Last weekend, Roseville High School Theatre Company showcased several students in competitions ranging from monologues to musical performances at the 2019 Lenaea High School Theatre Festival.

Musical Theatre competition participant Alesandra Cariaga performed I’d Give My Life For You from the musical, Miss Saigon.

“It really stuck with me and I’ve been singing that song for a really long time because the topic is really close to me,” said Cariaga. “I’m really honored have [been able to perform it at Lenaea]”

Cariaga appreciated the feedback she got from the respondents.

“I was not expecting how nice they were, they were so nice and so responsive and they gave [me] so much good criticism and they really helped [me become a] better actor.”

At closing ceremonies, Cariaga was awarded with the Respondents’ Choice Award for her performance.

“My heart was beating, I was at home and it was such a crazy experience. I didn’t expect to get something out of [Lenaea]. It was really great to say that you’re being appreciated for the work [you’ve done].”

Also featured was Intertwined,  a student written a directed one-act put together by Annabelle Tiznado and Douglas Pomin.

At Lenaea, productions only have fifteen minutes to set up and get familiar with the stage and lighting.

“Preparation was definitely any adjustments we had to make from our performance here [at RHS] to the performance at Lenaea. We spent a few days going over any line adjustments, blocking adjustments, changes to the lighting, things like that,” Pomin said. “Having that smaller stage it made a lot of the blocking a little more challenging to put together, especially in such a small time frame but definitely with the emotional intensity of the show, the intimate space [the theater at Lenaea provided] improved our performance.

Lenaea Award winners from RHS Theatre Co. include the following:

Duo Scenes

Silver

Alex Clark and Emily Willick with …And Stuff

Bronze

Ari Gomez and Summer Edon with Perestroika from Angels In America

Monologues

Respondents’ Choice

Claudia Howenstein with Fool For Love

Musical Theatre

Respondents’ Choice

Alesandra Cariaga with I’d Give My Life For You from Miss Saigon

The company’s one-act Intertwined received no awards this year.

Next year’s Lenaea Festival will be held February 7 to 9.