Every year, a team of Cappies Critics is chosen by Mr. John Whapham, theater director. This year, the team consists of seven students of all grade levels. On average, there are about 7 people on a team, but there can be as little as one or as many as nine.
The team is as follows: Erinn Sonntag, 12, lead critic, Zack Steele, 12, Ryan Sess, 12, Laura Birckhead, 11, Emma Rosen, 10, Rebecca Pollak, 11, Ellie Goldman, 9, and Hannah Goldman, 9.
“I’m really looking forward to this Cappies year! It’s fun to have a little friendly competition with the other schools, and it helps us work harder to present our audience with an even better show!” said Birckhead.
As critics, this group needs to review at least five high school shows that are part of the Cappies program. To join, a school has to pay a fee and fill out an application about the school as well as how involved the school wishes to be in the Cappies program and then their shows are Cappies shows.
After the critics watch the shows, they write reviews, somewhat like a movie critic would see a movie and then write a repost on it after.
If a review is chosen by an adult editor as one of the best 10 reviews of that show then the top three critics’ articles are fully published and the other seven critics’ names are published in the Cincinnati Enquirer.
“Cappies is a great opportunity for high school students to be exposed to different shows and critique their peers. It is an integral part of supporting the future of theatre in Cincinnati,” said Steele.
At the end of the season, all critics come together and rate various aspects of the shows they saw including costumes, props, sound, lighting, lead female, lead male, etc. Voting occurs and is what determines who receives the Cappie for that category.
There is then a Cappies Gala held at the Aronoff Center downtown where all of the Cappies are awarded. Also, each school nominated gets to perform one scene from their show.
"Being a Cappies Critic is a great opportunity to see high school theater performances in the area, to improve on critical writing skills, and to meet all kinds of new people that are involved in theater in the Cincinnati area," said Sonntag.