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.”

Hippies in the Dark Ages will hit the stage next week when the curtains open for San Lorenzo Valley High School’s rendition of the Broadway musical “Pippin.”