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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, March 17, 2016 | 44 John Bkila Sub-Editor jbkila@oakvillebeaver.com T.A. Blakelock moves on in Sears Ontario Drama Festival Somewhere in Between headed to Regional Showcase, April 11-16 by John Bkila Oakville Beaver Staff Artscene "Connected to your Community" T.A. Blakelock High School will be moving on to the Regional Showcase for the Sears Ontario Drama Festival. The school's production Somewhere in Between will be competing in the Regional Showcase in Cambridge, Ont., held from April 11-16. Two Burlington high school productions will also be headed to the showcase. "The students are very excited to be going to the Regional Festival in Cambridge," said Sylvia Goncalves, who along with Fraser Houston are the T.A. Blakelock teacher advisers for the school production. "They have committed countless hours to research, writing, designing, sewing, painting, and rehearsing," she continued. "This student-written show deals with the importance of accepting and celebrating sexual and gender diversity, and we are excited for the opportunity to perform this play for new audiences." Somewhere in Between was written by students Heather Brudlo, Kate Byrne, Natalie Skov and Meghan Teague, and is directed by drama teacher Goncalves, with assistance from student Emma Torgonrud. The play centres around two protagonists who have written children's books reflecting gender and sexual diversity, and the authors are in the process of trying to have these books made into a children's cartoon series. The Sears Ontario Drama Festival, which is celebrating its 70th year, saw -- in its local (Halton) contingent -- 13 productions from 11 schools from Oakville, Burlington, Georgetown and Acton staged over four nights last week (March 1-4). The festival is broken down into district festivals, and regional and provincial showcases. District finalists are invited to one of the six regional festivals, each running three to six nights. Two "outstanding productions" from each regional festival are then invited to perform at the Ontario Showcase, which is held at various venues across the province. The Ontario Showcase is non-competitive and awards are given by an adjudicator. Rainbow Rescuers - Fiona Vandermyden, Meghan Teague, Bryn McCulloch, Sarah McCabe and Zoe Gard break it down for the evil Step Uncle King with help from Prince Jonathan played by Spencer Festeryga (back left) and Rana played by Sloane Wilson (back right) during a rehearsal during a rehearsal back in February. The T.A. Blakelock High School play, Somewhere in Between, is moving on to the Regional Showcase for the Sears Ontario Drama Festival taking place in April. | photo by Nikki Wesley ­ Oakville Beaver (Follow on Twitter @halton_photog or www.facebook.com/HaltonPhotog) The prizes include: writing and technical skills (at $500 each); as well as, $3,000 scholarships and $500 bursaries to help recipients pursue a career in the performing arts. An awards banquet was held on Saturday, March 5, where the "outstanding productions" were named, said Marty Chenette, press liaison for the Halton District Sears Drama Festival and Drama and English teacher at Burlington Central High School. Awards are also given for individual performances, stage management and technical achievement, as well as awards of excellence and merit. Awards were given to the following school productions: · Garth Webb Secondary School's (Concrete Daisy) -- award of excellence for performance; and award of merit for ensemble performance; · T.A. Blakelock H.S. (Somewhere in Between) -- award of excellence for writing and performance; and award of merit for ensemble performance · White Oaks Secondary School (The Seussification of Romeo and Juliet) -- award of merit for performance. For more information, visit searsdramafestival.com. Big Movies... small mall Prices! 171 Speers Road (at Kerr) Oakville General: $8.50 children (3-13): $6.50 Seniors (65+): $6.50 tuesdays: $5.00 905-338-6397 www.film.ca facebook.com/filmca @filmcacinemas Zootopia (G) March 4th the little prince (pG) March 11th the DiverGent SerieS: BatMan v. SuperMan: alleGiant (pG) Dawn of JuStice (Stc) March 18th March 25th My BiG fat t Greek weDDinG 2 (pG) March 25th