The University Interscholastic League (UIL) One-Act Play competitions are quickly approaching. District competitions will be in March, and schools have already cast their productions and begun rehearsals. Some are already quite far along in their production, even going as far as getting their costumes done.
Snyder High School’s Theatre Director Clark Reed said the cast and crew are rehearsing three nights a week and are still in the early stages of production for their play, The Tempest, by William Shakespeare, in which a storm overcomes a ship.
Prospero, the usurped Duke of Milan, uses magic to torment the survivors. Prospero’s slave, Caliban, plots to rid himself of his master, but is thwarted by Prospero’s spirit-servant Ariel. Prince Ferdinand, thought to be dead, falls in love with Prospero’s daughter Miranda, but their celebrations are cut short when Prospero confronts his brother Antonio about usurping him as Duke of Milan.
Snyder’s district competition is March 4 and will be held in Worsham Auditorium. Performances will begin at 1 p.m. that day, and Snyder will perform fourth of five schools, at around 4 p.m.
Hermleigh High School Theatre Director Cami Dehls said that they will stage a production called Ruby’s Story, set in June 1944 in Appalachia. Walter and Grace share a home with four daughters — Rose, who struggles to understand why the love of her life abruptly left to join the Polish Free Forces, Helga, who fears for her husband in the Army, Frieda, the family’s adventure-seeking daughter who works in a factory making uniforms, and teenage Ruby who must come to grips with a family that is falling apart at the seams.
D-Day speeds the dissolution process, but at its core is Walter’s seeming allegiance to his German heritage, no matter that Helga’s husband and Rose’s fiance are at war against all things German. Then there is Grace, hoping liberal doses of humor, love and understanding can restore harmony.
Hermleigh’s district contest is March 2, and its first festival is February 2.
Ira High School got a bit of a late start with this year’s One-Act Play, after deciding to change plays after first settling on one. Theatre Director Dale Jones said that they eventually landed on Nasty Things, Murders by Arthur Lovegrove.
In this suspenseful play, four ladies in a retirement home get upset when their TV breaks down at the climax of a murder drama. They talk about the murder, and to the horror of three of them, it appears that the fourth, Mary, may have been the murderess. When Mary leaves the room, the others consult as to what steps should be taken.
On Mary’s return a most unexpected telephone conversation sets their fears at rest and leaves them feeling rather foolish. But after they have gone and Mary is left alone, her behavior is strange, to say the least.
Ira’s district competition will take place on March 2.
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