CCHS Senior Ginger Anderson-Willis took home first place in the “Trailer” category
70 Culver City High School students from the Academy of Visual and Performing Arts’ Theater Performance and Technical Theater programs recently attended the annual California Educational Theatre Association (CETA) workshop in Rancho Cucamonga. The festival is dedicated to high school theater arts, with plays from schools across greater Los Angeles competing for regional awards.
During the weekend-long festival, attendees had access to workshops led by industry professionals, as well as a scene competition; there were also BIPOC student and educator spaces, plus scholarship opportunities. Four MainStage plays were ultimately chosen from each region for showings at the end of the three-day event.
CCHS Senior Ginger Anderson-Willis earned first place in the “Trailer” category at this year’s CETA with her minute-long showcase of AVPA’s Fall 2022 production of CLUE – making it her second award win at CETA in as many years, after she came away with second place last year for her Yellow Face trailer. Her accomplishment was made all the more impressive considering that she spent three years studying theater at AVPA before transitioning to Film in her senior year – culminating in her success at this year’s CETA, together with a $300 scholarship prize.
Awards aside, Ginger said the best is “to experience theatre so intensively for three days.”
Senior Millie Reed, in AVPA Technical Theater, has a passion for stage lighting. She got the most out of attending the career workshop and meeting professionals in the lighting industry. “We got to see some really awesome industry standard lighting consoles.”
it’s no wonder a career in technical theater is on Millie’s mind. After graduating from CCHS, she will be doing a three-year paid apprenticeship in technical theatre and event production in Cologne (Köln), Germany, at the largest public theatre, Schauspiel Köln.
The highlights for Senior AVPA Theater Performance student Jones Hodar included “watching so many incredible shows from other high schools around Southern California.”
“I attended as a freshman and now as a senior,” said Jones, who missed sophomore and junior years during the pandemic. Now waiting to hear from colleges, “It’s so much more applicable now as a senior. The career workshop was excellent.”
AVPA placed fifth overall in the LA district for Best Performance for its fall stage production of CLUE (still photo above). AVPA Theatre Creative Director of Theater Lee Hanson, pictured, noted that LA is the most competitive of the regions.
The trip is funded in part by donations to the AVPA Foundation and by CCEF.
