El Toro High Senior Wins Prestigious Costume Design Contest

Whether it's painting with watercolors and acrylics, or sculpting with plaster, Alysa Randles is one of the top young artists at .

Now, Randles can add award-winning costume designer to her résumé.

The El Toro senior won first prize in costume design at the prestigious Musical Theatre Competitions of America, a drama festival held at Disneyland last month. She designed costumes for three characters in the musical Snoopy: Woodstock, Snoopy and Sally.

The professional panel of judges at the event also gave Randles a gold rating, naming her among the top 5 percent of costume designers nationwide.

“Alysa has a really creative eye and a natural talent for drawing as well as painting,” said drama teacher Dan Blackley.

Randles paints sets for drama productions and produces an original marquee painting for each show to hang outside the school’s theater, he said.

This was Randles' first foray into costume design, and she said she might be interested in pursuing it in the future. If she could design costumes for any show, it would be Peter Pan, she said, because she would love to dress  Tinkerbell and Nana, the dog character.

“I like to see how it all comes out in the end and to know that I did that,” said Randles, who plans to attend the Laguna College of Art and Design next fall. “It’s just another way to express myself.”

El Toro’s drama department also placed fourth overall for its ensemble production of Snoopy. Nine students had been working on their 10-minute piece—including two musical numbers—for the festival, since auditioning in October.

The Snoopy cast featured Andrew Guzman, Derek Hedbany, Jasmine Sims, Jordan Lin, Kayla Green, Raymond Montoya, Melissa Rogers, Ciera Bardowell and Savannah Ferrera-Grand.

As part of the Musical Theatre Competitions, student actors received constructive criticism from judges who work at universities or in the industry.

“This festival is the most constructively helpful festival of the year,” said Hedbany, a senior who plans to study theatre at NYU in the fall and who played Linus in the production. “They came up onstage after we performed, and the judge pointed out things that others might not see.”

Students also got to tour backstage areas of Disneyland, including behind its main stage and its massive costume garage.

“I thought it was an amazing experience, and I really did learn a lot,” said Jasmine Sims, a senior who played Peppermint Patty. “It was really cool going backstage at Disney and seeing them perform for you, to get to see how they prepare.”

This was the fifth time El Toro students attended the Musical Theatre Competitions of America, which is in its sixth year, Blackley said.

“I was very proud of all my students,” Blackley said. “They came away learning so much about their craft.”