SJHHS’ production of Letters to Sala won first place from the California Educational Theatre Association. This led them to perform at a festival alongside three other schools and their plays.
CETA is the professional theater teacher organization for the state of California. They are used as a support system for theater teachers in elementary, middle, and high school. They host yearly festivals to showcase Southern California’s top high school productions.
These productions included schools from LA County, San Bernardino County, San Diego County, and Orange County. SJHHS theater represented Orange County with their show Letters to Sala.
Letters to Sala is about Sala Garncarz, a holocaust survivor who shares her past letters and stories that she saved up from her time in the Nazi labor camps. It presents old memories Sala recalls, what the concentration camps were like while detailing all of her experiences.
At this year’s CETA festival, the cast and production got to perform alongside other schools at the FUHS theater on January 13th, 2024.
Students got four hours to prep, then at 10 a.m., they opened up the doors for the audience. Around 1200 to 1500 people watched the performance.
I think many of them would say that it was probably their best performance. They should all be very proud of themselves,”
— Cambria Graff, head of SJHHS Drama program.
As the show ended, there were lots of teary eyes in the crowd. The Letters to Sala performance received a standing ovation from more than 1000 people in the audience.
“It was honestly very rewarding. Because of the show’s content, especially in these times of worldly conflict now, there is a need for greater understanding, and I think it’s wonderful that we were able to spread this message in our production,” said senior Cayla Chen, one of the show’s production’s students.
After a fast and crazy performance, they had two hours to take costumes, props, and materials out of the theater. Afterwards, the festival award ceremony was held and SJHHS won multiple awards at the ceremony.
They received the ‘best load in load out award for the weekend’ meaning that the professional technicians there thought SJHHS technical theater students were the most prepared and well-suited to do the project.
In addition to this award, multiple cast members and crew were given specific awards for their performances. One of these students was Luke Dunphy, who won “Outstanding Supporting Performer” for his role as Harry Haubenstock, a character based on a real person who lived through the Holocaust in Southern Poland.
“The whole experience was very impactful because we did a lot of research on our real historical characters. This made us get very attached to the show, who we played, and just generally very emotionally invested. The whole thing has been very powerful and something that I’ll definitely never forget,” said Dunphy.
