thespian society
Thespian Board Members for the 2024-25 Season
President: Anna van Valkenburg
Outreach Director: Aether Yun
Treasurer: Ayelet Rafalin
Secretary: Misha Beggs
Student Producers: Raz Mazor-Hoofien and Raeya Wohlmorantz
Thespian Board Members for the 2023-24 Season
President: Jack Champlin
Vice President: Athya Paramesh
Treasurer: Abigail Friedland
Secretary: Eloise Dumas
Student Technical Director: Aether Yun
Underclassmen Representative: Aashi Agarwal
Student Producers: Matthew Arradaza and Kyle Vetter
Thespian Troupe 909
Paly is a proud member of the International Thespian Society, an honorary organization committed to recognizing excellence in the theatre arts.
Even facing the challenges of a virtual school year, our Thespians continued to thrive, and to achieve recognition at two major state competitions!
Read on to learn about recent activities. The latest news is listed first.
In Spring 2024, Paly Thespian Troupe 909 at the 2024 California State Festival, April 5-7.
Congratulations to our 35 Paly Theatre Thespians who participated in the California State Thespian Festival at Upland High School over the weekend of April 5-7, 2024! Our students all participated in workshops, competitions, exclusive performances and guest speakers, tech work for the live events, and more! They had a fantastic weekend with lots to celebrate:
1st Place in Group Acting - Matthew Arradaza, Trevor Axelrod, Jack Champlin, and Kyle Vetter (who were also invited to perform on the Festival main stage!)
1st Place in Makeup Design – Raz Mazor-Hoofien
1st Place in Sound Design – Sapphire Loomis
2nd Place in Costume Design – An Tran
3rd Place in Solo Acting – Annalise Belle Klenow
Several of our other students also received Callbacks, which means they were in the Top 20-25 of their categories and invited to perform again in the final round of the competition:
Verrine Farag for Scenic Design
Eloise Dumas & Abigail Freidland for Duet Acting
Ellis Edmonds for Solo Acting
9 more entries earned the distinction of an overall Superior ranking, which means they - along with all of the students listed above - are eligible to compete at the International Thespian Festival!
Aether Yun and Rue Zadik for Lighting Design
Eloise Dumas for Playwriting
Rue Zadik for Scenic Design
Trevor Axelrod, Abigail Friedland, and Miya Joshi for Solo Acting
Annalise Belle Klenow for Solo Musical
Mireia Sainz Blasi for Sound Design
Verrine Farag also received a scholarship in Technical Theatre & Design, and Annalise Belle Klenow received one for Future Theatre Educators!
Misha Beggs was elected as a State Thespian Officer for the 2024-25 school year!
All of our students did an incredible job of supporting and celebrating fellow Thespians from both our troupe and from schools all over the state! Way to represent Paly Theatre, all!
Thanks to our Paly Theatre families, boosters, school staff, and audiences for supporting and encouraging our student artists!
Thespian Board Members for the 2022-23 Season
President: Erin Brady
Vice President: Gavin Thomas
Secretary: Noah Boyarsky
Treasurer: Harvey Vostrejs
Student Producer: Mina Fry
Student Technical Director: Katel Fong
Underclassmen Representative: Eloise Dumas
In Spring 2023, Paly Thespian Troupe 909 at the 2023 California State Festival, March 31-April 2.
Congratulations to our 35 Paly Theatre Thespians who participated in the California State Thespian Festival at Upland High School over the weekend of March 31-April 2, 2023! Our students all participated in workshops, competitions, exclusive performances and guest speakers, tech work for the live events, and more! They had a fantastic weekend with lots to celebrate:
We won First Place in five categories:
Annalise Klenow for Musical Theatre Dance (she was also selected as the Judge’s Choice to perform for the entire conference!)
Jack Champlin/Kyle Vetter/Harvey Vostrejs for Group Acting
Niles Farag for Lighting Design
Leo Vargha for Make-Up Design
Rue Zadik for the brand-new category, Props Design!
We also had five Second Place finishes:
Noah Boyarsky for Costume Design
Katel Fong for Sound Design
Sonja Meyers for both Scenic Design and Stage Management
Jack Champlin/Kyle Vetter for Duet Acting!
Our Improv team of Matthew Arradaza, Jack Champlin, Kyle Vetter, and Harvey Vostrejs took Third Place!
Several of our other students also received Callbacks, which means they were in the top tier of their categories and invited to perform again in the final round of the competition: Arielle Blumenfeld and Rebecca Helft were each called back for Monologues, and Erin Brady/Mina Fry received a callback for Duet Acting!
Three more entries earned the distinction of an overall Superior ranking, which means they - along with the students listed above - are eligible to compete at the International Thespian Festival:
Trevor Axelrod/Brendan Giang/Nika Petryaevskaya for Group Acting
Noah Boyarsky for Costume Construction
Mireia Sainz Blasi for Sound Design!
Katel Fong was chosen as one of the recipients of the Gai Jones Honor Thespian Scholarship!
Eloise Dumas was elected as a State Thespian Officers for the 2023-24 school year!
All of our students did an incredible job of supporting and celebrating fellow Thespians from both our troupe and from schools all over the state! Way to represent Paly Theatre, all!
Thanks to our Paly Theatre families, boosters, school staff, and audiences for supporting and encouraging our student artists!
In Spring 2022, Paly Thespian Troupe 909 at the 2022 California State Festival, April 8-10.
Congratulations to our 25 Paly Theatre Thespians who participated in the California State Thespian Festival at Upland High School over the weekend of April 8-10, 2022! Our students all participated in workshops, competitions, exclusive performances and guest speakers, tech work for the live events, and more! They had a fantastic weekend with lots to celebrate:
A mainstage performance of The Love of Three Oranges, our one-act that was chosen as the first-place play at the Northern CA Play Fest, in Winter 2022! This show was directed by Phoebe Berghout, and featured Ameer Ali, Arielle Blumenfeld, Jack Champlin, Aanika Doshi, Rebecca Helft, Nila-Ann Nag, Anneke Salvadori, Kyle Vetter, Renee Vetter, Harvey Vostrejs, Naomi Wagner, and Astrid Wuttke.
Katel Fong and Sonja Meyers were both elected as State Thespian Officers for the 2022-23 school year!
We won First Place in four categories: Noah Boyarsky for Costume Design, Katel Fong for Lighting Design, Sonja Meyers for Scenic Design, James Thomas for Sound Design!
Arielle Blumenfeld took Second Place in Monologues, and Maya Mazor-Hoofien and Anneke Salvadori took Second and Third Place in Make-Up Design, respectively! Sonja Meyers also earned Third Place in Stage Management!
Several of our other students also received Callbacks, which means they were in the top tier of their categories and invited to perform again in the final round (and at the International Thespian Festival held each summer)! Annalise Klenow and Naomi Wagner were both called back for Solo Musical, and Nila-Ann Nag, Anneke Salvadori, Naomi Wagner, and Astrid Wuttke were called back for Monologues!
Two more students earned the distinction of an overall Superior ranking, which means they - along with the students listed above - are eligible to compete at the International Thespian Festival: Phoebe Berghout for Costume Design and Maya Mazor-Hoofien for Solo Musical!
All 30 competition pieces from our troupe received Excellent and Superior rankings, and our students did an incredible job of supporting and celebrating fellow Thespians from both our troupe and from schools all over the state! Way to represent Paly Theatre, all!
Thanks to our Paly Theatre families, school staff, and audiences for supporting and encouraging our student artists!
In Winter 2022, Thespians competed at the Northern CA Play Fest.
Paly Thespian Troupe 909, Winter 2022
Congratulations to the Paly Theatre students who won first place in the 12th annual Northern California Play Festival!
The festival, sponsored by the California State Thespians, took place Jan. 22 at Westmont High School in Campbell.
Students from the Theatre 4/4 Honors class, plus some additional classmates, competed with the one-act commedia play The Love of Three Oranges by Hilary DePiano. Senior Phoebe Berghout directed.
Other participating students were Ameer Ali, Arielle Blumenfeld, Erin Brady, Lucia Chen, Aanika Doshi, Rebecca Helft, Nila-Ann Nag, Anneke Salvadori, Arnav Singhal, Kyle Vetter, Renee Vetter, Harvey Vostrejs and Astrid Wuttke. Niklas Hagstroem, Jordan O'Reilly and Naomi Wagner also worked on the show in class prior to the competition.
The win earned the students a slot for a mainstage performance at the upcoming state thespian festival, which they hope to attend this spring.
In Spring 2021, students competed at the CA State Thespian Festival Thespy competition across several performance and design categories. The following students earned a Superior ranking in their event, which qualified them to compete at the International level:
Charlotte Kim (Monologues)
Zoe McCrea (Monologues)
Jordan O'Reilly (Monologues)
Anneke Salvadori (Monologues & Make-Up Design)
In Fall 2020, Paly Theatre students participated in the CA Educational Theatre Association's virtual High School Festival, competing in three acting and two technical design categories. Paly Thespians earned:
3rd Place for One-Act Play Design - Phoebe Berghout, Ryan Hwangbo, Maya Mazor-Hoofien for Murder by Poe
Outstanding Design Team - Phoebe Berghout, Ryan Hwangbo, Maya Mazor-Hoofien for Murder by Poe
Adjudicator’s Selection for Acting - Anneke Salvadori
Adjudicator’s Selection for Design - Ryan Hwangbo
Outstanding Designer - Maya Mazor-Hoofien
Paly Thespian Troupe 909 won significant awards at the 2018 California State Festival. Sixty-two Thespian troupes from across the state, with approximately 1,200 Thespians were in attendance. Paly’s Thespian Troupe 909 earned:
Statewide First Place
Emily Orr (Sound Design IE)
Statewide Second Place
David Foster (Monologue IE)
Congratulations to our students!
For a complete list of the troupe’s accomplishments, click here.
More Great News from Paly's Theatre Department
Check out Press Releases and News
Paly Thespian Nadia Leinhos was asked to give her award winning speech in support of the arts on the California Senate floor. With her help Senate Bill 916 – the Theatre and Dance Act (TADA!) – has passed its first hurdle in the legislative process.
By a vote of 9 to 0, the Senate Education Committee voted to send the bill on to the Senate Appropriations Committee for its approval.
From the California Alliance for Arts Education press release:
Senator Ben Allen (D-Los Angeles) presented the bill, stating, “To tell people who have earned a degree in dance or theatre that they can’t teach in their respective fields unless they get a credential in PE or English is a disservice to them as teachers, to their students, and the subject matter.”
Nadia Leinhos, a sixteen-year-old theatre student from Palo Alto, spoke, “Having passionate, dedicated teachers ensures that an education in the theatre and dance will give us access to ways of thinking and doing that broaden our mindset and worldview. I think every child deserves that opportunity.”
Actress Annette Bening testified in support of the bill. She stated, “I would not be where I am without the benefit of the gifted, experienced teachers I encountered along the way who guided and supported my development. Our students deserve no less — that is, to be taught by highly qualified teachers who have been trained in the technique and knowledge that enables students to excel in the classroom, teachers who have earned credentials in their given subject.”
