ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
The Liberal High School Drama Department’s shows have made a bit of a run at the Jester Awards, with multiple nominations the past few years and a win last year for J. Brooks Kappelmann for Best Cameo Performer as The Guard in the department’s production of “The Wizard of Oz.”
This year, the department’s production of “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown” received a nomination for the show’s “Little Woodstocks” crew in the Best Pre-High School Entertainer category. The show’s choreographer, Nikki Frydendall, said there was a lot of excitement upon receiving the news.
“The Jester Awards have been going on for more than 20 years, and they recognize high school performances, and we'd started getting involved with that program when Cara Spencer was in charge of the LHS Drama Department, and she'd even been a Jester Award winner herself,” Frydendall said. “The judges go around to all the different schools who have asked to have their shows evaluated, and that's done from October through around March or so, and then the nominations were announced in April. We were all really, really excited when we heard. Usually it's Miriam [Climenhaga] who notifies me about all of that news since we always go for the best lobby display and a few other awards, and she'll tell me who all ended up being nominated. But this time around, it was Arlette Austin, one of my students' mothers, who told me because she'd seen some announcement on Facebook from a friend of hers who's involved with that, and she texted me and told me the 'Little Woodstocks' had been nominated for Best Pre-High School Entertainer. We then told the girls about it and how we'd all be able to go to Wichita and see the ceremony, and we were all really happy to hear the news.”
The awards ceremony took place near the beginning of May at Century II in Wichita, and all the nominees are invited, which Frydendall and some of her students agreed was also exciting.
“I was really, really excited when we were told, I thought it was cool,” dance student Emmaleigh Rotolo said.
“I was really excited since this was one of my first big shows, and it was just really cool to hear,” fellow dance student Gabby Austin added.
“We told the girls what was going on, and we told them they'd get to put on pretty dresses and have a nice time in Wichita and have some fun, and it was just really happy all around,” Frydendall said.
The ceremony itself was also fun to take in, Frydendall and her students agreed.
“I liked watching all the different performers, I thought they were really neat to see,” Rotolo said.
“I liked that too, it was cool seeing everything they did,” fellow dance student Bella Farrar added.
“I would agree with that, the entire ceremony is about two hours or so, and the top productions get to perform one of their numbers in between the winner announcements, which was really neat for the girls to see from all the different schools,” Frydendall said.
Frydendall said she had been contacted about collaborating on the show shortly after the dance studio officially opened last year, and it was an overall great experience.
“I've been the choreographer for multiple shows at Liberal High School, Seward County Community College and the Rainbow Players throughout the years, and it's something I absolutely love doing. For this year's show, Miriam had gotten in touch with me and told me they'd be doing 'You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown' and asked if I had some students who'd want to be in the 'Little Woodstocks' crew, which I was super happy about,” Frydendall said. “I started watching all my students and thinking about who would actually want to be onstage and have the energy and attention and skills to be in the show, and I ended up picking nine girls. The dance studio's only been open since March 2024, so it was kind of a quick timeframe between the studio opening and starting getting the girls ready for the show. We had rehearsals on Saturdays and Sundays that were separate from their regular classes, and I couldn't be prouder of how they did with their first big show. And they were really excited about the tap number, they'd been working on that for about two months getting that ready. And for the show, there were some special 'trick' steps they got to learn, and they absolutely could not wait to show them off in the show for everyone in the audience. Their costumes were also adorable, and that was something even the judges had commented on in their evaluations. And they had so much fun with the show, it didn't hit them until the Saturday night show how they only had one show left, so there was a lot of excitement and a bit of sadness when everything finished.”
“I just really liked being onstage, and we got to watch the show on TV backstage,” dance student Viviana Gonzalez said.
“I really liked our big number with Snoopy, that was really fun, and we also had a big tap number,” fellow dance student Emily Vermillion said.
Overall, Frydendall said, she is very proud of her “Little Woodstocks” crew adn all of their hard work.
“I believe this is the first time a larger group from Liberal has been nominated for the Jester Awards – I know some smaller groups have been nominated in the past, like with 'The Wizard of Oz,' but I think this is the first big group we've had nominated from Liberal,” Frydendall said. “It's great seeing so many up-and-coming performers be part of something like this, and the girls thought that was neat to see too. And something else that's really neat is at the ceremony, there are three $1,000 scholarships give out – one for best male performer, one for best female performer, and one for best tech person/stage manager, and it was neat seeing those students be awarded. Overall, it was just a very positive experience for all of us, and I couldn't be prouder of our 'Little Woodstocks' crew for all their hard work!”
