Performing a comedy about a gay college student who comes out to his parents during a Thanksgiving dinner, several T.C. Williams High School drama students won third place at the Patriot District One-Act Festival Competition held Jan. 30 at South County High School. Judges were wowed by their interpretation of “Jimmy the Antichrist,” a comedy by Keith Powell, and students tied for second place with Lake Braddock Secondary School.
“The problem is that you can’t have a tie,” said Leslie Jones, a drama teacher at T.C. Williams. “So they had to perform again to do a tie breaker.”
Unfortunately, after the tie-breaking showdown, the T.C. Williams students were knocked to third place. But if students from first-place West Springfield High School or second-place Lake Braddock Secondary School are unable to perform in the regional competition, T.C. students will bring “Jimmy the Antichrist” to the regional competition.
“I am extremely proud of all these students,” said Jones. “They worked really hard, and winning these awards recognized that.”
Morgan Grady was voted by the judges as the best actor to perform at the competition. Maggie Rosenblatt and Alina Collins received All Star Awards for being among the top 12 actors picked by the theatre directors who were present. Rosenblatt, Collins and Grady received three out of the five top awards given to the actors by the judges. Other participating students included actors Biana Lipford, Agatha Aramayo and Anil Kenkeremath and Student Director Beth Wherry.
“We got all these awards, and that’s nice,” said Jones. “But we have a musical to do.”
This spring, T.C. Williams will be performing “Little Shop of Horrors” on April 12 to April 14, and Jones said that the Drama Department is already deeply involved in putting the show together.