Big stage awaits Battle Ground High School

What started like any other morning for 18-year-old Nicole Kehoe last May soon shifted to a day she said she’ll never forget.

Kehoe arrived at school at Battle Ground High School, then swung by her usual morning hangout, the drama teacher’s classroom. It was there that she received news she said drove her to tears of joy and excitement.

The Battle Ground High School Drama Club received a coveted spot performing at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world’s largest performing arts festival. Of the 3,000 high schools in North America nominated by a professional or academic in the theater world, only 40 of the top schools are selected to participate.

“He was like, ‘You know that Scotland thing we were nominated for?’ ” Kehoe recalls drama teacher Stephan Henry saying. ” ‘We’re going.’ ”

The students will travel to London then on to Edinburgh in August, where they’ll perform “Almost, Maine,” their winter show opening locally this weekend. In Edinburgh, they’ll be featured among more than 50,000 performances of more than 3,000 shows in nearly 300 venues across the city.

Henry, whose students call him by his nickname, “Cash,” said they hope to raise enough money to take 15 of the school’s students and three chaperones.

“Honestly, they are some of the most professional kids I’ve ever worked with,” Henry said as his students milled around in the school cafeteria prepping for a dress rehearsal.

Henry doesn’t know who nominated the group, though he believes it was someone who watched their performance of “The 1940s Radio Hour” at the 2015 Fifth Avenue Awards, a Seattle competition honoring high school musical performances.

The nomination came as a surprise for Henry, who started the high school drama club at the school only four years ago. Some seniors in his class are among the first drama students at the high school since it went from being a combined program with Prairie High School to its own standalone club. Furthermore, the students aren’t performing on an ideal platform — the school stage is in the cafeteria and is missing some features of more advanced high school stages.

Those limited resources and fledgling status make the opportunity to perform across the globe even sweeter.

“The great thing for these kids is they’re going to meet kids from all over the country and the world,” Henry said. “To get a chance to be ambassadors for Battle Ground on an international stage is going to be such an awesome experience for these kids.”

Sammy Carroll, a 17-year-old junior, described the news as a validating experience, and proof that the group’s hard work after school and on weekends has paid off.

“It was just a feeling of, ‘Wow, we can really do this,'” Carroll said.

Skyler Denfeld, a 17-year-old senior, joined the drama club as a freshman in its first year. His passion for the stage drove him to decide to continue studying theater in college. He plans to attend Southern Utah University next year, where he has won a full-ride scholarship.

The university, which features a theater close in design to William Shakespeare’s iconic Globe Theatre, hosts the Utah Shakespeare Festival.

“I think it’s a phenomenal opportunity,” Denfeld said. “Since we are performing there, we get to represent Battle Ground.”

The students are about $20,000 short of the $110,000 they’re trying to raise. The trip costs about $6,400 per student. That includes airfare, lodging, tickets, security, travel insurance and other benefits. After a few large donations over Christmas break — including $30,000 from a donor in London — the club has guaranteed its spot on the trip.

Now it’s about making sure everyone who wants to participate can, Henry said. The club will be collecting donations at Thursday’s premier of “Almost, Maine” and is also collecting tax-deductible donations at the Battle Ground High School Associated Student Body Office.

And if anyone deserves the opportunity, it’s his students, Henry said, calling them some of the most hardworking, accepting and kind students he’s ever known.

“They inspire me on a daily basis because they are continually driving themselves to be better at what they do,” he said.