Ritenour High School’s fall play, The Women of Lockerbie, was selected as one of two outstanding high school productions that will be showcased at the Missouri Thespian Conference Jan. 12-14, 2014 in St. Louis.

The powerful RHS show was selected for the encore performance at the conference after it was judged by Missouri State Thespians Board members. RHS drama teacher Gregory Jones was the director of the play.

The Dramatists Play Service provides the following synopsis of the play:

“A mother from New Jersey roams the hills of Lockerbie Scotland, looking for her son’s remains that were lost in the crash of Pan Am 103. She meets the women of Lockerbie, who are fighting the U.S. government to obtain the clothing of the victims found in the plane’s wreckage. The women, determined to convert an act of hatred into an act of love, want to wash the clothes of the dead and return them to the victim’s families. The Women of Lockerbie is loosely inspired by a true story, although the characters and situations in the play are purely fictional. Written in the structure of a Greek tragedy, it is a poetic drama about the triumph of love over hate. Winner of the silver medal in the Onassis International Playwriting Competition and the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays award.”

Students who performed in this play in November in Ritenour Auditorium also will perform at the state Thespian Conference in St. Louis. They are: Emma Norman, Graham Meyer, Kiley Markham, Tiffany Dinh, Makhallah Taabish, Jordyn Barber, Emma Carriker, Lexi Sneed and J’von Halbert.

The set and tech crew included 31 RHS students: Amanda Stief, Vincent Vaccaro, Ahmad Grayson, Alex Arismendez, Jacob Bannor, Justin Beck, Gerald Corley, Carla Damian, Daniel Dowell, Arianna Gibson, Tiyler Grayson, Linda Hewitt, Olivia Hilliard, Talen Jackson, Jene’ Kelly, Eddy Malone, El Moriah Muleba, Andrew Nguyen, De’Onna Norman, Destinee Paige, Dalila Pina, Gerald Purtty, Meishelle Reid, Dashaun Sneed, Kailee Tabers, Kindrell Thomas, Vincent Vaccaro, Nina Vasser, Levi West and Taylor Wishnask.