By Perry Schaible
Enquirer contributor

Brooke Rucidlo (left) and Logan Bradford rehearse for Turpin's Into The Woods. (Craig Ruttle photo) | ZOOM |

ANDERSON TOWNSHIP - When the curtain rises on Turpin High School's fall play, Tartuffe, cast and crew will face some of their toughest critics - their peers.

The show will open the third Greater Cincinnati season for Cappies (Critics and Awards Program), a program that teams high school theater and journalism students with teacher-mentors.

Six students are selected from each of the participating schools to attend high school performances, then write reviews.

At the end of the year, students win awards for performances, productions and reviews at a Tonys-style gala.

"It's beginning to change the way that high school theater and performance arts are viewed by people," said Susan Grubbs of Liberty Township in Butler County, who founded the local chapter.

Cappies is a Virginia-based organization started in 1999 by Bill Strauss, director of the Capitol Steps troupe, partly as a way to showcase positive youths in the aftermath of the Columbine shootings. It was also designed to recognize student talents in areas other than athletics. There are now 11 Cappies chapters nationwide.

Locally the group has grown from 10 schools two years ago to 25 today.

Grubbs started the local chapter after she heard a high school drama program was losing its backstage space to sports equipment. Sports, she says, is where students get most the recognition.

"There are so many other things kids are active in, this is a way of getting recognition for these kids while teaching them along the way," Grubbs said.

Cappies stages an awards show to recognize the students at the end of each year. This year that celebration will be hosted by the Cincinnati Arts Association, a sponsor of the Cappies, at the Aronoff Center for the Arts in May. Several scholarships for a six-week acting, technical, or writing workshop at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., will be given at the gala.

Turpin's performance will be the first this year for Cappies, followed by St. Ursula's performance of A Piece of My Heart and Campbell County's take on The Crucible.

For show schedules, see www.cappies.com