On February 5th, Granite Bay High School’s theater program competed in Lenaea High School’s 2025 Theater Festival, where their student-directed winter show Machinal placed first, winning gold among 78 schools. 

With a total of ten awards won, Machinal’s cast was awarded on everything from monologue delivery to the musical aspects of their performance. 

Earning gold at Lenaea is a nationally-recognized accomplishment, not only in terms of prestige but also the student direction and individual performances; truly showcasing student leadership throughout the show. Peyton Wheeler, the student director for Machinal, was awarded the One Act Student Director award for her work on Machinal. 

“Something that our judges pointed out was that everything was very simple in our show. We had just those black blocks for the set and we had all black costumes and we didn’t have heavy makeup or anything like that. And I think they appreciated that because it allowed them to focus more on the story and the main character, especially since it’s all about her world.. So that was something kind of different. ” Wheeler said.

Despite the crew’s determination and focus throughout the preparation process, their journey to gold was not without its trials and tribulations. 

“The biggest challenge was we had to cut down our show by 15 minutes. I thought it would just be a few cuts in the script, but I was cutting things even the morning of the competition. So it was a lot of work for the cast to change their mindset about the scenes and all the new lines they had to skip over.” Wheeler said. “But it worked out well and we got under the time limit.”

The content of the play, as well as the acting and flow of the production, had to be adjusted.

“With the restaging, but also just in general, the transitions between the scenes… we wanted to cut down time there because that was something that we didn’t have to change about the show, but if everyone just knew what they were doing at all moved at once, then we could get it done with fast.” Nico Miniati, a senior at GBHS, said.

Along with this award, numerous others were awarded to individual performers for technique, direction, and delivery. One of which is the Best Actor award, which was given to Haleya Hoang. The award is just a handful out of over 2,000 students, making it the most selective of the competition. 

“This is actually my first play with Granite Bay Theater so I was pretty new to this whole process. I’ve been doing theater at Roseville Theater Arts Academy, but this was my first time so I didn’t have many leadership roles.”

Despite being new to the program, Hoang notes that her past experiences have given her a different perspective.

“[Participating in productions at Roseville Theater] made me very open to public speaking…however, one thing that was really different is that at Roseville we did more younger targeted comedic acts…but here at Granite Bay, I’ve been able to tap into a more dramatic side of my acting,” Hoang said.

With new crew members, a 15-minute script cut, and staging adjustments, the cast and crew had to adapt quickly and work together to win. Cast members even had to play multiple roles throughout the play.

“We definitely got good at working together because one of the main ideas of the show is that it’s one big machine, so we sort of became that one big machine to create this show,” Miniati said.