Remarkable Port Chester High School Theatre Production Earns Awards

PORT CHESTER, NY — The jury is in: Port Chester High School's fall show will go down in history as an award-winning production.

From Port Chester-Rye Union Free School District.

Port Chester High School’s fall production of "12 Angry Jurors" and three students have been honored in the inaugural Eastern Student Artist Guild (ESAG) Awards, which celebrates the craft of acting at the high school level.

Seniors Nicholas Bedoya and Sebastian Gimenez received honorable mentions for Best Actors in a Drama category and junior Toni Ash earned Best Student Director. In addition, under the direction of theater director Christina Baurle, Port Chester High School earned awards for Best Drama and Best Ensemble in a Drama.

"It is nice to have an award ceremony focused on plays instead of only musicals because so many of our students are talented actors and deserve a chance to be celebrated," Baurle said. "This year’s fall production came with its own set of challenges for the actors, including having an audience on multiple sides of the stage only a foot away from them. Our students had to focus on projecting their voices and creating authentic characters with their speech and movements."

Baurle described Ash as instrumental in the success of the production, having served as the student director in all six shows that Baurle has directed at Port Chester High School. For the "12 Angry Jurors" play, Ash spent countless hours on character work with her peers to ensure they had a dramatic, realistic performance.

"Toni is such a strong leader and role model for our cast and crew," Baurle said. "She excelled at working with our actors on their character motivations and monologues and always provided her feedback and thoughts on the blocking and design of the show."

In the show, Bedoya had a challenging role of being the angriest of the jurors.

"He brought a ferocity and strength to his role as Juror #3, knowing when to powerfully present his monologues and when to begin to waver and give in," Baurle said. "He took direction well and strove to bring his best performance."

Gimenez had some of the longest monologues and lines of dialogue in the show as Juror #8.

"He brought a sincerity and passion to his performance and worked diligently to improve his performance throughout the rehearsal process," Baurle said.

The actors and production will be recognized for their achievements during a ceremony on May 4 at Manhattanville College. They will receive awards that include scholarships, master classes, waved tuition fees, trophies and certificates.