The annual One Acts are not only the last theatre production of the year, but for seniors, it’s their last high school production as well.
The One Acts are plays cast and directed by seniors. This year’s directors were, Sean Huizing, Tia Hawkes and Hailey Briggs.
“Huizing, Hawkes and Briggs are all very talented performers and I think they can be very good directors,” Performing Arts Center director Mike Frank said.
The directors are selected before spring break and when school resumes the actors are cast. It’s then up to each director to rehearse and prepare for their final show, this year it was on May 22.
This is Briggs’ first and last time participating in the One Acts. It also happens to be her first time directing a high school production.
“[Directing is] very different from acting because usually you take notes from someone else, but now I’m giving the notes and critiques,” Briggs said.
Briggs points out that directing a One Act play this year shows the progression of her theatre career.
Junior Jenna Valle plans on taking the same step next year. This year she is acting in Hawkes’s play, “For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls.”
“[One Acts] are a good way for people who may not be involved in theatre to kind of get a taste of what it’s like to be in a real production without as much time commitment,” Valle said.
Frank has noticed that the One Acts have a lot more first time actors than other theatre endeavors, possibly because of the fact that the One Acts are more of a miniature theatre production.
“It gives an opportunity to actors who don’t feel comfortable with being a lead in a large production, to have five or 10 minutes on [the] stage,” Frank said.
The One Acts are a unique way for people to showcase their talents or try something new, like directing or acting.
For seniors, it is a way to say goodbye to high school theatre.
“It’s a last hurrah before we graduate,” Briggs said.
