On Saturday, April 1, the One Act Play cast and crew advanced to the Regional Competition after performing and placing second place at Area competition with their production of “The Miracle Worker.”

Several cast members brought home individual awards for their performance: senior Tyler Regan, senior Sydney Smith, senior Connor Alexander, senior Kaylee Pattillo, and junior Emily Warner. The cast and crew will perform at the Regional level at 7:20 p.m. tonight in Atascocita.

Making it to the Regional level of competition is a huge accomplishment for the thespians and now that more than half of the students are graduating, the need to finish their last year strong is a goal for the students. The theater program has had a successful history and there is a lot of pressure on the cast to keep that tradition going.

“I hope to always improve,” Regan said. “My goal for Region is to put on the best performance yet.”

Having a new theater director to take the lead for this year has changed things quite a bit, but it does not change the fact that the same goals are set and strived for just as much as last year. No matter what level of competition the cast is at, they plan to still put on the best show they possibly can and give every performance their all.

“I was extremely proud of all of them,” theatre director Clark Reed said. “They work hard and deserve the awards they receive. It is truly an honor to win those awards which makes them among the most elite student actors in the state of Texas.”

Going into the school year, Reed said his goal was to be successful in his first year at One Act. Now his goal is to make sure that the experiences are memorable for the students and cast in One Act Play and to instill in them that the hard work put into being successful is the reward in itself.

The actors have done quite a bit of work in helping advance, but they are by no means making it happen on their own. The technical crew team has done just as much and pulled the show together behind the scenes where nobody could notice.

“Going as far as we truly can is a huge accomplishment for me,” Warner said. “I have always loved theater and having this be my first year in One Act and going this far is an accomplishment I will not soon forget.”

While waiting for a show to begin or finishing up a practice, Reed and the cast still have to stay motivated and keep their spirits up. From time to time, the students will have dance parties in the auditorium, or they will do what is called a “fun run” where the students get to make fun of their own play and make it as silly and as fun as possible.

“These things keep the intense grind that is One Act Play a little more bearable,” Reed said.

In the end, the cast, tech crew, and Reed himself all strive for ultimately the same goal – to do the best they can do, finish the year and competitions off strong, and to make it to State. The group is in such a high level of competition now that every school there will be very good, but the group believes their goal should be to go and win first place.

“Advancing with the group is better than any individual award,” Smith said.