Kagman High school sophomore Miki Nadia Dela Cruz finished in the top ten in solo musical theatre.
MHS junior Sung Yul “Tommy” Baik received eight call-backs from U.S. colleges auditioning and recruiting students.
These students were among the fifteen CNMI students, from middle and high schools, who joined thousands of other students from around the world at the 2008 International Thespian Festival in Lincoln, Nebraska.
The week-long festival, from June 23 to 28, featured competitions, stage productions, workshops, and college auditions, with sidelights of an auction of movie and stage memorabilia and four themed dances.
Students came from the U.S., including the CNMI, Australia, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.
Approximately 400 of the more than 3,000 students in attendance qualified to compete in the Individual Events Showcase competitions.
Each student competing is limited to one competition even in categories of monologue, duet acting, solo mime, duet mime, solo musical theatre, duet musical theatre, group musical theatre, costume design, set design, film, stage management, and the technical crew challenge.
All 15 of the CNMI students qualified and competed in the I.E. competitions.
CNMI students came from Marianas High School, Saipan Southern High School, Kagman High School, Hopwood Junior High School, Mount Carmel School and the Saipan American Education Foundation School.
They were chosen by achieving the top cumulative scores in local thespian competitions throughout the academic year. They competed at the festival in monologue, duet acting, duet mime, solo musical theatre, costume design, set design and film.
The festival competitions were judged by panels of two or three judges.
Each competition category had three to five areas in which students earned ratings of superior, excellent, good or fair, and then were given an overall rating as well.
Every CNMI competitor received excellent or superior on at least some of the judged standards.
Their overall ratings reflected the very good impression they made on some tough, seasoned judges.
The overall scores received were as follows:
MHS — Kyoung Min “Kay” Park, costume design: 2 superiors, 1 excellent;
KagHS — Miki Nadia Dela Cruz, solo musical theatre: 2 superiors, 1 excellent;
SSHS — Ryan Gutierrez & Richille Denora, duet acting: 1 superior; 2 excellents;
SSHS — Johnna Lubuguin, monologue: 1 superior, 1 excellent, 1 good;
MHS — Sung Yul “Tommy” Baik and Moon Hyo Lee, duet mime: 2 excellents;
SAEFS — Reese Brown, monologue: 3 excellents;
MCS — Anna Rose Deleon Guerrero, solo musical theatre” 2 excellents, 1 good;
MHS — Matthew Wheat, film: 1 excellent, 2 goods;
MHS — Myrene Evangelista, set design: 3 goods;
MCS — Sung Woo “Jimmy” Baik and Victor Sablan: 2 goods;
HJHS — Royze Banados and Dayanara Flores: 1 excellent, 1 good, 1 fair.
These overall ratings compare favorably to the high festival standards, especially considering that every student competing from around the world had to qualify by winning in school, regional and state competitions or their equivalent.
Kay Park and Miki Nadia Dela Cruz, with their exceptionally good ratings, won special recognition on the program for the Individual Events Showcase. But all of the students did the CNMI proud.
Besides competing in the I.E., the CNMI students also staged two plays.
The junior thespians presented in the Chapter Select Showcase at the University of Nebraska’s Howell Theatre, staging a one-act comedic take-off on Romeo and Juliet called “An Evening of Culture, Faith County II,” by Mark Landon Smith.
The high school thespians presented “Cinderella Wore Combat Boots,” a one-act Freestyle production at the University’s Carson Theatre. The plays were well-received by hundreds of student thespians who came to watch.
One of the most important features of the ITS Festival for CNMI students is the college audition.
High school juniors may sign up to present a short 2 to 3 minute piece before representatives from 40 U.S. colleges and universities.
Most college drama and music programs require auditions before admission.
CNMI students cannot readily afford to travel to the unified college auditions held in various cities around the U.S. So the festival college audition is a great opportunity.
This year, MHS junior Tommy Baik impressed 8 different colleges enough to get callbacks, a step in the recruitment process.
He continues the trend of success by CNMI students at college auditions.
Former CNMI students who have obtained college admission and financial aid from recruitment as a result of the festival audition include Rose Wakit, Tommy Shim, and Jennifer Jang.
Besides all of the hard work at the one-week drama festival that the CNMI students put in competing, acting in stage productions and auditioning, they also worked at other varied opportunities to learn.
They attended the national cast production of “Hairspray,” and also watched other schools’ staged productions including “Chicago,” “Little Shop of Horrors,” “Anatomy of Gray” and “Noises Off.”
They took advantage of workshops in diverse areas from salsa dancing to mime, from preparing for auditions to improvisation, taught by professionals in the industry. For these students who love drama, the hard work was also fun!
The annual ITS Festival provides a unique opportunity for CNMI students to meet other performing arts students from around the world, measure their own progress against the best students competing, learn from different top-notch drama professionals, and take-in the wide array of culture and art that is embedded in performed drama.
CNMI students did all this at the 2008 ITS Festival and excelled personally and as a group.
NMI joins World Beat Festival in Oregon
THE CNMI cultural heritage was presented successfully at the World Beat Festival in Salem, Oregon by Lourdes Manglona Rota resident director of the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs and Julita Calvo, a media release stated.
People from different cultures, including those from the Marianas who are now residing in the states, participated in the festival and appreciated the presentation and demonstration of Marianas herbal medicine and coconut doughnut making held at the village cultural center.
The CNMI delegation also highlighted Marianas arts and crafts at a booth located at the Asia/Pacific Village. The CNMI booth also displayed historical maps of the Marianas.
“Bringing our cultural heritage abroad is one of the goals in ensuring continued existence and promotion of the local culture especially within our indigenous population residing in the region and simultaneously capturing interest and promoting the CNMI among the international community,” the commonwealth delegation stated.
“In support of our cultural presentations in Oregon, indigenous people have come together to the festival grounds to extend assistance to our booth setup and tear it down at the end. They also participated during the opening and closing Parade of Cultures in which they happily joined to represent our CNMI,” the delegation added.
During both parades, the CNMI flag was carried by Rashun H. Ogo while the CNMI label carrier was Adrian Ogo both grandsons of Pedro and Janet Ogo.
“Our special appreciation goes to Mr. Frank San Nicolas, Mr. Jay Mundo and the boys, Angie and the girls, Rosie Garvin and children, and many thanks to all families, friends, visitors who came over to our booth and participated during our herbal presentation and doughnut making. Also, we are extending our sincere appreciation ‘dangkulo na si Yu’os ma’ase’ to those who have hosted delicious meals during our stay in Oregon,” the delegation stated.
“Lastly, we are extremely thankful to Mayor Joseph S. Inos for giving us the opportunity to participate and present our culture abroad and to our sponsor for making our participation at the World Beat Festival possible. Our trip could not have been possible without the assistance and support from the Inetnon Amot Natibu/Ammwelil Safeyal Faluwasch. Dangkulo na si Yu’os Ma’ase’ especially to Mr. Manny F. Borja, the ANA grant project director.”
Tenorio asks feds to look into NMI energy woes
WITH CNMI energy problems worsening every day and no existing comprehensive plan, CNMI Resident Rep. Pete A. Tenorio has appealed to key federal officials to aid the CNMI in developing and implementing a sound energy plan for the islands, according to a media release from his office.
“Energy is by far our biggest problem, and without a comprehensive plan to fix these problems the people of the CNMI are going to continue suffering through daily outages, or forced to live without electricity all together,” he said. “This is completely unacceptable; we need real plans and federally backed financing to fix this problem. But this cannot happen overnight. I have brought together key congressional and administrative officials to begin working on this.”
Present at a meeting to begin work on this issue were Deputy Assistant Interior Secretary Doug Domenech, Director of Office of Insular Affairs Nik Pula, staff director for the House Subcommittee on Insular Affairs Tony Babauta, majority counsel for the Subcommittee on Insular Affairs Brian Modeste, minority staff director for the Subcommittee on Insular Affairs Rich Stanton, and professional staff member for the Senate Energy Committee Al Stayman.
Also present for the CNMI was Rep. Ralph DLG. Torres, R-Saipan and chairman of the House Health, Education and Welfare Committee.
“It is highly unusual to get this group together in one room to discuss an issue faced by a territory, but they understand the magnitude of the problem and realize that this cannot be addressed by the CNMI alone,” Tenorio said.
Others consulting with this group are John McCarroll manager, Pacific Islands Office of the Environmental Protection Agency; Steve Feldgus, professional staff for the Energy Subcommittee; and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Green flag on Managaha
(DEQ) — The Division of Environmental Quality says none of the samples collected from Managaha’s recreational beaches and storm water drainages contained excessive concentrations of fecal indicator bacteria, nor did they exceed the CNMI’s marine water quality standards.
DEQ assigns all of the sampled beach sites a green flag.
Jury selection cancelled
(Superior Court) — The jury selection set for July 28, at 8:30 a.m., for panel “BS” has been vacated until further notice.
