Long known for its outstanding theater program, Chantilly High just added another award to its collection. On Saturday, March 7, the theater students became state champions, winning the VHSL One-Act State Competition.

Performing an original play written by their director, Ed Monk, the young thespians won Districts, Jan. 30, and Regionals, Feb. 7, en route to the top. And seniors Aubrey Phares and Ryan Rickard were named Best Actress and Best Actor.

“Winning the state championship was a very nice surprise because it was just a funny, little play,” said Monk. “It’s subjective. Some judges seem to think that comedy is easy, and comedies don’t usually win Oscars and Tonys like dramas do.”

He said his actors don’t intentionally aim to win awards, anyway. “I just tell the kids to do the best job they can,” said Monk. “I just care that they give a good performance that the audience enjoys.”

The award-winning play was “Day Six,” which Chantilly performed for the second time in eight years. The first time, it won Districts, but didn’t advance beyond Regionals. This time, though, it went all the way, taking the top prize in the state competition for the 6A region (large schools).

“It’s about the last day of creation, and a committee is trying to figure out how to put people together,” said Monk. “But they’re afraid that, if they design people wrong, they’ll get into trouble with God. So they slough it off onto a bunch of losers — which is why people are so screwed up.”

Phares portrayed God and, said Monk, Rickard played “the poor schlump who was the head of the committee.” Phares’s acting award was her first with this play, but Rickard won Best Actor at Districts and Regionals, as well as States.

“They really bought into their characters and played them as real people, not as actors trying to get laughs,” said Monk. “And that’s what made them so believable and funny.” The play featured a cast and crew of 37. And with each competition, Monk told his actors to “give a stronger performance than they did the last time.”

The state championship was held at Piedmont Community College in Charlottesville. But the road there was anything but easy for the Chantilly students. Auditions were held in December and they’ve been working on this play for three months.

“But we did three shows — the Holiday Spectacular, ‘A Christmas Carol’ and ‘Little Red Riding Hood and the Power Mutants’ — in between then and States,” said Monk. “Half the cast was in the regional forensic finals — which they won — and our dress rehearsal for the school, plus our evening performance for the parents, both got cancelled because of snow. So the last time the whole cast and crew got to rehearse together was Feb. 7 — a month before the state competition.”

Besides that, he said, “We had a six-piece set, with each piece 4 feet wide. But the state stage was 10 feet smaller than ours. So we had to cut a foot off each piece to fit on their stage — which sounded simple until we got all those snow days when we couldn’t get into school to work on it. And with last week’s snow cancelling school again, we didn’t even know until Friday at 11 a.m. that we’d be allowed to go to the competition, at all.”

For winning States, the students received state-championship rings, plus medals to go with their District and Regional patches. And the school took home a banner and a trophy.

“I am extremely proud of the kids,” said Monk. “They did a really great job of creating funny characters, and everyone in the cast was engaged with each other. They were having fun, so the audience was having fun with them, so everything worked.”

Rickard described his character, Nick, as “sort of an idiot because he took the job of committee head without knowing what he was getting into. God gives him 20 minutes to create the male and female human prototypes. Nick’s initially confident, but finds out the committee is filled with other idiots. It was fun playing him because he’s very stressed and his anxiety builds throughout the show.”

Regarding the play’s victory, Rickard said, “I think the judges liked its comedic timing and how — although it was an ensemble cast — each character had their own, unique traits.” As for his own award, he said, “It was a shock because there were other great actors and we were the only comedy, so I thought a dramatic actor would win.”

But Phares wouldn’t let him get away with being modest. “We all knew Ryan was going to win because he’d won Best Actor before [with this part] and because he’s an amazing performer,” she said. “His character was so layered and Ryan put a lot of work into it, so we weren’t surprised when he won.”

Phares portrayed God as a woman. “She acted like she knew what was going on when, in reality, her angel Gabrielle was actually keeping track of everything,” said Phares. “I played God as domineering and intimidating to many of the characters. My favorite line was, ‘You don’t touch God.’”

She also enjoyed working with all her friends and “seeing all our work pay off. But I was nervous in this role because it was my first, real play with a speaking part, other than a children’s show.”

Phares said they were all excited when Chantilly won because “as a cast, I think we all deserved it, working so hard in such a condensed time period. So it was amazing that we were even able to pull this off.” But she called her own acting award a “huge surprise” because, unlike Rickard, she hadn’t won it at Districts and Regionals.

“So it was very surreal,” said Phares. “It’s great to be able to do what I love on stage, plus get that validation from others who’ve seen me perform.” She also praised her director. “Mr. Monk is a genius,” she said. “In his head, he knows how he wants things performed and he’s able to translate that to us. It was fun getting to work with him, and it added to the win even more that he wrote the play.”

“Everyone in the cast and crew worked hard, but Mr. Monk teaches us not to go into a show to win, but to put on a good performance,” added Rickard. “But winning the State Championship is a nice bonus.”