The beginning of the new year meant the beginning of One Act Play season for theatre students. With the Christmas show behind them, students are now focusing on creating a strong show for district competition March 26.

    In order to give the cast more time to work together this year, the plan is to focus the majority of rehearsals to class time; the hope is that this will cut down with conflicts with other extracurricular activities. For the first week back in school, the cast practiced some more on Comedia, the physical aspect of the play that they will be using in OAP for the first time.

    “We’ve been practicing the physical aspect of the show, which involves acrobatics and overstressed movements,” senior Preston Mosley said. “This week we’ve been focused on starting the actual scenes and stage movements so we can add the acrobatics in later”

    Using Commedia is a challenge that the theatre students think they are up to mastering, even though many of the stunts are difficult. They hope the practice time they put in during the fall semester will help, and they hope that using Commedia will make them stand out.

    “The stunts and movements involved with Commedia are very different from anything we have ever done before,” senior Trent Martin said. “I think that all of our practice and everything that we have learned will set us apart and give us an edge over the competition.”

    Veteran OAP members, disappointed to have missed advancing last spring, are determined to change their fate this year. That determination, they hope, along with extra rehearsals and clinics aimed at improving their performance, will make a difference in competition.

    “I feel like we have a really strong play this year, and that we have a lot of potential to make it to State,” junior Kayla Hutchins said. “If we don’t advance, it will definitely be a let down.”