Middle School Students Bring Home the Gold at Dramafest 2025
Every year, drama teacher Christa Crewdson leads a group of  8th-graders to the METG Dramafestival competition, where middle school students perform short plays and compete for the top spot. This year, students performed Don Zolidis’s play The Firecracker Incident and earned first place in the competition.
This one-act play tells the story of Joe (Kyle Rossiter ’29), a 14-year-old boy with strict parents who is grounded for the summer after tying his little sister’s doll to a firecracker and setting it off. His friend Blake (Alexander Chunias ’29) breaks him out one night for a memorable adventure, setting off the play’s events.
When the two of them arrive at Blake’s house, there is a party raging upstairs where Joe unwillingly gets stuck looking after the heartbroken Julie (Natalie Barouch ’29), who drives him to an abandoned area, where they connect over their lives. After a wild night, Joe returns home to an extended punishment, but a new outlook on life.
BB&N raked in the accolades, placing first ahead of their competitors, while Alexander Chunias, Emilia Capalla-Chery, Alex Liu, Kyle Rossiter, and Natalie Barouch all won awards for their performances. Congratulations to the whole cast and crew!
