MPISD – News

Photo, L to R

Silvia Sustaita, Rian Richie, Madison McNeil

Contact: Kelly Cowan

MPHS Theatre presents One-Act Play

The Mount Pleasant High School Theatre department competed in the UIL One-Act Play competition at Texas High School on March 3, 2020. This year’s production was Dark Road by Laura Lundgren Smith.

MPHS brought home three medals from the competition. Named to the All-Star Cast was freshman Madison McNeil for her portrayal of “Overseer.” Honorable Mention member of the All-Star Cast went to freshman Silvia Sustaita for her representation of “Crowd Member,” and sophomore Rian Richie received the Honor Crew for outstanding technical work.

In Dark Road, a young girl living in Nazi Germany reads that the nearby women’s concentration camp is hiring guards. She sees it as a chance to find her place in the world and provide for her sister Lise. But soon she learns the reality of her duties, and so too does she learn how to justify her crimes, heading further and further down the dark road laid by the Third Reich. Kind-hearted Lise is shocked at what her sister becomes, and though the two drift apart, their fates remain inextricably and dangerously linked. It is a compelling drama about the choices that allow evil to become ordinary.

The cast featured Lexie Humber as Greta, Savannah Mack as Daimler, Ava Bliss as Guard, Nayeli Rivera as Guard 2, Pearl Murillo as Lisa, McNeil as Overseer, Reese Loving as Marga, Sharon Zambrano as Ingrid, Daniela Palomo as The Girl, Ethan Wilson as The Doctor, Vanessa Buendia as The Observer, Crowd members Sustaita, Aeryn Mast, Madeline Simmons Wilson, Ashanti Presley, Poloma, Buendia, and Rivera, with Sustatia, Mast, Simmons, Rivera, and Presley as Women.

The Crew included Sound/Stage Manager Rian Richie, Lights by Sha’Alice Tyson and Carlos Buitron, Costumes by Edith Rodriquez with Backstage management provided by Osiris Mojica. Dr. Edward Lee directs the MPHS Theatre department.

 

Contact: Kelly Cowan

MPHS senior earns prestigious art award

Mount Pleasant High School senior, Paola Ventura, has been awarded the prestigious Gold Key in the 2020 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards competition for her mixed media piece titled “Fossils.” The Gold Key is the highest honor awarded, and her piece now qualifies for National recognition.

For the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, teens in grades 7–12 (ages 13 and up) apply in 29 categories of art and writing. In 2019, students submitted nearly 340,000 works of art and writing to the Scholastic Awards. Submissions are juried by luminaries in the visual and literary arts, some of whom are past award recipients. Panelists look for works that best exemplify originality, technical skill, and the emergence of a personal voice or vision. Gold Key works are then judged nationally by a panel of creative–industry experts to receive National awards, some of which are recognized at a ceremony at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Ventura is a 4th year Mount Pleasant High School art student and is currently in the Advanced Placement (AP) program. She is thinking of going into the medical field after graduation and uses art as a way to unwind and relax.