Advanced drama students compete in DTASC Fall Festival

By Logan Connors, Staff Writer|December 4, 2016

The group waits to hear the results of their performance. Archer's advanced drama class participated in the fall DTASC festival. Photo courtesy of Anika Ramlo '17.

The group waits to hear the results of their performance. Archer’s advanced drama class participated in the fall DTASC festival. Photo courtesy of Anika Ramlo ’17.

Advanced drama students, led by performing arts teacher Tracy Poverstein, participated in the DTASC [Drama Teachers Association of Southern California] theatre festival competition on Oct. 22. This year, Archer students performed two monologues and two group scenes.

Both group performances and senior Hollis Dohr made it to semi-finals, and Anika Ramlo ’17 qualified for finals, making it into the top ten students out of about 125 performers.

DTASC competitions take place in both the fall and spring, with the spring festival focused on William Shakespeare’s work and a more generalized fall festival. Archer has participated in both. High schoolers involved in drama all over the region congregate in large high schools in Southern California to perform.

The competition requires students to perform in four different rooms for judges, who grade their performances.

The large group comedy group performed “Skin Deep,” a satirical take on child beauty pageants, and the dramatic team used a play about a secular all-girls school that becomes the center of religious conflict, “The Truth About Christmas.” Both teams made it to semi-finals.

Juniors Jayla Brown, Regina Valitova and Noa Diamond and senior Harley Quinn Smith pose at the festival. These students participated in the large group drama and comedy sections. The teams qualified for the semi-finals. Photo courtesy of Ramlo.
Juniors Jayla Brown, Regina Valitova and Noa Diamond and senior Harley Quinn Smith pose at the festival. These students participated in the large group drama and comedy sections. The teams qualified for the semi-finals. Photo courtesy of Ramlo.

“This was my second year going to DTASC and I think the whole experience of preparing a scene and getting to compete against other high schoolers all from over the state was so much fun and a great opportunity for the drama queens to be able to work together to produce something we were really proud of,” Noa Diamond ’17 said.

Ramlo and Dohr performed in the individual monologue section, where students perform two of four monologues: classical, comedic, modern and dramatic.

“It’s important to not rely on others’ validation,” Ramlo said. “I think no matter how far we all would’ve gotten, even though we all got really far, it was important that we all were proud of our own performances — because by the end of the day, even if we didn’t get a trophy, I still was excited by how I performed.”

“When you come off stage and you know that you kicked ass and did a really good job — you made people laugh, or people were dead silent during your drama and you knew you had them in the palm of your hand — that’s just the best feeling,” Ramlo said.