Alumnus featured on ABC's 20-20 for high school production of The Wiz
The Westfield High School drama program, which was established by Virginia Tech alumnus Scott Pafumi, will be featured in a two-hour special on ABC-TV, "Drama High: The Making of a High School Musical," on Monday, Dec. 15 at 9 p.m.
During the 2007-08 school year, ABC News spent three months filming Pafumi’s production of The Wiz, beginning with auditions by over 100 students and concluding with the final performance. Fifty actors and more than 50 technicians participated in the production, which was performed in November and December 2007. Student video diaries and interviews reveal the story of the production. The Wiz received 17 Cappie nominations and won three Cappie awards (Critics Awards Program) for Russell Wagoner as featured actor, for Jade Jones as featured actress, and for Mariam Haider and Lee Doubleday for costumes.
Pafumi, who is a member of the Class of 1995, is director of the theatre arts department at Westfield, a Chantilly, Va., high school located in Fairfax County. The ABC network promos focus on the high school students – the angst and drama of auditioning and rehearsing -- but Pafumi serves to anchor the program. Overall, Pafumi’s program at Westfield has won more Cappie Awards than all but one other school in the area.
“The documentary follows the 12-week rehearsal process and production of “The Wiz” from last fall,” noted Pafumi. “This is a really big deal for me, my theatre program, and Westfield High School. They have narrowed down over 300 hours of footage into this two-hour TV documentary.”
