Cathy Bui (’17) working with BBN to continue her passion of entertaining the school. Photo by Jake Winkle.by Tejas Chadha, Staff Writer
From March 17-18, Fountain Valley High School’s theater program competed in the Fullerton High School Theatre Festival. Cathy Bui (’17) got first place in her category of Comedic Contemporary Monologue.
The competition is hosted by Fullerton High School and close to 50 different high school level theater programs compete. On the first day of competition each school’s competitors are divided up into their categories and compete for the best scores from a panel of judges. The top ten scoring competitors get to move on to the next day of competition.
“Our school has gone to the festival for around six to seven years and this is the first time we have ever won. It’s really cool because it’s so selective and I just love performing and this was my first time in the festival and I’m very honored to represent Fountain Valley’s theater program,” said Bui.
Bui won her category despite an immense lack of preparation. She was told a week in advance and had very little time to rehearse and prepare a proper monologue.
“I didn’t think I would be in the festival and I was told a week before so I developed my monologue and only had a day to rehearse, I was close to quitting the category,” said Bui. “I used to do a lot of community theater starting in elementary school and then I joined different theater programs and I still do a lot of community theater, so it has been a long time that I have been performing.”
In addition to her theater participation, Bui is one of the producers for Baron Broadcast News, president of Operation Smile, and has played guitar since she was in 7th grade. She has participated in the Friday Night Live talent show, often displaying her acting and guitar playing abilities for all four years of high school.
“It’s really hard to balance but I think it’s all worth it, I made a choice senior year to devote a lot more time to things I’m actually passionate about, so it is a lot of work but the thing I like about them is that I get to impact the school in some way and entertain the school in another way and that is something I want to do for the rest of my life, to bring people together with entertainment and making them smile,” Bui said.
