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Ok, so I try my best to be a modest person - I really do - but today I just have to blow my own horn.

As many of you know, I'm deeply involved in theatre. Acting is my #1 passion, but I've recently caught the directing bug as well. This weekend, I took the first play that I've directed - a production of William Mastrosimone's "Bang Bang You're Dead" - to the New Brunswick Provincial Competitive High School DramaFest. Schools from across the province come and present plays of all shapes and sizes over the course of 4 days...its a huge event. As well as directing, I also took it upon myself to play the lead role, which made for twice as much work.

We had tons of hardships leading up to the show...cast members dropping out, teachers threatening to pull the plug, cast members who didn't know all their lines (myself included)...it was a hard road, but damn did it pay off.

We performed on Saturday morning to a packed auditorium. It was a small theatre - would only have held about 100-150 people, but still. Right from the start, the show went better than it ever did in rehearsals...the entire cast of 11 was in top form and we all gave the performances of our lives.

When the lights came up after our curtain call for the adjudicators to give a public evaluation of the show, I saw that there were very, very few people in the audience with dry eyes. It's a play that has the potential to be incredibly moving, and judging by the amount of tears that I saw, we more than pulled it off.

Well, the judges LOVED us - they gave us a few little picky notes of stuff to improve for next time we perform it, but they really couldn't find any negative points.

The award ceremony was later that day.I unfortunately couldn't be there as I had to be in another play that afternoon, but suffice to say: we cleaned up.

I personally won awards for Outstanding Lead Actor, Outstanding Student Director, and Outstanding Choice of Material. My entire cast won a Special Adjudicators Mention for Outstanding Ensemble Work and Outstanding Use of Set. My stage manager / lighting girl won for Outstanding Lighting, plus a special award from the Tech Director of the festival for her professionalism, which is one of the biggest awards that they give out.

I also won something else...the Alvin Shaw Award, which is given to the student who they think shows "the most professional potential". It consists of $250 cash-in-hand, plus a $1000 scholarship to the University that hosts the festival (St. Thomas University). Basically, I'm currently considered the most promising young actor/director in my province, which is a HUGE honor.

So, yeah...needless to say, I'm a little pumped. Just wanted to share this with everyone here! :D