Exeter High Schoolers Win New Hampshire Theatre Awards

Press release from EHS:

April 18, 2022

As the curtain closed on theatre season, Exeter High School’s (EHS) drama club won four awards at the New Hampshire Educational Theatre Guild (NHETG) state drama festival. On April 1 and 2, the cast and crew of Eurydice performed an encore of their fall musical live for judges and peers around the state before being presented with Best Performance, Best Ensemble, Original Music Composition and All-Star Company awards.

“Not only did our students present a stunning piece of theatre, but they brought energy, focus, and kindness everywhere they went throughout the festival and the entire experience is a testament to resilience of our students,” said Joel Iwaskiewicz, EHS theatre director and English teacher. “They’ve missed connecting with each other in this way for years. When they had the chance to come back and do it again, they did so whole heartedly. All our students represented the Exeter High School community beautifully in every way, and for that, I am exceedingly grateful and so very proud. It was both humbling and thrilling that our cast and crew were honored with four awards.”

As the first in-person drama festival since 2019, the NHETG hosted two, two-day state festivals, in New Durham and Derry, with 14 high schools in attendance. EHS was one of eight schools to participate at the festival at Pinkerton Academy in Derry performing Eurydice. Eurydice is a play by Sarah Ruhl that puts a fresh spin on the classic Greek myth of doomed lovers Orpheus and Eurydice as they attempt to escape the underworld together. The 15-person cast and crew revived the show, which was first performed last fall after a two-year live theatre hiatus, for a re-staged version at the state festival.

“This production is easily one of the finest I've seen in many years of adjudicating this festival,” said Kevin Gardner, the festival's most experienced adjudicator, theatre artist and educator who has judged the NHETG festival for decades. “It was superior in every way, from conception and staging to design, execution and impact."

NHETG supports, promotes and celebrates the dramatic arts at the high school level in the Granite State through hosting of theatre festivals, student conferences and teacher professional development workshops.

The festival culminated with an awards ceremony and EHS walked away with four recognitions. Best Ensemble was won by the nine actor Stone Chorus. Two EHS seniors, guitarist Shea Hagan and vocalist Isabella Balfour, both of Exeter, were honored for their Original Music Composition. Balfour earned two other awards including the All-Star Company recognition for her role as "Orpheus" and the Robert A. Stuart Award for Best Performance at the festival.

The drama club is comprised of students in all four grades from the high school. The full cast and crew of Eurydice includes Seniors Maddy Cooper, from Brentwood, as Eurydice; Bella Balfour, from Exeter, as Orpheus; Shea Hagan, from Exeter, as Orpheus' music, Anais Bator, from Stratham, as Eurydice's father and India Siecke, from Exeter, as the Nasty, Interesting Man/Lord of the Underworld. Members of the Stone Chorus include seniors, Sophia Hutcheson, of Newfields and Cali-Skyy McNeil, of Brentwood; juniors Weston Bullens, Jack Curtis and Carly Hagan, of Exeter; sophomores Leanne Drown, of East Kingston, and Esme' King-Farbstein, of Exeter; and freshmen Amelia Buckley and Felix Sloss of Exeter.

The EHS drama club performed a spring musical Into the Woods, the classic Broadway musical from the late, legendary Stephen Sondheim and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright James Lapine, at the end of March however; the trip to the NHETG state drama festival marked the drama club’s final performance this school year and the end of theatre season.

Exeter High School is home to 1,600 students in grades nine through 12 from the towns of Exeter, Brentwood, East Kingston, Stratham, Kensington and Newfields.

This press release was produced by EHS. The views expressed here are the author's own.