Designs were selected to promote Drama’s performance on posters and program covers.
Story by Ella Apisakkul
Staff Writer
The art contest for the Rio Hondo play was held in the fall of 2026 with a deadline of Wednesday, September 16. Participants were given a synopsis of the play and instructed to create a digital or physical piece that reflected it, which would be entered in the contest.
One design, selected based on its ability to summarize the themes of the play and its ability to work well with text, was picked to be displayed on promotional posters for the play throughout South Pasadena, in the school, and online while five others were selected to be program covers at the play’s showing. Additional pieces will be displayed in the lobby of the Little Theater at the production. The contest was given as an assignment for the entire intermediate art class, but was optional for the art portfolio development and AP art classes.
“It’s a collaboration I do with Mr. Hoffa every year to develop interest in the play, but [it’s] also a real life assignment where students can create something that would actually be used for a poster or a program,” art teacher Aimee Levie said on what the art contest was. Art students also got the chance to earn community service hours through the contest, as Levie has requirements for students to fulfill where they must submit their art in two ways that relate to the community throughout the school year.
The contest was not exclusively held for the Rio Hondo play, as it is a contest that is held every year in order to promote that year’s fall play. The play producers and Nick Hoffa, the SPHS drama instructor and play’s director, decide on the contest winners.
This year, senior Elen Shahnazaryan’s design was selected for the promotional poster, while senior Sasha Levie’s, sophomore Nathan Oh’s, senior Sadie Fleagane’s, sophomore Rafael Esteva’s, and senior Cadence Ni’s designs were selected for the program covers.
Applicants were guided to include imagery involving the Western themes of the play, such as Western landscapes, deserts, cows, and horses. “They wanted it to be a reference to old Western movies, and I’m really quite into Westerns, so I just Googled some of my favorites and looked through their vintage posters,” nominated artist Shahnazaryan said. “I went for a quintessential cowboy vibe, with a gruff sheriff and an outlaw.”
Shahnazaryan, one of the three students that entered the contest from the art portfolio development and AP art classes, entered the contest on a whim. Though she is not directly affiliated with the play, she considers herself somewhat connected due to “every single one of [her] friends” being part of it. “Since it was my last year, I figured I’d leave [a mark], I’d try and do something for the school,” Shanazaryan said.
The South Pasadena High School production of Rio Hondo will be performed on Friday, November 6, Saturday, November 7, Friday, November 13, and Saturday, November 14 at 7:00 p.m. with a 2:00 p.m. matinee, or daytime performance, on November 15 in the high school’s Little Theater. General admission is $15, and tickets can be purchased through the South Pasadena Drama website.