Students at King’s Fork High School took possession of their standing as a dramatic force with their recent performances in drama competitions.

The performing arts ensemble earned second place in the Virginia High School League Theatre Festival district competition on Oct. 31. They advanced to the regional festival on Nov. 21 and placed sixth out of eight schools.

“I really wanted to kind of start the year with a bang,” said the new drama leader, Meredith McLaughlin. “It was really nice to have that first win and set the standard for the type of program I’m trying to build here.”

Student Dominic Horner earned the first-place Outstanding Actor Award at the district competition. At the regional competition, Horner and Bayley Smith earned Honorable Mention Outstanding Actor recognition.

The students worked on their play, “Apostrophe’s,” four days a week for eight weeks, McLaughlin said. The students were taken aback at first by the level of commitment she was demanding but soon adjusted to it, she said.

“It’s been quite an adjustment; quite an adventure,” she said, adding she was grateful for the support of students, parents and all of the school staff. “It’s been kind of an open playing field for me, so that’s been really nice.”

The play is set in a school where students are dealing with not being accepted, McLaughlin said. They are using too many apostrophes.

“They wanted to show possession of something because they didn’t have anything,” she said. “It’s mostly a comedy, but we get that message at the end when it all comes together and we get the real reason behind it.”

McLaughlin said she was pleased with the fall performances, and the drama students already are preparing for their February production, “The Mountaintop,” a re-imagining of the last night of Martin Luther King Jr.’s life. The play will take place Feb. 19-21.

McLaughlin also is working on nailing down the details of the spring musical.