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The Franklin High School cast and crew of Scott Mullen’s “Jack in the Box” won first place Saturday, Nov. 5, in the 2022 Virginia High School League Theatre 1B Regional One-Act  Festival.

A Franklin City Public Schools news release noted that Buffalo Gap High School’s performance of Karen Zacarias’ “Squirrel Girl Goes to College: A Squirrel Girl Play” was runner-up.

The event, which was hosted in the FHS Auditorium, included performances by acting groups from Galileo Magnet High School, Buffalo Gap, Riverheads High School, FHS and Cumberland High School.

The judges — Marla Wood, Moriah Joy and Shanea N. Taylor — also recognized four actors’ performances: Roshanda Hoskie and Win Councill from Franklin High; Quinn Kuuk, of Cumberland High, for his role in Rebecca and Charles Haigh’s “Wishing Well”; and Frog Trzell, of Buffalo Gap, for her dual role in “Squirrel Girl.” 

Teri Zurfluh, the producer and director for the Franklin High troupe, said, “I am so proud of this team’s performance on Saturday. They are peaking at the right time. We have a very talented cast and crew, and we hope to do well at the next level of competition. We are competing against teams who have more than we do, who have theatre classes during the day, not just a  couple of hours a few nights a week, but we made FHS proud last Saturday and hope to do so at the next level.”

The scoring was tabulated by Tanyeka Thornton, Catherine Brown, Emily Dudley and Dwainett Young, of Franklin High. 

The FHS and Buffalo Gap troupes will go on to perform Saturday, Nov. 12, in a competition at West Point.