It's another winning season for the Mira Costa High School Drama/Tech Department, with students taking home the top prize last weekend at the prestigious Fullerton College High School Theatre Festival.

The Costa group won the Sweepstakes Award, as well as numerous first, second, and third place finishes among all the competition categories at Fullerton College on March 23 and 24. Costa competed against dozens of schools from Southern California in a wide range of theater competitions, including Tech Olympics, musical theater scenes, monologues, comedic and dramatic scenes, and comedy improv.

The Sweepstakes Award is given to the school with the highest overall scores among all schools participating at the festival. This year marks five out of six years that Mira Costa theater and tech Groups have taken the top prize.

"This group of kids worked so hard on their pieces," said Cary Jordahl, executive director of Mira Costa Drama/Tech and the teams' coach. "The results were well earned. I could not be more proud of them."

Jordahl noted that this also the third year in a row that Mira Costa's tech teams won first and second overall out of 60 teams. Of the two tech teams, the Gold team is returning players and the Green team is new players. The Gold team won six medals and the Green team won five, winning Costa a record eleven medals total. "Tech is doing very well," said Jordahl.

Additionally, Jordahl noted, Theater Games has not won in the past four years, "so having both teams in finals and winning first was a huge accomplishment for the teams."

Also worth noting: In the last six years, Costa has come in first or second in the Musical Theater category. And this year, more acting categories make it to the finals than ever with six scenes or monologues finishing in the top ten of their categories.
Winners included:

Musical Theater
1st place – Cast: Ava Alexiades, Carson Billingsley, Brinn Borowsky, Kyra Dates, Ari Derambakhsh, Molly DeSimone, Natalie Dreger, Jack Drinker, Jack Gebele, Noah Geller, Sabrina Harris, Rachel Langetieg, Charlie Lusky, Toby Kamish, Cole Konis Will Martens, Olivia Morgan, Griffin Moore, Mary Clare Powell, Owen Price-Hughes, Natalie Rebenkoff, Hannah Ryan, Kaitlin Sanders, Tiffany Smith, Olivia Stanley, Tucker St. Ivany

Theater Games
1st place – Team HaHa: Sophi Boylan, Jack Drinker, Dalia Feliciano, Rebecca Rosen, Tucker St. Ivany

Tech Olympics
Tech Overall: 1st place Gold Team, 2nd place Green Team
Relay Tool Usage: 1st place Green team, 2nd place Gold Team
Electrical Wiring: 1st place Green Team, 2nd place Gold Team
Tool identification: 1st place Green Team, 3rd place Gold Team
Lighting Focus: 2nd place Green Team
Costume Quick Change: 2nd place Gold Team
Team Knot Tying: 2nd place Gold team
Individual Knot Tying: 2nd place Sofia Aguirre
Prop Quick Change: 3rd place Gold Team

Gold Team: Alex Attala, Mia Davis, Carly Jaeger, Matt Sherman, Kira Rapier-Mateo, Janireth Lopez (alternate)

Green Team: Sofia Aguirre, Alyssa Castronuovo, Reilly Fox, Sofia Wuolijoki, Lani Yujiri, Mikelyn Anderson (alternate)

Finalists in various acting and theatre games categories included Scott Baxter, Ari Derambahksh, Emma Gray, Sabrina Harris, Sydney Holliday, Owen Price-Hughes, Natalie Rebenkoff, Kavita Sarathy, Team Tycoon: Carson Billingsley, Molly DeSimone, Shelby Friedman, Toby Kamish, and Stephanie Sala.

Want to see these young artists in person? The Mira Costa Drama/Tech Department will present "How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying" on April 20-28. Discount pre-sale tickets will be available April 2-20 at www.miracostadramaboosters.org.