PERRY, Ga. — A group of Perry High School students were the stars of the stage during the Southeastern Theatre Conference where they won the top award of Best Play.
They performed a play from New Zealand called The Bookbinder by Ralph McCubbin Howell. The plot follows a bookbinder as he tells the story of his apprentice; a boy who needed to find a lost page from a particularly magical tome, and found himself on a strange and mystical adventure.
"It's been months and months of hard work that actually paid off because there were times that this show felt really difficult. It pushed all of our boundaries and it actually paid off in the end," Senior Bitten Wood said.
Perry High School was one of the selected schools to represent Georgia at the Southeastern Theatre Conference. They went up against many high schools from around the region.
Wood has been acting at Perry High School since she was a sophomore. She has felt the joy of winning and the disappointment of losing at the Southeastern Theatre Conference in the past.
She says it felt good to now bring a win back to Central Georgia.
"Going in my first year and winning felt amazing, ridiculous, crazy, unbelievable, all of it and then we went my next year and we did not win. And that hurt. But then, we came this year and we were able to build ourselves back up and prove that we still have what it takes," she said.
The Bookbinder was originally a one-man show but Perry High School students were allowed to expand the show, with permission from the writer, and are one of the first high schools to perform it.
Junior Elijah Escamilla says he likes it when the ensemble performs together during the play.
"I love the ensemble, the sort of choral aspects. Like when we all speak together, it's really pretty from all the recordings I've heard...it always feels like we're together as one...we all have a likeminded goal and that's to tell our story," he said.
Escamilla says it feels amazing to win and he's proud to do it with his castmates.
"Everyone is in it you know not just to win it but to have a good time and to put on a good show for the audience or even just to enjoy ourselves," he said.
The students also won the Judges Choice Awards for best sound design, best overall technical excellence and best puppetry.
Four Perry High School students were awarded as members of the All-Star Cast: Christian Kemp, Shrimpy Leary, Janie Marti, and Juliet Cruz.
Congratulations, Perry High School!