On Wednesday, February 18, 2009, Johnston Middle School Theater Department competed against Sharpstown, Holland, and Hamilton Middle Schools in the preliminaries for the UIL One Act Play contest.

Our students not only won the preliminary round but also secured a number of additional awards. Best actor and actress of the entire evening went to Johnston students, Adam Reichstein and Savannah Scardaville. Chandler Dean and Elizabeth Martinsen won awards for best all star cast members. Noel Velasquez and Kathleen Brown won honorable mention for all star cast. Johnston also won the award for best backstage crew of the evening, so congrats to the Johnston Crew comprised of Jared Pickett, Gianna Porter, Mariah Feijo and Bryce Harper.

On Saturday, February 21, 2009, our theater department, under the direction of Ms. Stephanie Wittels, Johnston’s Theater Instructor, won first place in the Houston ISD One Act Play Finals! The winning play was The Bald Soprano by Eugene Lonesco. The competition began with 15 schools, which was narrowed to 8 competing in the finals. The 7 other HISD included Westbriar, Briarmeadow Charter, Patrick Henry, Hamilton, Pin Oak, The Rice School, and Lanier.

We picked up more awards on Saturday, in addition to those we won in the semi-finals. Gianna Porter won an Outstanding Technician award. Adam Reichstein won a position in the Honorable Mention all star cast. Chandler Dean won a position in the All Star Cast. Savannah Scardaville won Best Actress, which is impressive as over 125 students in total performed on Saturday.

We are Johnston Proud of these students!