Pelham’s theatre program was recognized on a national level this summer as the high school’s productions of The Miracle Worker, and Barnum and the middle school’s production of Beauty and the Beast Jr were honored with eight National Youth Theatre Awards. The Twelfth Annual National Youth Arts Awards ceremony took place August 20 in Riverdale, and several members of the high school’s Sock ‘n’ Buskin theatre program were honored.

For the fall production of The Miracle Worker, junior Maggie Solomine was named Best Leading Actress in a Play for her performance as Annie Sullivan. Last year Maggie was similarly honored as Best Leading Actress for playing Emily in Our Town.

“Sock ‘n’ Buskin always puts on amazing shows and I’m so happy to be a part of them.” Maggie said.

The high school’s production of Barnum was recognized for Outstanding Production, Outstanding Direction awarded to Mr. Beck and Mr. Schleifer, and Outstanding Costume Design awarded to Mr. Schleifer. Recent graduates Andrew O’Brien and Veronica Stern, of the class of 2017, were honored as Outstanding Lead Actor and Outstanding Supporting Actress for their portrayals of Phineas Taylor Barnum and Jenny Lind. Junior Athena Woodfin was also chosen as Outstanding Supporting Actress for her performance of Joice Heth, the oldest woman in the world.

In order to perform like a true circus, Barnum’s cast had to go through days of training for theatrical feats from juggling to back flips. The reaction that the show received proved that the practice was well worth it.

Athena Woodfin said, “I loved how different the show was from others I’ve done in the past.”

Sock ‘n’ Buskin is gearing up for its fall show, the comedy Fools by Neil Simon, which will play the weekend of November 17-19