Cast of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ chosen to perform at ITS

When director Sarah Thermond submitted a snippet from the 2015 fall play “Pride and Prejudice” to the California Play Marathon Contest last December, she wasn’t sure whether they had a chance of being selected. So, when she learned three months later that the play had been one of three performances chosen, she said she was beyond “thrilled.”

The cast is now guaranteed a half-hour performance of the play at Upland High School in Southern California on April 1. The performance is one of the main events of the International Thespian Society (ITS).

“We sort of unofficially judge how well we’ve done each year by whether or not any of our students got to perform or receive an award on the mainstage,” Thermond said. “So the fact that we are guaranteed a half-hour performance [on the mainstage] before is a really exciting prospect.”

This is also the first time during Thermond’s tenure that the school has received this honor.

Although this contest is one of the events at the state conference the drama department attends every year, it is different from other competitions in that the drama department must apply for it beforehand.

“The competition is for a one-act play, which basically means it has to be under 30 minutes,” Thermond said. “Because the entries can get pretty long, we send in DVD submissions to each of the three judges.”

The judges then compare notes and choose three pieces to perform on the mainstage of the festival, an audience of roughly 1,000 people. “We feel honored, naturally,” junior Lea Moustakas said. “Now, it’s just a matter of getting back into our British accents after rehearsing with New York accents for ‘Guys and Dolls’ for so long.”

In the meantime, the drama department is continuing to prepare for its upcoming spring musical “Guys and Dolls,” which is set to perform in late April. 

The production appears to be in good shape: The cast has learned all the music for the show, with the exception of some tricky harmonies in two or three songs, and has now started costume fittings, according to Thermond.

“We’ve staged all the scenes and we’ve finished choreography. Now, it’s just a matter of putting it all together and getting confident, as well as adding tech,” Thermond said.

Tech week begins April 15, and the show will be performed April 22 and 23 at 7:30 pm, April 24 at 2 pm, and April 29 and 30 at 7:30 pm.