed as a finalist in dramatic monologues, and juniors Delia Kravits and Shane Donagher placed as finalists in musical duets.

“I am really proud of everyone for following through and submitting their video performances. Students worked collaboratively to rehearse and submit everything on time,” WOHS theater teacher Wendy Mapes said. “Unfortunately, the STANJ competition pivoted to a virtual platform this year. In spite of our disappointment in not being able to compete in person, we were very excited to have a few theater students who placed as finalists and brought back some awards.”