The audience erupted after Hermon High School students delivered the final words in their Wednesday night performance of “Antigone,” an encore of the one-act play that won the Class A Maine Drama Festival last month.
After qualifying at regionals, the students won the state competition on March 28, the school’s first win since 2010.
“We were not expecting it at all,” sophomore Kristany Raymond said. “When we heard our name, it was silent for a moment then we just started screaming and hugging each other because we couldn’t believe it.”
Raymond, who played Antigone, is one of 17 students who worked for more than three months to bring the Greek tragedy to life.
Their set had fewer pieces and wasn’t as flashy as other schools they competed against, said junior Sophie Peterson, who played Eteocles and worked as the stage manager and movement captain. All they had were four pillars and two sets of stairs on stage.
But that’s all they needed because their acting was where it was at, teacher and director Christie Robinson reminded them.
“We have a smaller group than a lot of other schools and maybe even a smaller budget,” Raymond said. “But I think that this really proves just how committed everybody is and how much we love theater.”
This was Robinson’s second one-act play since she became the theater director in fall 2022. Last year the team was regional runner-ups at the competition. The students learned a lot and came ready to practice hard this year, Raymond said.
The cast’s love of theater was poured into hours of rehearsals and line memorization. They started practice shortly before winter break and even came in during February break to make sure they didn’t forget anything, Peterson said.
“From stage one we’ve been putting blood, sweat and tears into it,” Raymond said. “When we started with auditions and we started rehearsal, we knew that we were going to put everything we had into the show, and it’s been a really, really long road, but it’s been worth it.”
