About CDA
CDA Board
Ethan Warner, President ethan.warner@meridenk12.org Orville H. Platt High School
MaryLee Delaney, Vice President mldelaney@sacredhearthamden.org Sacred Heart Academy
William Prenetta, New England Festival Representative wprenetta@ellingtonschools.net Ellington High School
Lori Cartwright, Treasurer loriahlcart@gmail.com
What Is The CDA?
The CDA is one of the oldest state secondary school theatre organizations in the country. Established in 1936, the CDA continues to offer students and teachers a wide variety of educational theatre experiences in which to grow and learn, share and enjoy.
The CDA is you – teachers and directors, with and without formal theatre training, who want to provide the best in theatre education, and the CDA is your students – young people who are enthusiastic about the magic of theatre.
What Do Our Students Learn Through The Study Of Theatre?
Literature – Reading and text analysis
History – Researching sources for period accuracy
Math – Calculating measurements for building sets and costumes
Science – Designing and rigging lighting and sound
Acting – Interpreting the characters through body and voice
Movement – Choreography, mime, dance
Design – Creating the world of the play in scenery, costumes and make-up
Art – Painting scenery, designing and creating posters and programs
Music – Singing the score, playing in the orchestra
Public Speaking – Interpreting and articulating the word of the playwright
Business Management – Organizing finances and advertising, selling tickets
Technology – Building the set, costumes and props; using computers and digital technology to execute and plan design
The study of theatre also teaches responsibility, trust, sensitivity, tolerance, an appreciation of human diversity and an understanding of self.
A Brief History
Records show that the first major education theater event in Connecticut occurred in 1936, that being a spring drama festival, an annual activity that has continued through the years until today. From 1936 until 1960 the drama festival, as well as other state-wide educational theater-related activities, were sponsored by a combined drama and speech association, and this association was, in turn, a component of the Connecticut Association of Secondary Schools’ Non-Athletic Board of Control.
In 1960, a group of individuals on the Non-Athletic Board felt it was important to separate drama and speech into two distinct organizations in order to more fully realize the goals of each. To that end, on November 22, 1960, a state-wide meeting of drama directors/sponsors was called at Bulkley High School in Hartford in an attempt to organize theater-related educational activities under the guise of a formal organization called “The Connecticut Drama Association.”
On October 27, 1961, the CDA held its first annual donvention. It was held at Plainville High School with Marjorie Mueller Freer in charge of registration. Sixty-four people attended, fifty eight of whom took out membership in the fledgling organization.
Fall conventions have continued every year, the location of which has changed annually. All have in common speakers, demonstrations and performances. Records show that presenters have come from a host of professional and educational organizations including Columbia University, Yale University, The University of Bridgeport, Westport Country Playhouse, the American Shakespeare Theater, etc. Indeed, a symposium at the 1965 conventions included Viola Spolin, the well-known author of Improvisation for the Theater, Barry Weissler, who was to become a major producer of professional theater in New York, and George White, the founder of the Eugene O’Neill Center in Waterford, Connecticut.
The CDA has, since its inception, maintained membership in the New England Drama Council, an organization that sponsors an annual festival comprised of the two winners of each of New England’s respective state drama festivals. These festivals rotate in an alphabetical order among the New England states.
During the late 1980’s the CDA felt a necessity to draft a formal constitution, the initials steps of which were organized by Patricia Souney, the theater director from Guilford High School and treasurer of the CDA. The organization had grown tremendously by this time and talk of incorporation was in the air to better meet its needs. Members of the executive council repeatedly met with CASS pleading the cause of a three-day drama festival, due to the increasing number of schools wishing to participate. Perhaps due to a growing feeling of independence, some of which was desired and some of which was heaped upon it, the CDA looked to a constitution as a basis to formally guide growth and development.
The CDA has continued to grow, attempting to answer the needs of the burgeoning education theater programs within the state’s high schools. It has created an annual “CDA Day” at one of the state regional theaters such as Long Wharf Theater in New Haven or the Hartford State Company. It has also instituted an annual “Monologue Contest” which is hosted by a different high school each year. In addition, it has developed a “Showcase Project,” where member schools invite others to see their productions at reduced costs.
In September of 1996, the Connecticut Drama Association became incorporated, bringing closure to the questions first posed and trepidations first expressed some ten years earlier. The committee of Emmett T. Casey, John W. Ayres, and Julian Schlusberg worked with attorney Paula Herman of a Hartford law firm in this endeavor.
Past Winners:
1936
Greenwich High School – The Twelve-Pound Look
1937
Greenwich High School – Winsome Winnie
Roger Ludlowe High School – A Wedding
1938
The Gilbert School – Heaven and Earth
1939
Greenwich High School – Pride and Prejudice
1940
Greenwich High School – New School for Wives
The Gilbert School – Confessional
1941
Manchester High School – A Wedding
1942-1943
No Festival held due to WWII
1944
Manchester High School – The One Who Came to Gettysburg
Plainfield High School – The Valiant
1945
Litchfield High School – Dust of the Road
Norwich Free Academy – The Old Lady Shows Her Medals
1946
Bulkely High School – Parting at lmsdorf
Norwich Free Academy – The Cradle Song
1947
Greenwich High School – Elizabeth, The Queen
Manchester High School – Will-O-The-Wisp
1948
No Festival held
1949
Bulkely High School – The Moon is Down
Greenwich High School – The Wonder Hat
1950
Bulkely High School – Key Largo — Prologue
New Britain High School – The Happy Journey from Camden
to Trenton
1951
Bulkely High School – Valley Forge
Manchester High School – Antigone
1952
Manchester High School – Jephtheih’s Daughter
Plainville High School – The Informer
1953
Williams Memorial Institute – The House of Bernarda Alba
Woodbury High School – Saint Joan (Act IV)
1954
Manchester High School – The Dummy
Plainville High School – Our Hearts Were Young and Gay
1955
Manchester High School – On Borrowed Time
Stratford High School – Box and Cox
1956
Stamford High School – The Glass Menagerie
Thomaston High School – Le Medicin Malagre Lui
1957
Greenwich High School – Julius Caesar (Act IV)
Waterbury High School – Antigone
1958
Greenwich High School – Arms and the Man
1959
Branford High School – Finders Keepers
New London High School – Overtones
1960
Cheshire Academy – Home of the Brave
Torrington High School – The Diary of Ann Frank
1961
Cheshire Academy – The Caine Mutiny Court Martial
New London High School – The Playboy of the Western World
1962
Staples High School – Teahouse of the August Moon
Stratford High School – The Hitchhiker
1963-68
No records available
1969
RHAM High School – Inherit the Wind
Bristol Eastern High School – Scenes from Shakespeare
1970
RHAM High School – The Glass Menagerie
Rippowham High School – In White America
1971
Staples High School – The Zoo Story
Stamford High School – The Long Christmas Dinner
1972
Westhill High School – The Tiger
Simsbury High School – The Bald Soprano
1973
Glastonbury High School – The Interview
Staples High School – The Brick and the Rose
1974
Hamden High School – The Miracle Worker
Staples High School – Bury the Dead
1975
Westhill High School – The Old Lady Shows Her Medals
Staples High School – A View From the Bridge
1976
Hamden High School – The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Westhill High School – Veronica’s Room
1977
Westhill High School – Hamlet
Windham High School – David and Lisa
1978
Hamden High School – The Crucible
Windham High School – The Miracle Worker
1979
Hamden High School – Desire Under the Elms
Hilhouse High School – for colored girls who have
considered suicide/when the
rainbow is enuf
1980
Hamden High School – Othello
Westhill High School – Interview
1981
Hamden High School – The Great White Hope
Westhill High School – The Trojan Women
1982
Hamden High School – Becket, or The Honor of God
Choate Rosemary Hall – Jack, or The Submission
1983
Hamden High School – Richard III
Darien High School – Antigone
1984
Roger Ludlowe High School – To Kill a Mockingbird
Darien High School – Whose Life is it Anyway?
1985
Hamden High School – Children of a Lesser God
Westhill High School – The Brick and the Rose
1986
Guilford High School – The Diary of Anne Frank
The Taft School – Women of America
1987
Hopkins School – Present Tense
Darien High School – Close Ties
1988
Hamden High School – The Shadow Box
The Taft School – Rockabilliewillie
1989
Hamden High School – The Admirable Crichton
Darien High School – Starry Night
1990
Hamden High School – The Little Foxes
Westhill High SchooI – Veronica’s Room
1991
Hamden High School – Steel Magnolias
Darien High School – Blue Window
1992
Hamden High School – Much Ado About Nothing
Darien High School – The Rise and Rise of Daniel Rocket
1993
Hamden High School – The Boy Next Door
Darien High School – Brighton Beach Memoirs
1994
Hamden High School – Dancing at Lughnasa
Darien High School – Marvin’s Room
1995
Hamden High School – Camille
Darien High School – To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday
1996
Hamden High School – Antigone
Conard High School – The Good Doctor
William Hall High School – The Universal Language
1997
Hamden High School – Summer and Smoke
Darien High School – The Glass Menagerie
1998
Hamden High School – On the Verge or the Geography
of Yearning
Darien High School – Nine Armenians
1999
Guilford High School – All in the Timing
William Hall High School – The Complete Works of William
Shakespeare (abridged)
2000
Haddam-Killingworth High School – The Snow Ball
William Hall High School – Impassioned Embraces
2001
Edwin O. Smith High School – The Effects of Gamma Rays on
Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds
Pomperaug High School – The Rimers of Eldritch
2002
Haddam-Killingworth High School – Summer and Smoke
Greenwich High School – Table for Nine
2003
Rockville High School – Vision of Anne Frank
Pomperaug High School – Somewhere In Between
Stamford High School – Our Town
2004
Woodland Regional High School – Icarus
Greenwich High School – Romeo and Juliet
2005
Westhill High School – Metamorphoses
Stamford High School – The Actor’s Nightmare
2006
Ridgefield High School – Second Best Bed
Guilford High School – Endgame
2007
Ellington High School – Property Rites
Stamford High School – Life Force, A Shoah Love Story
2008
Stamford High School – Soap Opera
New Canaan High School – The Most Massive Woman Wins
2009
Edwin O. Smith High School – Animal Farm
Stamford High School – The Show Must Go On
2010
Edwin O. Smith High School – Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse
Guilford High School – On the Verge or the Geography
of Yearning
2011
Joel Barlow High School – America Hurrah
Stamford High School – The Effects of Gamma Rays on
Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds
2012
Ellington High School – Almost, Maine
Ridgefield High School – Forgetting Frankie
2013
Ridgefield High School – Blind Date
Old Saybrook High School – The Booby Trap
2014
Joel Barlow High School – Still Life With Iris
Stamford High School – The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)
2015
Ellington High School – Dead Beats
Old Saybrook High School – For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls
2016
Joel Barlow High School – The Devil and Daniel Webster
Stamford High School – The Real Inspector Hound
2017
Joel Barlow High School – Rashomon
RJ Kinsella Magnet School – Antigone
2018
Ellington High School – The Endless Arc
Westhill High School – Radium Girls
2019
Joel Barlow High School - Sonder: A Lighted Window at Dark
Westhill High School - A Voice in the Dark: A Salem Story