Catholic thespians star at state theater festival

Friday, May. 02, 2025

LAKE CITY — Students at Utah’s three Catholic high schools took home numerous awards from the state theater festival last month. 

At the 2A competition April 9-11 at Parowan High School, St. Joseph Catholic High School ninth-graders Ariella Fiederer and Shiloh West were both named Best Actress in a One-Act Play for their performances in “Drowning in Air.” 

The play itself, written by SJCHS theater teacher Jennifer Hughes about hyperventilation syndrome, received a superior ranking.

Shiloh played the younger version of a character named Evie; it was her first acting role.

“I was really proud of myself for even getting that role and then going on to win that award,” she said. “It was quite an experience; it was really fun. It was a little bit challenging because I’m playing this kind of a hard role, because it’s a really emotional role, but I’m glad that I was able to kind of do it justice.”

Ariella, who played the older Evie, acted in a couple of musical theater plays last year, but this has been her first year competing, she said. 

“It was amazing – me a ninth grader, getting a lead in the competition, especially that my director wrote, and I adore and look up to her so much,” she said. “So it was really great that I won, not just for my work, but also for the help that she put into it.”

Both girls hope to continue acting at St. Joseph’s.

At the state competition, superior medal winners from SJCHS were Mac Wandrey and Sophia Fendrick: Romeo & Juliet (Classical Scene); Sophia Brown and Clara Goñi Beneke: Julius Caesar (Classical Scene); Shiloh West: American Midget (Humorous Monologue); Julia Durbano: Rabbit Hole (Humorous Monologue); Ari Fiederer: Gruesome Playground Injuries (Dramatic Monologue); Celeste Carrillo and Gena Braunhausen: Marvin’s Room (Contemporary Scene); Sophia Brown, Sophia Fendrick and Clara Goñi Beneke: At the Ballet (Musical Theatre). 

“They did great; they represented our school just brilliantly,” Hughes said. “I was really proud of everybody.”

This year, 17 Jayhawks competed at the state event, where they historically have an impressive showing, Hughes added. “We have kids always in the top tier of every event.” 

St. Joseph students were also nominated as finalists for the Utah High School Musical Theatre Awards, which took place April 12 at the Eccles Theatre in Salt Lake City. Clara Goñi Beneke was nominated for Best Featured Performer for her roles of Doctor/Reggie/Dancer in the musical “Matilda,” which was also nominated for Best Lighting Design. Faculty member Daniel Pack was the lighting designer; he was assisted by student Logan Meier. 

At the regional competition, in Classical Scenes, Mac Wandrey and Sophia Fendrick received first place for their portrayal of Romeo and Juliet, and St. Joseph took third place for its one-act play.

For the second year in a row, Juan Diego Catholic High School hosted the state 3A division theater festival, which was also held April 11-12.

“It does take a lot of work and a lot of moving parts because we do have a lot of events on our campus, but luckily we work well as a team,” said Sophia Davis, JDCHS’ director of theatre education.

In the competition, Matthew Mayberry took second for his set design of a scene from “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

“It was on a rotating stage so you could see the interior of the court and also the exterior things that happened, so it was pretty neat how he did it,” Davis said.

Twenty-six JDCHS students received superior medals in classic scenes, contemporary scenes, musical theater, pantomime, dramatic, monologues and humorous monologues. JDCHS finished seventh out of 16 participating schools.

At region Matthew Mayberry also took second for his set design and Cherylee Cordell and Andrew Yavelak took third for their musical theater piece from the Broadway musical “Tick Tick Boom.”

“We had what’s called a full slate,” Davis said. “I had somebody competing in every single slot from humorous monologue, dramatic monologue, contemporary scenes, musical theater scene, pantomime – and they just did so well. I was very proud of everybody for just stepping in and trying something new or putting in the work to do this.”

At the state festival, several Judge Memorial Catholic High School students also received medals: in Humorous Monologues – Sarah Banecker, Nena Nystrom; in Dramatic Monologues – Theresa Jenny; in Pantomime – Caroline Woodbury; in Musical Theatre - Morgan Schmutz and in Classical Scenes – Caroline Woodbury, Gabriel Thompson and Kinsley Fronk. They also made it to the medals round, which is made up of the top seven schools in state 3A competition. 

In the Region 14 Theatre Competition, Woodbury, Thompson and Fronk took second overall in Classical Scenes. Judge Memorial CHS was named third overall and received the Most Creative Staging award for its one-act play.