Commercial theater groups have always had ways of comparing their success to others. There are the Oscars, the Helen Hayes Awards, the Golden Globe Awards. The list of accolades for theater is long.

What about student theater groups? In Frederick County, at least, there is no official competition or set of awards that students can use to compare their success to others. Aside from the audience attending their shows, the hard work of high school theater participants is almost never seen.

For thespians, it seems like the hard work never stops. Audition information for the spring musical Beauty and the Beast has already been posted, just a week after the end of the fall play. Students prepare their shows for months at a time; including the week-long period where students will stay at school until 8:30 in the evening known as “tech week.”

What comes after this process? Usually it’s a weekend of performances that are immediately followed by the disassembling of the set, and then the school’s next production. These shows are the measure of success that theater students follow; months of preparation and advertising pay off when the auditorium is filled with audience members ready to see the production.

Unlike most extracurricular activities, theatrical productions measure their success by that audience feedback. Sports teams will compete against other schools and strive to be better based on the results, but theater students don’t have that opportunity. The drama department evaluates its success based on its own past productions since it doesn’t have the chance to officially compare itself to the work of other schools in Frederick County.

“Success is pretty relative when it comes to theater,” said senior theater student Maggie Clugston. “Monetarily, I believe our program does pretty well compared to other schools, and the quality of our shows compares to any other program in the county pretty well.”

But how is Clugston measuring that?

Although there is no official competition between theatrical productions in Frederick County schools, theater students often attend the performances at other schools.

“When I see another school’s production, it fills me with pride and hope for the future of theater in FCPS,” said Clugston. “It inspires me to be a better performer, and just makes me plain happy to see everyone I’ve gotten to know through theater thrive onstage.”

Currently, Frederick County doesn’t have an official competition for theater students. There is, however, a branch of theatrical competition in Baltimore: the Cappies.

The Cappies of Baltimore is a branch of national theatrical competition that allows theater students in the Baltimore area to compete against each other. There are currently thirteen chapters of the Cappies in the United States. The Cappies of Baltimore is open to schools in Baltimore County, Anne Arundel County, Howard County, and Carroll County.

The Cappies involves student and professional critics alike as high school theatrical performances are evaluated and awarded for their success. The competition is designed to celebrate the excellence of theater students and motivate schools to create outstanding performances.

Although students can attend productions put on by other schools, there is no competition like the Cappies currently existing in Frederick County. 

“I believe a competition between schools would be beneficial to all programs in FCPS because it would give them something to strive towards,” said Clugston. “It would motivate me and my fellow drama students at Linganore to be the best we could possibly be.”

Mrs. Angela Smithhisler, drama teacher and director, said, “It is very easy to live and remain in our own ‘Linganore bubble,’ especially because we are removed from many other schools. An all-county showcase of drama students would help Linganore students see the talent and ability of other nearby drama programs, as well as get them out of their ‘bubble.'”

Smithhisler did express some concerns over the idea of a competition as opposed to a festival.

“I don’t necessarily think it should be competitive,” said Smithhisler. “There are statewide festivals that offer something like this . . .and it removes the competitive component. It allows the different schools to see what everybody has to offer without the high-stakes pressure of ‘winning’ anything.”

The Cappies is always welcoming applications for chapters in the United States. Maybe in the future, Frederick County theater students will have their chance to compete and show their talents.