Imagine: you have finally found your niche, your forte, and it is acting. The high school has a group of students who love acting, and contribute to the development of the theater program. Over the years, the theater department has won nine state competitions in the one act and readers theater. This year, the one act and reader’s theater continued this legacy, and scored high at competition.

The one act and reader’s theater are both miniature plays that the theater takes to competition. For the one act, a set crew has to build, take apart, and transport the set that the actors will be using. Once they have transported it to the school where the competition is taking place, the crew has to reassemble all the pieces correctly for the actors to use. They are given a total of 15 minutes to assemble and disassemble the set.

“I was a part of the set crew. We had to bring the parts of the set on the stage in less than three minutes. We accomplished the goal perfectly,” said senior Mattathias Davis.

Students such as freshman Trevor Diepenbrock think that the storyline of the one act is a strong one. The main character loses her family, and expresses her feelings throughout the play. She begins to feel that life is lost, and college is useless. Several students and teachers who have seen the one act comment on its strong message.

“The one act ‘At The Bottom Of Lake Missoula’ is a masterpiece, and everyone should go to see it. It is relatable, and pulls the heartstrings. It is so good that I have trouble explaining the emotions that I felt when watching it,” said Diepenbrock.

This year, the one act ran into a problem while they were rehearsing. Anytime a show is performed, the performers have to purchase the rights to do that show. The playwright has to make money, along with the publishing company, so they charge for every time the actors perform. The theater department had trouble securing the necessary rights.

“About two to three weeks later, when there was only two weeks left before the district tournament, we received an email from the publishing company that said that there was a problem getting the rights for the show,” said theater teacher Todd Schnake.

The actors had to pick a different show, and they had to find it fast. They had already been rehearsing the three weeks they were waiting for rights. It is not normal to have rights declined, and it was a huge surprise for the actors in the one act.

“I’ve been doing this for 24 years, and directed over 80 plays, without any trouble getting rights to any show,” said Schnake.

Not only was the show now illegal, but their deadline had been moved up a month earlier. Everything was set into high speed, and the actors did not have any free time to relax.

Aside all of the problems, the group of actors found a new show that they liked. They secured the rights, and were left with 10 days to rehearse the half hour performance. After long hours staying after school, the actors took the play to districts. Details were being changed up until it was ready to perform. In the end, the results from all of their effort reflected on the place that they received.

“We took it to competition, and we ended up winning districts with it. We will now be moving onto state, using this same production. I wish that this wouldn’t have happened, but it’s nice to know that we were able to deal with the challenge when it did,” said Schnake.

As for the reader’s theater, guidelines keep the set minimal. There was nothing large that needed to be transported, because part of the competition parameters include the use of block-like cubes as the only prop. The costume is a single T-shirt that all the actors had to wear. For competition this year, the theater department chose to perform “Adaptation,” whose storyline is explained by junior Lacey Duley.

“The guy goes through his life like a game, and finds the true meaning of self satisfaction. He goes through elementary school, high school, gets a job, gets a wife, and becomes successful in life,” said Duley.

The reader’s theater performance won second at districts. Overall, both performances marked high in district competition, and will be continuing onto state competitions.