The musical season has ended, but the performance isn’t over.

Every year, the York County high school theater departments get together at Penn State York’s Pullo Center for one last show. 

Encore is York County’s last chance to showcase its high school musicals.

Each school gets an eight-minute performance period to show off their musical to the other schools and get adjudicated.

 This year, Encore took place on Sunday, April 27. Like most York County musical directors, Dallastown’s Amy Anderson has attended many Encore showcases.

“Encore is a celebration of musical theater in the York County Schools. It recognizes the talent, work, and accomplishments of local students.” Anderson said.

Anderson has taken Dallastown to Encore for over a decade.

“We go to Encore to show the community our pride in our students and their extraordinary talent. We want to share Dallastown’s talented students with the York community,” Anderson said.

Above all, Encore has the most impact on York County seniors. With awards and scholarship opportunities, the senior class is eager to attend Encore. 

Senior Luke Miller commented on the significance of Encore to musical seniors and how it differs from years past. 

“I think it will hit differently for me this year since it will be my last performance with the school and with musicals,” Miller said. 

But after the showcase is complete, the seniors have one last performance.

“The senior performance is the final performance at the showcase, where schools choose representatives to perform one final song or medley. Several seniors were selected from Dallastown as a final hurrah for our time doing musicals,” Miller said.

Dallastown had seven seniors perform in the showcase including Chloe Oyler. She had a special experience with the finale performance.

“I’m a dancer above everything else, I’ve been dancing since I was six. I really loved Into The Woods, but it didn’t really give me a chance to show off my dancing. When I got a featured dance part in the finale, I was really excited that I would finally be able to show off the skills Dallastown musicals and Greater York Dance have given me,” Oyler said.

One of the most exciting parts of Encore is seeing who gets the awards from the judges. 

This year, Dallastown’s Encore Award went to  Oyler. The Encore Award goes to one senior per school.

Junior Chelsea Cottrell won a performance award based upon her showing in the eight-minute clip of Into the Woods, and Miller was awarded a $1000 scholarship. 

Although the awards are nice, Anderson hopes her students appreciate more than just the competition.

“Anytime there is a competition, I worry that some will feel overlooked. I just hope the students enjoy being together again and getting to perform a piece of a show that they loved.” Anderson said.