Review: Cappies Gala Fosters DC Area Students' Theater Talent

By Hannah Frieden from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology—Winner of the Cappies' 2023 Bill Strauss Graduating Critic Award

From NYC to NOVA, thespians young and old gathered on Monday, June 12, 2023, to celebrate high school theater at the 23rd annual NCA Cappies Gala. For some, the gala was a chance to connect with theater enthusiasts from other high schools and to enjoy an evening full of captivating performances. For others, it was a life-changing opportunity to present their passion on DC’s largest stage. This message of encouragement and support for budding thespians through the honoring of accomplishments in high school theater lies at the heart of the Cappies Program.

“Who knows what you might spark in somebody else,” explains NCA Cappies Program Director Glenda Miesner, “whatever that spark is, that might change their life.”

It’s a sentiment that rings true for actor Jade Jones, who emceed this year’s Gala. Now a performer in New York City, Jones started in the NCA Cappies, winning Best Featured Performer in a Musical for The Wiz! at Westfield High School before going on to perform in an internationally acclaimed rendition of Beauty and the Beast at Olney Theatre. “I didn’t really know what I wanted to do before I started doing theater in high school,” Jones recalled, “[but] once I got into my groove it was like, ‘ok, this is it’.” Jones credits the NCA Cappies program with fostering the love of the theatrical arts and attributes the passion for performance to Westfield’s avid participation in every aspect of Cappies.

This year, students at Lake Braddock Secondary School got to experience this dream for themselves, performing a scene from their production of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which received a department record-breaking 13 Cappies nominations. One of their program’s many wins was in the category of Best Ensemble in a Play, for their portrayal of the Transylvanians, vampiric specters that haunt the show’s protagonist, Jonathan Harker. During dress rehearsals for the Gala, ensemble member Aidan Chomicki and hair and makeup designer Emily Brennan discussed the team effort which went into the scene Gala attendees would see, a nightmarish flashback to Harker’s traumatic experiences at Count Dracula’s castle.

“It’s a culmination of so much cooperation between everybody,” explained Chomicki, “we had to work together every single rehearsal, every single day, to get [the scenes] done. Most of the choreography that we have is us creating different shapes or moving [Harker] through us in different ways, so we all had to move as one organism to push [Harker] around … it took a lot of work to try and get all our minds into one.”

“We airbrushed 15 people and used gray contour [to create] an almost glass-like look,” Brennan elaborates, “and with choreography, [we] wanted to elongate the limbs…one way I was able to achieve that was by giving each person in the ensemble a set of long, stiletto, claw-like nails to allow them to elongate their fingers while dancing and add another creepy effect.” In addition to the eerie, unified movement of the actors, the intricate hair and makeup elevated the ghastly ensemble and secured another win, this time for Best Hair and Makeup Design.

Lake Braddock junior Alex Perry, whose heart wrenching performance as Jonathan Harker earned him a nomination for Lead Actor in a Male Role in a Play, spoke to the personal significance the night’s performance, and his nomination, held for him. “This is by far the biggest audience I’ll ever have,” he reflects, “So many people are watching this, and it just leads to a lot of opportunities. You never know what could happen…Being a Cappie nominee means so much because it’s decided by people like you, who are just as into [high school theater].”

Perry’s spectacular portrayal of Harker, aided by the phenomenal Transylvanian ensemble, was at the helm of Lake Braddock’s production of Dracula. The hard work and creative determination of Lake Braddock’s theater department was rewarded with one of the Cappies’ biggest awards, Best Play. When asked about his motivation for being a stage actor, Perry shared a reason which perfectly conveyed the importance of the Cappies program.

Through all the adrenaline and excitement that the night held for Dracula, he added, “There’s just something so unique about theater and the ability to invest fully into something with other people, simply to entertain and have other people feel strong emotions.”