After many long hours of rehearsal and clinics, the directors, cast and crew of this year’s OAP are continuing to meet their goals of advancing from one competition to another. Three competitions in March saw the group advancing three times, from district to bi-district, to area, and now to regionals later this month.

“All that hard work paid off when I heard that we were advancing,” freshman Bocho Villagomez said. “I was happy that we made it to regionals for my first year of doing OAP.”

Buffalo will compete on April 16 against Malakoff, Academy, Rice Altair, Crockett, and Woodville. Regional competition will be held in Brenham.

“I’m excited to compete against the other schools,” sophomore Marguerite Jones said. “I think we are going to do great and I believe in us.”

In addition to the show advancing, the tech crew won top crew. Individual awards at area included Jordan Early as All-Star Crew, Madison Rowan and David Alcantar as Honorable Mention Cast, and Taylor Lack as All-Star Cast. Lack also won Best Actress at district and All-Star Cast at bi-district; Lilah Adams was awarded Honorable Mention Cast at both district and bi-district, Rowan was named Honorable Mention at district, and Alcantar also received Honorable Mention at bi-district. Crew awards have included Garrett McAlpine at district and Alex Chase at bi-district.

“I was satisfied with our performance,” senior David Alcantar said. “I am really proud of my team for advancing.”

This is the first time in nine years that the OAP group has made it to regional competition.

“I thought that they did fantastic and that it was their best performance so far,” theater director Jill Henson said. “I was proud of them even before when the judges came back with the decision that we won.”