By Evan Fleischer

   The Ponte Vedra High School drama department had a field day at the district competition on Dec. 11, rounding up four critics choices and 32 superior scores.  

   Students are scored by a panel of three judges with each judge giving an individual score from one to 30. PVHS senior, Lindsay Goldman, scored a perfect 30/30/30 on her directing scene from the play “Kissed the Girls and Made Them Cry,” earning a selection for critics’ choice. “I just remember hearing that I won critics’ choice and falling to the ground sobbing, screaming, and jumping for joy with the actors in my piece,” Goldman recalled. Goldman plans to pursue a career in directing by earning a BA in General Theater then an MFA in directing. With this in mind, Goldman was also awarded as one of four students to receive a $500 scholarship from the district, aiding her as she takes the next steps in her career.  

   Other notable critics’ choice pieces from PVHS include a scene from “Sweet Nothing in My Ear,” performed by Riley Burnham, Rigel Gruberg, Claira Williams, and Magdalene Mitsis. The scene incorporates an intense depiction of a deaf woman and her spouse arguing through sign language as it is translated into speech by two offstage voices. Original pantomime, “So Swole,” by Riley Burnham and Evan Fleischer and duet song, “Falling Into You,” from the musical “Bridges of Madison County” and performed by Johnny Warren and Samantha Lynch made up the other two picks. 

   PVHS junior, Riley Burnham, had a particularly successful day, being in three of the four critics’ choice pieces. Burnham reflects on the competition, “My experience at the event was very instructional…every judge there wants you to be the best person you can be.” 

   The PVHS theater department has a bright future ahead with a variety of young talent and two large-scale musical productions to finish the school year.