Cedartown High School can now boast of a record-setting fourth region championship in a row. However, it is actors, not athletes that brought the titles home.

The CHS One-Act Play Cast won their 4th 6AAA Region Championship in a row on Nov. 3 with their performance of the play, “A Thousand Cranes.”

CHS cast member Katelyn Cox won the "Best Actress" award for the day and other cast awards included "All-Star Cast" members Alex Cervantes and Sarah Garmon and also the "Best Tech-Crew" award, which honored the "behind the scenes" work done by students who didn't perform on stage.

The group then went on to place fifth at the state competition in Norcross.

Chris Reaves, the CHS Drama Program Director said he couldn't be prouder of his students.

“Cedartown High School is becoming known throughout the state as a high school to be reckoned with not only in the sports arena, but on the stage as well,” he said.

Four consecutive One-Act Region Championships, he said, is a record for the region for One-Act competition.

This year's winning play, “A Thousand Cranes” was based on an old Japanese folktale of a young girl named Sadako who died from Leukemia as a result of being exposed to the bomb that hit Hiroshima.

The play is actually a true story based on the life a little girl who believed the Japanese legend that if a person folds a thousand paper cranes he or she will receive a wish - in her case, to be well again.

Japan has an actual statue of Sadako holding a crane and has a "Festival of Cranes" each year to celebrate Sadako's story.

“Judges were really impressed by the set which transformed from Japanese fans into an actual crane, including flapping wings,” Reaves said.

Although the CHS drama program still does well at the Region level, Reaves said that they still have difficulty being competitive when they get to state.

"We do well, but we can't compete with high schools who have their own theatres in which they can rehearse constantly. At CHS we still rehearse in the space in front of the Media Center.”

According to Reaves, Polk Superintendent Dr. Darrell Sorrells wants to see the drama program have their own practice and performance space at the school.

“Dr. Sorrells hopes to possibly add a "black box" theatre to CHS when renovations really get underway; a possibility that the kids and I find thrilling, said Reaves.

The black box theatre consists of a simple, somewhat unadorned performance space, usually a large square room with black walls and a flat floor.

“Not only would a black box give us an opportunity to increase our number of Theatre electives, but black box theatres are used at Berry College, Shorter College, and the Darlington School in lieu of an auditorium and can be excellent theatre spaces."

Reaves said that other programs could benefit from a theatre as well.

A "black box" theatre is not an auditorium, but would be an awesome step forward for the theatre program at CHS and be of great benefit to all of the Fine Arts programs at Cedartown High School.