S. County Not Upstaged at Cappies

Lorton School Wins Four Awards for 'Millie'; 'Dinner' at Chantilly Gets Three

Caitlin O'Neill of J.E.B. Stuart High School in Falls Church took home a Cappie for "South Pacific." (By Tracy A. Woodward -- The Washington Post)

Two-year-old South County Secondary School, which is graduating its first senior class, took four Cappies at the Kennedy Center, including best musical, for its production of "Thoroughly Modern Millie."

Best play went to Chantilly High School for "The Man Who Came to Dinner." Chantilly also won two other Cappies. In addition to the competition among theatrical productions, the Critics and Awards Program features students writing criticism of student plays.

The other triple winner was Winston Churchill High, with the most Cappies any Maryland school has won.

Double winners were Centreville, McLean, T.C. Williams, West Springfield and Westfield high schools, and Home School ITS won two Cappies in the critic categories.

The awards were presented at an Tony-style event May 27, which featured a musical tribute to two Virginia Tech students killed in April, Mary Karen Read (Annandale '06) and Reema Samaha (Westfield '06), who took part in Cappies shows while in high school.

One student was single-handedly responsible for the work that won a pair of awards. Nate Rossini of Centreville won for best lead actor in a musical and for best song for "Confrontation," in which he played both Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in the same song.

During the gala's entertainment portion, the audience heard a bit from this summer's student-written musical, "Senioritis," a song sung by teachers battling grade inflation.

The Cappies began in 1999 with one program that included 14 schools in Northern Virginia: 13 Fairfax County public schools and Bishop Ireton High. It now has 17 programs, 16 in the United States and one in Ottawa.

-- BOB SAMSOT