By MICHAEL BOYLAN
Weekend Editor

Not all regional competitions take place on the athletic field or in the classroom; some take place on the stage. Last week, all four local high schools entered the regional one act competition with hopes of making the state competition in Warner Robbins.

The plays had various styles and themes, including comedy, drama, political drama and farce.

Fayette County High School performed the play “A Night in the Ukraine” last Thursday. The play is based on a Marx Brothers film that was never made, as well as a Tommy Tune Musical called “A day in Hollywood, A Night in the Ukraine.” The play had the look of a black and white film, with the cast decked out in makeup and costumes that reflected that.

The set looked like an art deco funhouse, much like some of the films of that period. The show was well-received in its run at the school and was professionally filmed.

The play was directed by James Wagner, who discovered the show when he worked on its revival with the St. Louis Repertory Theater in 1991. He realized that he had the cast for the show in his classes, a group of students that had known each other since sixth grade. Each student had a talent that could be applied to the show and their comfort with each other led to their impeccable comic timing.

To prepare for the show, his cast worked on clowning techniques and viewed 14 different Marx Brothers films.

The other school entered in last Thursday's 4-AAAA regional one act competition was McIntosh High School. They entered their play “Something's Rotten in the State of Denmark.” The play is a take-off on Shakespeare's “Hamlet.” It begins with a high school drama club's dress rehearsal for “Hamlet” and the hope that nothing goes wrong in their first performance. The play then shows all that could go wrong in the play.

The play was directed by the school's new drama teacher, Rebecca Packard. They had good performances at the school, selling out their Saturday evening show. Packard found the cast's strengths to be comedic timing and an excellent grasp of the line delivery. The main difficulty of the show was completing the sets. Everything was completed, though, and the show went off beautifully.

McIntosh wasn't the only school to perform a work that tied into Shakespeare. Starr's Mill performed the political drama “Cahoots MacBeth.” The show dealt with a group of actors in war-torn Prague performing “MacBeth” in a basement. The government does not trust the actors and has a government inspector victimizing the actors for breaking the law.

The play can be quite brutal but it gave the cast a chance to perform in something that is not typical of high school drama clubs. “We were inspired to do a play about the right to exist without repercussions for you beliefs or ethnicity,” said Stuart Fail, director and head of the Starr's Mill Drama Department. The show was dedicated to the Kosovar refugees living in the area.

The Sandy Creek Drama Club also performed a hard-hitting piece, with the play “Bang, Bang, You're Dead.” The piece was written by William Master Simone last year in the wake of some school shootings and has been performed by a number of clubs across the country. The play deals with a perpetrator of one of these crimes and the consequences, both physical and psychological, that he will endure. The play was directed by Kathy Anderson and featured a cast of 14.

The play was performed twice during the school day in October as well as twice at night, so that more students could see the show. Principal Charles Warr attended several rehearsals to help make the show more accessible to audiences and, though the piece can be very dark, it is not without humor.

Cast members said they found the play to be very important. They found that many people who viewed the play were a little put off at first, but that it launched good discussions and was very powerful. One girl commented that reading the play for the first time was just as powerful as seeing it. The play is published on the web and can be performed for free as long as several guidelines are met.

A famous man once said, “It is no matter if you win or lose, but how you play the play.” That quote might not be exact, but it rings true. McIntosh did not place in the 4-AAAA competition but they received all Excellent scores from the judges and received many comments about their strengths as an ensemble.

The winner of the 4-AAAA competition was Fayette County High School. Their sets and tremendous performances set them above the other schools in the region. They will now enter the state competition in Warner Robbins at Perry High School Saturday at 4:50 p.m.

In AAA, Sandy Creek High School took first place. “There are some very minor things to work on,” said Kathy Anderson, “but we got a lot of very nice complimentary comments.” Sandy Creek will perform at Houston County High School Saturday at 4:50 p.m. Awards will be presented at 7 p.m.

Back to the Top of the PageBack to the Weekend Home Page