One-Act Competition brings theatrical excitement to NC’s Standing Ovation
Senior Emily LaPierre prepares for competition as she readies her makeup and hair. The students, filled with nerves, calm themselves by talking amongst themselves and running through difficult scenes. LaPierre, although nervous, cannot wait to make the audience at One-Act laugh with her amusing character. “I’m most excited for my military maneuvers line because I love making people laugh and that line in always a big hit,” LaPierre said.
October 31, 2018
NC Standing Ovation traveled to Hillgrove High School to compete in the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) Region 3-7A One-Act Competition on Saturday, October 27.
NC brought their show Suite Surrender, written by Michael McKeever, to the theatre competition against other high schools in the region. The opposing performances included Kennesaw Mountain High School with Water by the Spoonful, North Paulding High School with Ten Ways to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse, Marietta High School with Anatomy of Gray, McEachern High School with AGO, and Hillgrove High School with Black Comedy.
“Watching the other shows gave me that rush of adrenaline to perform better. It got my head in the game and got me ready to blow the crowd away,” senior Daniel Rodriguez said.
The One-Act Competition included 6 different schools presenting their shows. The schools also only could take 15 minutes to set up and rehearse before performing their show. As the jam-packed day of theatre flew by, NC students remained anxious for their performance at 2:45 p.m.
Before each school performed, the cast and crew could practice and set up for 15 minutes on stage. Each performance could not exceed 55 minutes, and three judges took notes and commented on each production.
After the last performance, the judges took an hour to confer while the schools came together to play “Little Sally Walker” and other games to help distract participants from the slow passage of time.
“I was a little scared, but everyone from North Cobb nailed it. The other schools also all did amazing, so that made us really nervous,” junior Kai Morgan said.
The beginning of the awards ceremony consisted of design and production award with the winners:
Best costume: Marietta High School
Best set: McEachern High School
Best lighting: Hillgrove High School
Best ensemble: Marietta High School
The judges chose two students from each show to receive the All Star Cast award and also chose two overall best supporting actor/actress and lead actor/actress. From NC’s show, senior Skye Farmer and junior Jackson Riedesel won the All Star awards and junior Deandre Mallory won the Overall Best Supporting Actor award.
Once the individual awards ended, the judges announced the placing schools. Due to eight deducted points for falling 47 seconds overtime, NC placed last in the competition. Marietta High School placed second and Kennesaw Mountain placed first. The first place school will move on to the state competition on November 10 at Buford High School.
The students at One-Act celebrated with Kennesaw Mountain as they took their 1st place title for the 5th consecutive year.
After the long day of theatre, NC students experienced a day of watching performances and meeting other theatre students from around the county.
“Meeting all the new people was so amazing and fun. I’ve never been in any kind of theatre competition ever, so this was the best experience ever,” senior Skye Farmer said.
