Theater UIL season has officially ended after Johnson’s One Act performance did not advance beyond the Area competition.
“One act is a competition. It’s a UL competition, sort of like sports has UIL, band has UIL, academic has UIL. This is a competition for theater and you put on a 40 minute play, it has to be 40 minutes, if it’s 40 minutes and one second you’re disqualified,” Theater director Megan Thompson said. “You compete against other schools who also representing their 40 minute plays, uh and judges judge you and advance the top three from each competition, and you can go all the way up to state”
The competitive aspect is particularly appealing to some participants.
“We are doing a play called Queens, which is about the six wives of Henry the Eighth, and they are basically torturing him in purgatory, saying, you didn’t treat us right when we were alive, so now you have to relive all of the terrible things that you did to us,” Thompson said. “I really do love the competition aspect of it. It’s such a strange thing because art is so subjective. How do you judge good art? How do you compare art against each other? But I think the competition aspect of it is fun.”
Theater students are encouraged to audition for One Act if not for the experience then for the fun that comes with it.
“I think that it really inspires the kiddos. I think it really helps them grow because we work on the same show for a really long time and we get chances to improve it and change it and improve it and change it at each level,” Thompson said. “It’s really challenging as we advance in levels to fit the time it takes to rehearse and continue to improve their acting around all the other commitments we have both on the stage, as well as for our own actors.”
Due to the time constraint actors and directors face the challenge of presenting their best work.
“This year we did the show Queens and it’s about King Henry and his wives and I played dream King Henry,” Senior Sebastian Tavares said. “Basically he’s the character in the show that emulates the past Henry of like, what he did with his wives and it was basically a storytelling of what King Henry had done in the past with his wives to show his wrongdoings.”
Experiences bring lasting memories and there’s no better chance than heading towards a competition with your cast and friends.
“I think one of the biggest moments was us making jokes about whenever we went to official rehearsals or we went to clinics and we got random notes and random little bits and pieces that were really funny from the judges and everything that made us giggle,” Tavares said. “I think the best memories would probably be whenever we were all together on the bus, going to official rehearsals or going to clinics that were pretty far away.”
UIL for theater will bring plenty of experience for anyone considering a career in theatrical arts.
“I would say either for a technician or an actor, I would say push yourself some, really go for UIL because it’s a good experience and it really does have a lot of learning curves with it,” Tavares said. “This process of not just acting, but also having this um this criticism and the constructive criticism, and all this experience and for prolonged acting really does show you if you really do enjoy acting or enjoy this career and stuff.”
This year two Johnson students were given Best Actress awards, one of which being Hannah Richardson.
“Yeah, it was I mean, I don’t know, it was really exciting and I’m really honored to have been selected for that and was kind of a reflection of all the work that I’ve put in and that so I was happy that I was recognized for that,” Junior Hannah Richardson said. “I would want people to perceive it as I think, I would want them to take away that this really happened and this was something that was very prevalent in that world and not only in that world, but also in ours, and the hierarchy in their system as well as ours.”
Aside from being fun and bringing experience these competitions can have roles that are near and dear to some cast members’ hearts.
“I played Ann Boleyn and she’s been my dream role since I was like 13. I love Anne Boleyn so much, and being able to use my love of her history into my acting, my two favorite things being combined was really a wonderful experience,” Richardson said. “I started working on the audition the second that I found out that that show was being picked because I loved the Tudor history so much, and I loved Anne Boleyn and so much so I know that I really wanted to work hard for Anne Bolin.”
When it comes to memorable parts Richardson may have the cake.
“I liked my entire monologue. I think the part at the end, she kind of loses her mind and she starts laughing and crying at the same time, and then she says she has such a little neck. That was a really fun part to play,” Richardson said. “I think the most memorable part was trying to become Anne Boleyn when it’s just such a different time, and she’s such a different person.”
