2022: Treasure Island
NORTH THEATRE RECEIVES TOP STATE HONORS FOR 24th CONSECUTIVE YEAR!!
At the Wisconsin Interscholastic Theatre Festival state finals held Nov. 17-19, 2022, at UW-Whitewater, the “Treasure Island” cast and crew of 42 thespians and technicians swept all award categories! In addition to the prestigious Critic’s Choice award for overall excellence, North was awarded an Outstanding Ensemble Acting Award, an Outstanding Technical Theatre Award, and a Director’s Award. Two students received Outstanding Individual Acting Awards: Sunny March-Tormé (as Jim Hawkins) and Talia Roselaar (as the Parrot).
At the state competition, North one-act productions have received the top award of Critic’s Choice every year for the past twenty-four consecutive years, the only high school in the 100+ year history of the Wisconsin High School Theatre Festival to achieve such a distinction.
More than 1800 high school students participated in this year’s festival, which required each school to present for evaluation a fully-staged play of no longer than 40 minutes. Less than half of the competing high schools qualified for state this year after having competed in both district and sectional meets held in October and early November. Each qualifying school then performed for a panel of four judges during the two-day festival that adjudicates the performance and decides on the quality of the production and what honors, if any, should be awarded.
Tony Award-winning playwright Mary Zimmerman’s adaptation of the classic novel “Treasure Island” by Robert Louis Stevenson tells the coming of age story of young Jim Hawkins, who is swept up with Long John Silver and his crew of dastardly cutthroat pirates as they head out to find buried treasure aboard the ship, the Hispaniola. Abstract theatrical staging, live sound effects, an original musical score, ensemble techniques (and a parrot) are used to enhance this iconic swashbuckling tale of action and adventure.
North Theatre Director Ron Parker stated, ”Mary Zimmerman brings to this beloved archetypal tale of pirates and adventure her usual brilliant mix of ingenious stagecraft, song, humor, and engaging theatricality. Her adaptation is a testament to the transformational power of the stage: a wooden platform becomes a sitting room, a stockade, an island and the rocking deck of a ship at sea. ‘Treasure Island’ is a story that is both epic and intimate, hilarious and harrowing.”
Visit this site’s One-Act tab for links to past productions.
