It was a joyous scene in the Watsonville courthouse for a team of Scotts Valley High School students who came out on top in the annual mock trial competition.

A young heroine from Boulder Creek gave her father an early gift this year for the Feb. 1 birthday they share: the gift of more birthdays together.

Award-winning set designer Skip Epperson, chairman of the Cabrillo College Theater Arts program and longtime set designer for Cabrillo Stage, spent an hour and a half this week advising Scotts Valley High School’s Advanced Drama Class on how to build the set for the upcoming play “Urinetown.”