With last year’s disheartening turnout in districts still fresh in their minds, Competitive One Acting and Readers’ Theatre will travel to Mexico, Mo. today to compete for their ranking and continue on to state competitions. Considering the negative results the teams received in their previous district competition, junior Megan Watts said that their unsatisfactory performance was partly because of unpreparedness.
“Last year, a student teacher was the director and she had never done it before so she didn’t know what to expect and what they wanted,” Watts said. “We ended up getting last place because there were some things that we did that weren’t [called for in the competition].”
Sophomore Marilyn Bollinger, who is apart of Readers’ Theatre, believes that although the team didn’t get to go to state last year, she is still open minded to new opportunities that each play offers.
“Me and Megan were in Readers’ Theatre last year and it was a disappointment because we didn’t get to go to state,” Bollinger said. “We still have the same excitement that we’re going again but we’re hoping it’s not as bad as it was last year.”
Students in One Act will perform “Plaza Suite” by Neil Simon, and Readers’ Theatre students will showcase “Sorry, Wrong Number” by Lucille Fletcher. Watts, who performs in Readers’ Theatre, said that the dynamic of these acts are different than their usual shows.
“It’s similar to a play, but you have your script in your hand and you don’t have to memorize it. There is no costumes, there’s no set [and there’s] minimal blocking, meaning minimal movement,” Watts said. “The same people can play multiple characters without any kind of real distinction. Just your position can signify a different character.”
Since first starting to practice these performances about a month ago, senior Evann Twitchell said she has appreciated the effort put into the them and is excited to showcase their work.
“Most of our rehearsals have been during class so that’s been nice to not have to come after school all the time and that it works in with our class schedule,” Twitchell said. “It’s cool to finally put our hard work in front of an audience like we did tonight and to also see everybody else’s [performance].”
 
By Grace Vance