One Act Play Gives Several Performances

November 22, 2011 by Daneesa Harvey

The Pierce one-act play cast and crew put on a show at the downtown auditorium on Monday evening, November 14. Then they traveled to Wausa for the Swedish One-Act Festival on Tuesday, November 15 and traveled to Wayne for the WSC Play Festival on Wednesday, November 16. 

View the slide show of pic by clicking here:  One-Act 2011

Director Mrs. Danielle Goetsch said the community show wasn’t their best performance, but it was an opportunity to get the kids in front of an audience. It helped them ease their nervousness. It also allowed parents to see what they were doing. They did not have the opportunity to practice again before presenting the play at the two festivals, but Goetsch said the group worked on enunciation and on freezes. Each one took it upon him or herself to clarify monologues and work on characterization. 

The Swedish One-Act Festival at Wausa is an opportunity for one-act programs to get competitive practice and get helpful critiques before the schools compete at conference and districts. “No one-act is rated,” said Goetsch. Instead, each one-act is critiqued by other directors. The directors provide advice to help the performers prepare for the next show.

This year there were only five schools attending the Swedish One-Act Festival. They were Pierce, Plainview, Bloomfield, Winside, and Wausa. “The judges were complimentary. They like the play, and they felt that with a little work, the performance would be tough to beat,” said Goetsch. The judges suggested that the freezes could be more abrupt, and they suggested adding more music to the performance.

There were awards at the Wausa event. Jacob Jones received the best overall male performer for the school, and Caleb Lohrberg received the best supporting male performer for the school. The best overall performer went to Hope Pedersen. The supporting female performer award went to MaKayla Douglass. Zach Halsey, Briton Rodenborg, and Amy Fleer also received recognition.

The Wayne event was the Mid-State One-Act Festival. All the Mid-State schools presented their plays for the judges to critique. Schools present were Wayne, O’Neill, Crofton, Norfolk Catholic, Boone Central, Madison, West Point Guardian Angels Central Catholic, Battle Creek, and Hartington Cedar Catholic. Halsey, Jones, Molly Harris, and Pedersen received recognition as best actors and best actresses for the school.

Goetsch said that as a whole the performance was successful. The judges suggested that certain performers work on volume. They also suggested adding more music. Goetsch commented, “As always, I have many changes that I want to make. It is a matter of how much time I have that will determine how many changes will be made.”

Next on the one-act play agenda is preparing for the district one-act competition at the Johnny Carson Theatre in Norfolk. They perform at 8:30 a.m on Friday, December 2.