Mount Vernon had nine All-State nominations this year, a new record for the school.
The All-State Large group speech festival will be held Saturday, Feb. 18, at Iowa State University in Ames.
According to coach Tawnua Tenley, the school had 33 students who were nominated to All-State this year, 20 of them dual nominees.
The musical theatre piece “Wicked” starring Finley McVay, Natalie Clark, Emily Patten, Lillian Bishop, Violet Olinger, Kylie Pyatt, Skye Rodman and Claire Gaffney; the one act play “Scrappy” starring Ty Panos, Charlie Krob, Milo Olinger, Laila Moellering, Luke Stephens, Lydia Benesh and Michael Briesemeister; ensemble acting piece “Nancy Drew and the Mysterious Japanese Jukebox” starring Aiden Campbell, Skye Rodman, Lillian Bishop, Dylan Winkler, Sierra Snyder; and The group improvisation squad “Hufflepuffs” starring Cait O’Connor, Owen Francois, Michael Covington and Lewis Krob were all non-performing entries.
Hufflepuffs is the second freshman group to earn an All-State nomination from Mount Vernon.
Choral reading piece “We Bleed Red, Too,” starring Anna Vavricek, Kylie Pyatt, Finley McVay, Natalie Clark, Ava Dimmer, Remy Merrill, Dallas Olberding, Violet Olinger, Renee Vig, Sierra Snyder, Elizabeth Barns, Natalie Thuerauf, Penelope Vig, Margaret Player and Kayleigh Kirton is a performing entry, taking the stage at 10:45 a.m. at Cy Stephen sauditorium in front of guest critic, Teresa Jackson an Iowa High school Speech Association Hall of Fame member and Iowa Central Community College instructor.
Ensemble acting pieces “This is a Bad Idea” starring Luke Stephens, Anna Vavricek, Charlie Krob, Lydia Benesh and Tori Oelrich and “Waiting for Waiting for Godot” starring Milo Olinger, Audrey Tucker and Ty Panos were named as performing ensemble pieces. “Waiting for Waiting for Godot” will take the stage at 11:24 a.m. and “This is a Bad Idea” will perform at 1:02 p.m. They will perform for guest critic Tiffany Johnson of Pyramid Theatre and Iowa State University in the alumni building balllroom.
Mount Vernon won the banner in ensemble acting in 2022 at the contest.
Group improvisation team “Women Warriors” starring Natalie Thuerauf, Penelpe Vig, Claire Gaffney and Audrey Tucker was named a performing entry, taking the stage at 10 a.m. in front of guest critic Steve Hydeen of The 402 Acting Academy in Scheman Rooms 220 through 240.
Group mime “Dark Chocolate” starring Dallas Olberding, Margaret Player, Laila Moellering and Tori Oelrich is a performing entry. The piece will take the stage beginning at 4 p.m. in front of guest critic Paul Kalina of the University of Iowa in Benton Auditorium at the Scheman Building.