Walnut Hills High School welcomes you back to the stage with their annual Junior High One Acts Festival
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Cincinnati, OH – The Walnut Hills High School Theatre Department is thrilled to be welcoming you to the opening of their 2025-2026 season with the Junior High One Acts Festival! The show runs October 16-18th, 2025 at 7pm and October 18th at 2pm in the Rick Steiner Black Box Theatre.
The festival features 3 One Act plays; Why We Like Love Stories by Stephen Gregg, Murder in Little Grimley by David Tristham, and an original piece titled Bebe Le Strange by Walnut students Ash Kertpet and Easton Taylor.
Sasha Rucker-Chang as Crooper, Annajane Updegrove as Chloe & Silas Dronen as Bark. Costumes by Izzy Hayes, Hair and Makeup by Piper Hawkins.
Why We Like Love Stories
Directed by Mckenzie Bell
In the hills above Pin Cushion, California, students go to talk of the world, flirt and yearn. It’s a place where heartbreak awaits. In a La Ronde-style chain, Chloe breaks up with her boyfriend, Crooper, devastating him. Months later, Crooper ineptly attempts to use a mathematical equation to break up with Jessica—his girlfriend of seven months. She’s furious, since she’s in the middle of declaring her love for him. Months later, a calmer Jessica rebuffs Bark, who pines for her. But then things come full circle. Bark and Chloe—outsiders both—take an awkward, fumbling-for-words walk in the hills. Chloe has a secret, and Bark’s reaction to it gives them a surprising connection that, for the moment at least, promises a future. Why We Like Love Stories is a wistful comedy about the things we learn from the people we love, even once they’ve left us
Front row: Benno Gibson as Sam, Ellis Klump-Lawson as Gordon & Adina Morvay as Joyce
Back row: Madeline Benoit as Margaret and William Crone as Bernard. Costumes by Izzy Hayes, Hair and Makeup by Piper Hawkins.
Murder in Little Grimley
Directed by Caroline Lovelace and Aubrey Lowe
Anxious to cash in on the public’s appetite for detective dramas, the Chairman Gordon writes a whodunnit. But in a bizarre twist he then finds himself embroiled in a real-life murder mystery that threatens to put him behind bars. The quarrelsome quartet have been in some sticky situations over the years. But can they possibly get away with murder?
Ive Syroney as Charlie and Leni Cable as Bebe Le Strange. Costumes by Izzy Hayes, Hair and Makeup by Piper Hawkins.
Bebe Le Strange
Written and Directed by Ash Kertpet and Easton Taylor
When a gullible teenager named Charlie visits the mysterious psychic Bebe Le Strange, he is given a tarot reading that he believes will change his life. Bebe Le Strange pulls “The Magician” card from the deck and tells Charlie that he is meant to be a magician. Little does Charlie know, the psychic is a fraud and misled Charlie with a fake reading and fake spellbook. Unfortunately, Charlie takes the card to heart and performs a magic act for his friends at his birthday party, but miraculously he makes his friend Jessie disappear and can’t bring him back.
All photos by Mikki Schaffner.
Tickets are $15.50* for adults and $13.50 for students (prices include processing fees).Tickets can be purchased at: https://sites.google.com/view/whhstheatredepartment/tickets
This production and the entire WHHS Theatre Season is graciously sponsored by:
- The Walnut Hills High School Class of 1964 Performing Arts Fund
- The Walnut Hills High School Alumni Foundation
- Wings Walnut Hills Theatre Boosters
- WHHS Parent Association
- Solution Roofing
- Riverview Heating and Cooling
- Dr. Pepper and Family
Why We Like Love Stories features Silas Dronen as Bark, Sasha Rucker-Chang as Crooper, Tahirih Fanananzapir as Jessica, and Annajane Updegrove as Chloe. Murder in Little Grimley features Ellis Klump-Lawson as Gordon, Madeline Benoit as Margaret, WIlliam Crone as Bernard, Adina Morvay as Joyce, and Benno Gibson as Sam. Bebe Le Strange features Leni Cable as Bebe Le Strange, Ivy Syroney as Charlie, Grayson Isenberg as Finley, Za’nayah Combs-Reed as Emerson, Tuula Hicks as Jessie/Police Officer, and Emeline Gallagher as Alex.
- Student Directors- Caroline Lovelace, Aubrey Lowe, Mckenzie Bell, Ash Kertpet, and Easton Taylor
- Technical Director- Joe Mitchell
- Festival Producer- Mike Sherman
- Festival Stage Manager/Student Technical Director- Abbie Kershner
- Stage Managers-Violet Garitson, Adelaide Linser, Aidyn Montgomery, and C.C. Wise
- Costume Designer- Izzy Hayes
- Costume Manager- Al Carmicle
- Hair and Makeup Designer- Piper Hawkins
- Marketing and Publicity Manager- Adelaide Linser
- House Manager- Ellie Cook
- Lighting Designer- Dallon Hatton
- Lighting Managers- Dallon Hatton and Eleanor Jackson
- Props Designer- Sebastian Garitson
- Props Manager- Asher Morin
- Scenic Designer/Lead Scenic Artist- Polly Wilson
- Assistant Scenic Designer- Riley Coleman
- Scenic Manager- Lily Pavelka
- Sound Designer- Molly Wermuth
- Sound Manager- Violet Garitson
Behind the Curtain Cincinnati 