Theatre productions staged by our talented Upper School students were honored with a bounty of regional awards.

The AFS spring 2018  production of “The Diary of Anne Frank” won the Best Play award, along with six other wins in both technical and performance categories at the Cappies Awards. The Cappies’ program honors the best in national high school theatre production and dramatic criticism.  Here’s the full list of honors:

Sound Design in a Play or Musical: Sydney Smith ’18
Lighting Design in a Play or Musical: Ben Goldstone ’20
Properties Design: Seri Fleming and Kat Odoms ’18
Supporting Actor in a Play: Michael Carpenter ’18
Lead Actor in a Play: Jack Sutherland ’18
Lead Actress in a Play: Kaiya Case ’18
Best Play: Abington Friends School

The AFS fall 2018 musical, “Peter and the Starcatcher,” also garnered two honors in the Independence Awards program. Seri Fleming and Kat Odoms won the award for best stage management and Michael Carpenter was awarded the $1,000 “Broadway Dreams Scholarship,” which also carries an opportunity to study with Broadway performers and educators in a weeklong intensive program this summer.

Arts Department Chair Megan Bellwoar Hollinger and Seth Schmitt-Hall, Technical Theatre Director, guided the student-led productions. Megan said she was “so thrilled for our kids! We make theatre for its own sake at AFS — for the way it makes us smarter and more compassionate, for the way it brings the community together and for the friendships we create in the process. Acknowledgment of that work from the outside community is all the sweeter, then, because it means our efforts matter and our art has made a big impact.”

Inquirer Fine Arts Writer John Timpane captured the excitement of the regional awards in his article titled, “Abington Friends, Plymouth-Whitemarsh top winners in high-school theater awards.