Osceola Fundamental High School
Theatre Arts
Celebrating 40 Years of Theatre Excellence

May 4, 2018

​The OFHS Theatre Arts Program and Thespian Troupe 3507 are pleased to announce the closing of this year's election and appointment of our Board Of Directors for the 2018 - 2019 School Year. Congratulations to everyone who ran for office, we are excited to see how each of you will help to lead this program. We look forward to working with and representing all 200 of our students next year.

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Benjamin Allen - President

Morgan Boesch

Carly Davenport

Mia Ferrante

Matthew Greer

Natalie Holland

Cameron Lemery

Morgan Lindblom

Jas Lovejoy

Brendon Rivera

Kara Sammetinger

Julia Speyrer

Clare Tullgren

Elayne Varadi

April 12 - 14, 2018

​This year's spring musical main stage was one of the most ambitious productions that Osceola has ever attempted. Featuring and cast and crew of more than 130 students, We Will Rock You was an epic rock experience celebrating the music of Queen and the life of Freddie Mercury. We were pleased to be able to offer four showings of this production including an in-school matinee that was attended by more than 700 students, our largest matinee audience ever.

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We were also fortunate to be feature on Fox 13's Good Day Tampa Bay with Charley Belcher. The full interview and broadcast spot can be seen here.

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We Will Rock You was also screened by the Patel Conservatory's Broadway Star of the Future competition and received awards nominations in the following categories:

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*Outstanding Actor - Carly Davenport (Oz)

*Outstanding Orchestra - The We Will Rock You Rock Band WON

*Outstanding Publicity Design - Kara Sammetinger WON

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Thank you to everyone who came out to support our spring main stage musical and congratulations to all our seniors involved on an amazing cap to your time at Osceola and with us!

March 14 - 17, 2018

​Congratulations to the more than 57 students who attended the Florida State Thespian Festival in Tampa, FL this past March. Student were given opportunities to participate in world class workshops in acting, singing, dance, tech, and other theatrical areas. Students were also given an opportunity to meet students from Thespian Troupe 4879 from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, ask them about their experience using theatre to heal, and hear them sing. It was a life changing experience for all present. In addition, we were fortunate to take six competitive events to competition and received the following ratings:​

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Danielle Benson - Playwriting - Superior

Matthew Greer - Solo Musical - Excellent

Morgan Lindblom - Solo Musical - Excellent

Brendon Rivera - Monologue - Excellent

Bucher & Co. - Pantomime - Excellent

Cleppe & Co. - Large Group Musical - Excellent​

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Congratulations to everyone who participated in this year's State Festival!

February 7 - 9, 2018

​Our Junior-Senior in the round show is fast becoming an annual tradition. This year, for our second outing in the format, we were pleased to preset the play 33 Variations by Moisés Kaufman. A pointed and emotional piece about an esteemed doctor of musicology coming to terms with her diagnosis of ALS being paralleled with the slow loss of hearing of her chief subject of study, Ludwig van Beethoven, this play was beautifully presented by 10 of our juniors and seniors. Congratulations on many broken legs to the entire cast and crew!

November 30 - December 2, 2017

​Congratulations to the more than 70 students who represented Troupe 3507 at the 2017 District IV Thespian Festival. Across three whirlwind days of performance, we saw some of the best one-act plays and individual events that District IV has to offer. Our student performances were extremely well received and our students came away from this festival with tremendous accolades for their work.

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Congratulations to Mia Ferrante who received the Critic's Choice designation for the second year in a row on her makeup design event. This is an extraordinarily high honor and we are very proud of you.

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Congratulations also to the following five events which received the Honorable Mention designation for their

individual events:

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*Davenport and McKelvey - Dance

*Danielle Benson - Publicity Design

*Danielle Benson - Playwriting

*Benson & Co. - Production Team

*Cleppe & Co. - Large Group Musical

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We received a total of 12 superiors this year in individual events. The top 6 which are bolded, will represent us at the 2018 Florida State Thespian Festival in Tampa, FL in March.

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*Morgan Lindblom - Solo Musical

*Matthew Greer - Solo Musical

*Danielle Benson - Playwriting

*Brendon Rivera - Monologue

*Bucher & Co. - Pantomime

*Cleppe & Co. - Large Group Musical

*Gaskin & Lemery - Duet Acting

*Paige & Pernas - Duet Acting

*Danielle Benson - Publicity Design

*Tina Nguyen - Scenic Design

*Davenport & McKelvey - Dance

*Mia Ferrante - Makeup Design

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Congratulations to the cast and crew of our one-act play, A Darkness, which received a superior rating overall. Congratulations also to the student director and playwright, Danielle Benson, and the all-star cast actor, Brendon Rivera.

November 1-4, 2017

The Osceola Theatre Arts Program was pleased to present their fall main stage play, The 39 Steps, by Patrick Barlow. A side-splitting event if there ever was one, audiences were delighted by the slapstick humor, dual cast, and odd assortment of characters including our multi-hatted, vaudevillian clowns. Congratulations to the entire cast and crew!

April 6 - 7, 2017

The Theatre Arts Program recently closed its spring musical main stage production, Little Women. We were privileged to perform the piece five times over three days to some fantastic audiences. Little Women was dedicated to the memory of our dear friend and student. Elise Hall, who we lost at the beginning of the school year. In every scene. every song, and every line her presence was felt and we tribute all efforts of this show to her.

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We were pleased to be able to offer an in-school matinee to our own students at Osceola for the first time in almost 10 years which was attended by nearly 600 students. Special thanks to the administration for helping make this dream a reality.

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We were also screened this year by the Patel Conservatory's Broadway Star of the Future competition and received awards nominations in the following categories:

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Outstanding Actress

Loretta Walker - Jo

Sydney Culbertson - Jo

Rachael Kuruc - Marmee

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Outstanding Pit Orchestra

Outstanding Orchestra Conductor

*Both Outstanding Pit Orchestra and Outstanding Orchestra Conductor were awarded to Osceola at the BSTF Awards Ceremony in June.

March 15 - 18, 2017

​Congratulations to the more than 50 students who attended the Florida State Thespian Festival in Tampa, FL this past spring. Student were given opportunities to participate in world class workshops in acting, singing, dance, tech, and other theatrical areas. In addition, we were fortunate to take six competitive events to competition and received the following ratings:

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Danielle Benson - Monologue - Excellent

Danielle Benson - Playwriting - Excellent

Rachael Kuruc - Duet Acting - Excellent

Julia Speyrer - Solo Musical - Excellent

Brianna Varner & Loretta Walker - Duet Musical - Superior

Sydney Culbertson, Jade Pashoian, Brianna Varner, & Loretta Walker - Superior

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Congratulations to everyone who participated in this year's State Festival!

December 1 - 3, 2016

​Congratulations to the more than 60 students across 32 individual events and the 20 person cast and crew of our one-act play that competed in this year's District IV Thespian Festival. Across three whirlwind days of performance, we saw some of the best one-act plays and individual events that District IV has to offer. Congratulations to the following two students who received the Critic's Choice designation for their individual events which means they received the highest score in their category across the entire District. They are:

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Danielle Benson - Playwriting

Maya Ferrante - Makeup Design

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Congratulations to the following students who received the Honorable Mention designation for their individual events which means they ranked second or third in their category across the entire District. They are:

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Sydney Culbertson, Jade Pashoian, Brianna Varner, & Loretta Walker - Small Group Musical

Rachael Kuruc & Matt Hamburg - Duet Acting

Carson Demberger - Student Choreography

Bella Straub, David Craig, Hana Newby, Ella Slaughter, Cameron Lemery, Morgan Lindblom, Alexis Megna, & Sierra               Sharp - Pantomime

November 10 - 12, 2016

The Theatre Arts Program recently closed their fall theatrical main stage, William Shakespeare's The Tempest. Congratulations to all the cast and crew of this very complex and beautiful Shakespearean piece. This was one of the most ambitious set designs the department has ever undertaken with a full scale mountain created on stage and working waterfall.

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The show was attended by more than 1,000 patrons over three nights all of whom enjoyed the traditional approach to the Shakespearean script combined with the modern approach to the gender blind casting. Thank you to everyone who attended this fantastic production.

September 14 - 16, 2016

​The Theatre Arts Program presented their first ever Junior-Senior Fall Mainstage show this year, Volume of Smoke by Clay Mcleod Chapman. This production was also presented on stage, in-the-round, to very limited seating which is a first for our department here at Osceola.

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Congratulations to all of the members of this cast and crew. The show was very well received by the audiences who saw it and we were proud to have sold out all 120 seats available for the Friday night show. The beauty and intensity with which these complex parts were acted is to be commended, especially coming from actors so young.

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We would also like to note that this production was dedicated to a dear friend and student that we lost this year, Elise Hall. We have and will continue to strive to honor her memory this year through our art and performance.

April 21 - 23, 2016

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Congratulations to the entire Theatre Arts Program on their extremely successful run of this year's spring main stage musical production, The Little Mermaid. With a cast, crew, student orchestra, and volunteer group including over 150 students, this is one of the largest productions the school has ever put on. Congratulations to all of the freshman who took a brave step and auditioned for the show. First time performers made up more than 60% of this cast.

The production was viewed by over 3,000 audience members across five shows over three days. This includes 650 elementary and middle school students who attended our in-school matinee field trip performance on April 22nd. Thank you to everyone who attended the show and made it such a massive success and congratulations to all of the seniors who capped of their four years at Osceola with such an amazing performance!

March 16 - 19, 2016

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Congratulations to all those who participated in the 2016 Florida State Thespian Festival in Tampa, FL. Our theatre arts program was well represented by 55 students competing, attending workshops, one-acts, and main stage performances, and making friends with thespians from all over the state.

We were very well represented in our competative pieces with the following individual events adjudicated at the festival:

Evie Lopez - Monologue - Superior

Maddie Coppola & Parker Shamblin - Duet Acting - Excellent

Brianna Strouble & Brianna Varner - Duet Acting - Excellent

Elise Hall & Evie Lopez - Duet Acting - Superior

Ben Daubert & Rachael Marley - Duet Acting - Excellent

Matt Hamburg & Rachael Kuruc - Duet Acting - Excellent

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December 3 - 5, 2015

We are proud to announce that the participants in this years 2015 District IV Thespian Festival brought home great results! Congratulations to the following students who received a superior rating:  

• Rachael Marley & Ben Daubert - Duet Acting (Honorable Mention, second highest rating in category)

• Rachael Kuruc & Matt Hamburg - Duet Acting

• Elise Hall and Evie Lopez - Duet Acting

• Brianna Varner and Brianna Strouble - Duet Acting

• Maddie Coppola & Parker Shamblin - Duet Acting

• Evie Lopez - Monologue

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These students will move on to the State Thespian Conference in March 2016. In addition to these superiors, Osceola also brought home 15 excellent ratings. We would also like to acknowledge Parker Shamblin who was honored with the "Best of" Cast award for our one-act, Nobody Heard Me Cry. Congratulations to everyone who participated in this year's festival.

November 11 - 14, 2015

This year, Osceola was represented at the Florida Theatre Conference in Gainesville,. FL by 17 students presenting a competative one-act play. The competition was gruling and over the course of four days our students saw the highest quality one-acts that Florida has to offer and participated in workshops and masterclasses with world renowned professionals.

Congratulations to the cast of the one-act, Nobody Heard Me Cry, on an amazing performance. We took home final ratings of two excellents and one superior from our three judges. Parker Shamblin was also honored as part of the "Best of" Cast for the festival. This piece will next be presented in competition at the District IV Thespian Conference in December.

November 4, 5, & 7, 2015

The Theatre Arts Program presented their fall mainstage theatrical performance, Radium Girls by D.W. Gregory, this past weeekend. A poignant piece about the real life struggle of working class women fighting for justice from a company that betrayed them. The performances were met with fantastic reviews especially for our principal actresses who portrayed not just the physical but also emotional and mental decay of these girls over the course of many years.

Congratulations to the entire cast and crew of Radium Girls on a spectacular set of performances.

April 16 - 18, 2015

Congratulations to the entire Osceola Fundamental High School Theatre Arts Program on their successful run of this year's spring musical mainstage, The Sound of Music. 

With an audience of over 2,000 patrons across five shows, The Sound of Music has capped off an amazing year of growth and artistic expression.

Congratulations to all the seniors who are graduating from our program as proud members of International Thespian Society Troupe 3507. We are so very proud of each and every one of you and wish you the best as you leave us for the great big world out there.

March 24 - 27, 2015

Congratulations to all those who participated in the Florida State Thespian Festival. The Osceola Theatre Arts Program had 19 students entered in competition, attending workshops, and networking with fellow thespians from across the state.

We were also represented with honor by the following individual events adjudicated at festival:

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• Lauren Quinn - Monologue - Superior

• Stephanie Freshman, Emma Rumpf, & Kadelle Armstrong - Ensemble Acting - Excellent

• Stephanie Freshman - Monologue - Excellent

• Lauren Quinn & Sydney Culbertson - Duet Acting - Good

December 6, 2014

Congratulations to the following participants in the 2014 District IV Thespian Festival who received a superior rating:  

• Lauren Quinn - Monologue

• Stephanie Freshman - Monologue

• Lauren Quinn & Sydney Culbertson - Duet Acting

• Stephanie Freshman, Emma Rumpf, & Kadelle Armstrong - Ensemble Acting

These students will represent our school at the State Thespian Conference in March 2015.   Lauren Quinn for monologue and Stephanie Freshman, Emma Rumpf, & Kadelle Armstrong for ensemble acting also received honorable mentions; the second highest rating available in each category.

November 17 - 19, 2014

The OFHS Theatre Arts Program presented their fall theatrical main stage production this past weekend. "Done to Death" by Fred Carmichael, is a murder-mystery satire full of over the top characters, self-referential tropes, and hijinks a plenty. Done to Death was one of the largest productions undertaken by this program in many years utilizing a cast of over 30 actors and a technical crew of 40 builders, technicians, engineers, ushers, stagehands, and managers.

The show was a resounding success with over 1,100 patrons viewing performances over three nights and very positive reviews. Read the OFHS Warrior Record's news article on the show here.