Many celebrated actors’ careers began under the bright lights of a high school stage, including Meryl Streep, Hugh Jackman, and Timothée Chalamet. Northern Virginia is no exception; the region is a hotbed for emerging talent in performance, technical theater, hair and makeup, special effects, sound, lighting, and more.
NoVA is also the birthplace of the Cappies, the acclaimed international student-run writing and awards program that recognizes performers and technicians.
The National Capital Area Cappies
Founded in 1999 by Capitol Hill lobbyist, attorney, and Capitol Steps co-founder Bill Strauss, along with Fairfax County school administrator Judy Bowns, the Cappies program was created to highlight local high school theater.
What began in Northern Virginia has since grown significantly. Today, the National Capital Area Cappies includes more than 60 participating schools, and the program has expanded to 10 additional chapters across the U.S. and Canada. “For the last 25 years, this program has existed to create excellent high school theater,” says Herndon High School theater director Scott Pafumi.
Modeled after the Tony Awards, the Cappies invites student critics to attend productions at other schools, craft professional-level reviews, and compete for publication in local media outlets.
“Over the last quarter century, it’s been celebrated that we go and see each other’s plays,” says Pafumi, who’s been an educator for 30 years. “Are there bragging rights [for winning a Cappie]? Always … There’s always joy when you’re lauded for it all. But I’ve always taught: You play to grin, not to win. You do it for the love and the passion of the art. The award is icing on the cake.”
The program has been a smash hit among the student performers, the behind-the-scenes creatives, and the young writers who tell their stories. At participating schools, student critics vie for a coveted spot to attend and review shows.
“We joke — we like to say it’s like the cornucopia from The Hunger Games because people are volunteering so fast. You’re trying to reload the page and click every box to get all the shows you want,” says Mary Campbell, lead critic for Westfield High School in Chantilly. The 17-year-old Cappie-nominated senior says there might be between 20 and 50 student critics from local schools attending any given high school production.
Judging Your Peers
According to the Cappies website, the organization averages 897 critics attending shows and 881 reviews written per year. In their reviews, student critics evaluate how effectively each performer brings their character to life — whether it’s Gomez Addams in The Addams Family or Seymour Krelborn in Little Shop of Horrors.
Cappies steering committee member Christine Maxted, Westfield High School’s theater director, says student critics learn to look for nuance and articulate what they see — the storytelling, the performances, the elements that succeed, and, when necessary, the areas that fall short.
“What I like is having the kids out of their own little bubble of their individual schools. Then, they have that ability to see what other schools do, what other offerings there are,” says Maxted, herself a former Cappie winner. “By seeing other shows, they can build their own repertoire of theatrical literature.”
It’s a rigorous process. Student critics attend weekend productions and write an up-to-600-word review by Sunday afternoon. As lead critic, Campbell’s job is to assist in editing the reviews for voice and consistency. She says she tries to stay objective, while remembering why everyone is there.
“The most important thing to remember is that everyone is there to enjoy the theater, and it’s about the show being put on in a positive sense,” says Campbell.
Jeremiah Gates, 18, of Colgan High School in Manassas, won a Cappie last year for Best Male Supporting Actor in a Musical for Hadestown: Teen Edition. He also served as a critic and says seeing other schools’ work expanded his perspective.
“It was really interesting to see how different schools incorporated more and more elements to make the audience more immersed,” Gates says. “I saw Mamma Mia … and they decorated the stage like the beach, and it was really awesome.”
Addams Family. (Courtesy Fairfax County Public Schools)
Center Stage at The Kennedy Center
At the school year’s end, a gala is held at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, for nominees in 26 categories. It’s a pinnacle moment for many students and teachers.
“For theater teachers, it has helped them get more notice and more recognition,” says Pafumi. “We’re not just the quirky people at the end of the hall that are dramatic. We’re people that are actually doing really big things and changing lives and helping kids find themselves.”
Carnegie Mellon University freshman and aspiring opera singer Colt Armstrong remembers the moment he won Outstanding Lead Actor in a Musical for his portrayal of Gomez Addams.
“I think internally I am very competitive. I really did want to win that award,” admits the Falls Church High School graduate. “I remember being backstage and not really caring at the moment. But after I had won, I really cared about it more than I thought.”
Westfield High junior Ty Showalter was nominated last year for set design for the school’s production of The Sound of Music. Beyond the recognition, he says the learning experience was transformative.
“It was a confidence booster — that I could do it and lead it,” Showalter says. “I learned how to use multiple different kinds of saws. There’s a lot of math, a lot of terminology and visualizing. There’s way more that goes into it than I realized.”
A Sense of Belonging
High school theater programs promote the benefits of dramatic productions. After all, live theater is one of the oldest forms of interpersonal communication, says Pafumi.
“It’s a place where people can sit in the same space at the same time and breathe the same air — and experience human conditions to learn things about themselves, to become better people,” he says. “Or as the Greeks called it, to have a catharsis and emotional purging and emotional reaction.”
Win or lose, the Cappies program inspires students to learn, create, and grow — especially those who struggle to find where they belong.
“One of the things that is really magical about theater is, this whole art form is about pretending to be another person, to be in a different world, and to create an entire world — [it] has always been an environment that draws a lot of people who might otherwise be considered at-risk — kids who don’t know where they belong,” says Evan Hoffmann, the inaugural Cappies winner for Best Actor in a Musical and former artistic director of Herndon’s NextStop Theatre Company. “There are so many young kids who are confused about themselves, and it becomes just a safe place to explore and find themselves.”
Armstrong agrees. The stage at Falls Church High became his home. “I’m a theater kid. I’m a performer,” he says. “That’s where I found my niche. The Cappies is something that can be that outlet for people to find themselves with a greater sense of belonging.”
Feature image: Herndon High School students Allie Blanchet, Jane Keifer, and Ace Lamoureux perform in Macbeth in 2024. (Photo by Michelle Blanchet, courtesy FCPS)
This story originally ran in our February issue. For more stories like this, subscribe to Northern Virginia Magazine.
