West Henderson’s honors theater class traveled to the state North Carolina Theater Conference (NCTC) competition on Wednesday, Nov. 14 to perform their play, “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.”

The play was directed by theater teacher Kelly Cooper, and junior Jeffrey Cooper played the lead role of Christopher, a boy on the autism spectrum.

“My favorite part was when I was on stage at NCTC and my one line was when I was talking to [senior Cat Whiting’s character, Siobhan],” Jeffrey said. “I was out in the streets, looking at people’s yards, and my line was, ‘I see an elf.’ Every time I said that, I pointed at somebody in the audience and embarrassed them.”

At the state competition, “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” won an award for excellence in lighting and projections.

At the regional competition earlier in the year, the play won many awards, including outstanding in acting (Jeffrey Cooper), excellence in choreography (senior Travis Pressley), excellence in production (Cat Whiting), excellence in directing (Kelly Cooper) and excellence in ensemble acting.

The play was not passed onto the next competition, but the students said they had some good memories of rehearsals and funny moments.

“Every time [junior Jenna Whealan] said, ‘It’s cold,’ made all of us laugh,” senior Chloe Hallman said. “That line made everyone laugh, and it’s not even supposed to be funny. It was just an inside joke with the whole cast.”

By: Elise Trexler, Web Editor-in-Chief