“Our performance made people cry, and that was exciting,” senior Nora Thompson says of the duo-scene she and fellow-senior Michael Accurso performed. On November 18-19th, Thompson and Accurso went to the Arizona Thespian Festival at the Phoenix Convention Center and won Superiors for their amazing scene from the play Rabbit Hole – a Pulitzer Prize winning drama about a married couple dealing with the loss of their son.

Thompson and Accurso have been practicing the intense, five- minute fighting scene off and on for two years. “We couldn’t stay serious long enough to actually finish the scene,” Nora recalled.  the two close friends both love to laugh and be funny with each other, making it difficult to rehearse the serious scene.  “Ever since I was little, I always wanted to make people laugh… And so acting lets me express myself. I really like the element that you can become someone else,” Accurso stated.  “I definitely think we did an awesome job with it, and we continue to do an awesome job with it,” Thompson compliments about their scene. “Working together on this brought us closer as friends and definitely opened up our ability to act.” Accurso agreed they work really well together.

Though there is always room for improvement, they both felt satisfied with their final performance. The day before the performance, Nora could not remember any of her lines.  It became very stressful. Michael, in turn, became frustrated and the two decided to leave it alone for a couple of hours. However, when they actually performed, it went incredibly smooth. They even high-fived each other when they saw the audience tearing up. It was only the topping on the cake when their teacher, Ms. Rossmeissl told them they won Superiors.  This was super exciting for them and they had plenty of time to bask in the glow since their TUSD bus broke down in the parking lot and they had to wait an additional three hours for Sabino’s cheer team to pick the up.

“Ecstatic. Over-joyed… I finally accomplished something worthwhile in my life,” Accurso says about how he felt about receiving such an award. Thompson felt like crying over the whole experience, but she was really excited to win.

Although both seniors, Thompson and Accurso have a very vague idea what to do after high school. Accurso says he will probably want to have a wife that loves him and two kids. Thompson says she will probably aim to be a “successful businesswoman who eats the hearts of men.” Even though they wouldn’t pursue acting in the future, whatever they want to do, we will support these two talented and passionate Cougars. Congratulations on being such Superior Thespians!

*Michael Accurso and Nora Thompson would like to thank their drama teachers Ms. Rossmeissl (aka McGriddle) for picking and directing them. Also, special thanks to their previous drama teacher Mrs. Wharam for being the first person to show them how to do their scene.