Sitting on the far right of the theater, Noah Harper, Avery Cassetta, and Cameron Gordon grabbed each other’s hands and waited anxiously. The 2025 North Carolina Theatre Conference (NCTC) had come to an end, and after all their hard work, the Davie Players were silently praying. Please, let us just get runners-up.
“Now, for the adjudicators’ choice…Davie County High School, Anatomy of Gray!”
For years, Davie High School had never won NCTC. Year after year, the advanced theatre class, Davie Players, had put their all into their performances with no luck, so when the 2025-2026 Davie Players went to Asheboro to take part in the competition, none of them expected that streak to break.
NCTC is a competition between various North Carolina high school theater programs. Each school performs two shows in front of an audience of both their peers as well as two adjudicators who analyze and critique the performances. After every school has performed, the adjudicators and the audience each pick one winner from over 100 schools to perform at NCTC’s State Conference.
This year, the Davie Players performed two stage productions. The first, “Anatomy of Gray” by Jim Leonard Jr., is the story of a girl named June, whose town begins to experience a mysterious illness not long after a doctor drifts into town. The second, “Brian the Comet” by Emily Hageman, tells the story of two teenagers who happen to find each other in a hospital while both are in need of support.
Prior to 2025, Davie High had never won either the adjudicators’ or audience’s vote. Signs that the tables would be turning were evident after both the “Anatomy of Gray” and “Brian the Comet” performances on the second day of competition. Both shows were met with a heavy emotional response and thunderous applause.
“I always say ‘We make a cake,’” theatre director Chad Edwards said. “All of that characterization, and hard work, and listening and acting, and all of the technical elements go into making the cake…what happens at festival is kind of the icing on the cake.”
The Davie Players walked away with quite a few awards for both plays, including Wardrobe and Makeup Design, Ensemble Acting, Directing, and Stage Management. Additionally, actors Libby Burt and Roman Smith both earned “Excellence in Acting” awards for their performances in “Brian the Comet.”
“Good lord, it was terrifying,” Libby Burt said. “They said my name and I screamed.” Burt found the fact that she had won an award in her only year as a Davie Player incomprehensible. “I just remember looking around for whose name got called and then realizing it was me, and it was genuinely trippy.”
And she wasn’t alone in this feeling. For Roman Smith, who had never won an award for his acting, this moment felt “like a really big step” for the young performer who wants to pursue acting as a career.
“It really heightens my confidence as an actor, and it makes me wanna just keep pushing and just keep stepping up,” Smith said. “Acting is home for me, and I don’t ever wanna stop.”
Finally, it was time to announce the winning shows. After a pause, where actors held their breaths and said silent prayers, the adjudicators’ choice was revealed. “Davie County High School. ‘Anatomy of Gray.’”
“It was a very thrilling moment,” junior Hazel Reavis, who played Rebekah in “Anatomy of Gray,” said. “I never thought anything like that would actually happen… we’ve worked so hard for this, we rehearsed so much, and we’ve done so much character work, and it really was just one of the best moments of my life.”
Once the announcement was made, the rest of the Davie High cast was overwhelmed with emotion. Some were screaming in excitement, others, like junior Keara Dowd, were shedding tears of joy.
“I was so excited,” Dowd said. “That’s such a big thing. Davie’s never been to State. We’re taking Davie to State for something that never gets any recognition. We’re in such a small program that a lot of people just overlook because of stereotypes and everything like that, but we actually have a really good program.”
Despite the fact that “Anatomy of Gray” was the only Davie High show chosen to go to State competition, both shows received “Superior” ratings from the adjudicators, the highest possible score.
“Man, I was just super psyched that both of them achieved very high ratings,” Edwards said. “It was a testament to all of their hard work.”
So what’s next for Davie Players? Currently, the group is preparing for a student-led production of the “Not-So-Great Gatsby,” as well as a production of “Two Chairs and a Lie,” which Edwards hopes will provide the comic relief “we all kind of need.” Edwards hopes this success will be a sign of great things for the future.
“The sky’s the limit. I hope this garners more interest for people to audition for the class and to see what it is that we can do and achieve.”
