The theme was “A Blast From the Past,” but Friday’s Little Oscars ceremony showed there’s plenty in the present worth celebrating as well.
Iola High School’s 58th annual celebration of the performing arts crammed a medley of song and dance routines in with a score of awards for the 2022-23 school year.
Among the highlights:
Senior Macie Hoag was a three-time winner, bringing home the Best Actress for her work in “The One-Act Play That Goes Wrong,” was named Outstanding IHS Players Member and was tapped as the Don Bain Showman of the Year.
Sophomore Max Andersen, fresh off his state championship for oral interpretation of prose, received the Susan S. Miller Most Inspirational Forensics Team member award, to go along with his Best Actor Little Oscar for his performance in “The One Act Play That Goes Wrong.”
Sophomore Cole Moyer also brought home a pair of awards, The Male Rookie of the Year Little Oscar for “Elf the Musical Jr.” and an Iola Community Theatre Award for his work in “County Fair” and “The Colbern County Broadcast Interruption.” Moyer also received an honorary Little Oscar for his work years ago as a fourth-grader, when he portrayed an extra in the 2017 IHS production of “Flowers For Algernon.”
Other honorees:
— Maddie B’Hymer earned the ICT Award for her work in “County Fair.”
— Chloe Hoag, Female Rookie of the Year, for “Elf the Musical Jr.”
— Hailey Stogsdill, Underclass Woman of the Year for “Elf the Musical Jr.”
— Everett Glaze, Underclass Man of the Year for “The One Act Play That Goes Wrong.”
— Rio Lohman, Fall Technical Award as a stagehand and fly rail operator for “Elf the Musical Jr.”
— Demarco Ross, stagehand for “The One Act Play That Goes Wrong.”
— Kennedy Maier, Theatrical Design Award for poster design and scenic painting.
— Jenna Morrison, Boleslavski Award for her work in “Elf the Musical Jr.”
