Oak Grove High School Theatre troupe wins MTA awards

PINE BELT, Miss. (WDAM) - Theatre students from Oak Grove High School are celebrating an impressive lineup of awards from the Mississippi Theatre Association Festival.

See more from Oak Grove High School Theatre

The annual competition was held in Tupelo over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend.

OGHS Theater Director Suzanne Allmon announced the awards on a Facebook post Sunday afternoon.

“These guys have worked really hard, and they have had some tough competition through all the levels that we’ve gone through, and to see them succeed is a great joy,” Allmon said.

This is her 27th year teaching theater. She said that through the years, the most rewarding part is seeing students come out of their shells and find their own personalities and talents through theater.

At the top of the list of awards OGHS won were the Peer Choice Award and 1st Runner-up Best Production. Other awards include the following:

Special Recognition for Makeup Design
All-Star Casts - Farrah Wild and Corey Trotter
Best Supporting Actor - Kaden Heusser
Technical Achievement Award - Jacob Allmon, Sakinah Abdul-Shakir, Jake Antinnes, Kaden Heusser and Jacey Robinson
All-Star Cast - Briseida Salas-Tena, Austin Smith, Jake Antinnes
Best Actor - Steffan Ardis
Individual Event Winners - Mason Lee, Conner Graham, Steffan Ardis, Lee Carey, Arya Shoja, Abbey Thomas, Austin Smith and Eli Martin
Ranking of Excellent (evaluation only) - Jacey Robinson, Brailee Eubanks

“It was insane,” said OGHS senior Kaden Heusser (Best Supporting Actor). “It’s like, you’ve been working towards this goal for forever, and you’re scared you’re not going to make it and then you do.”

Fellow senior Abbey Thomas said hearing her name called as an individual event winner was thrilling.

“I was elated,” she said. “I was so happy; it was one of the best feelings ever. It was just incredible.”

As the 1st runners up, OGHS qualified to compete at the 2023 Southeastern Theater Conference in March in Lexington, Ky.

They will have an encore performance of “A Breach in the Darkness” on February 24th at 7:00 PM. For ticket information, please visit oghsms.booktix.com or https://www.facebook.com/oakgrovehighschooltheatre/

Want more WDAM 7 news in your inbox? Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.