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A panel of judges, after watching,
listening, and then individually critiquing eight Class AA dramatic
productions, rated three of them “starred performances” on Thursday, February 12,
during the 2009 State One Act Play Festival sponsored by the Minnesota State
High School League. The two-day festival was conducted at O’Shaughnessy
Auditorium on the
The top eight Class AA
productions from across the state took the stage throughout the day. The three schools
whose performances were cited for “starred performances” were (in order of
performance): Eastview of Apple Valley for ‘night,
Mother, Lakeville South for The Bald
Soprano, and
Representing Section 3,
Eastview’s “starred performance” of ‘night,
Mother by Marsha Norman was directed by Scott Durocher and Rob Rachow.
Eastview, which is located in
Winner of both the Pulitzer
and Susan Smith Blackburn Prizes, ‘night,
Mother is the eloquent, enthralling, and emotionally shattering story of a
disturbing evening between a mother and her adult daughter. As the play begins,
Jessie asks for her father’s revolver, calmly announcing that she intends to
kill herself. Her mother refuses to take her seriously — at first. What follows
is what critics have termed THE American Tragedy.
Cast members were Taylor Misiak and Sarah Cartwright. Support personnel
were Aria Stiles, Sonja Burke, Jacob Chicos, Brittany Eng,
Daniel Flohr, Marcus Hanson, Shannon Hanson, Theresa
Harrah, Kyle Jakubowski, Brock Knutson, Reed Larsen, Brian Patten,
Kelley Pollum, Caitlin Ross, Ernestine Russell, Siiri
Russell, Madeline Settle,
and Ailee Velazquez.
Representing Section 1,
Lakeville South’s “starred performance” of The
Bald Soprano by Eugene Ionesco was directed by Dennis Swanson. This was
Lakeville South’s second appearance and second “starred” rating. The Cougars
earned their first “starred” rating in 2007. Lakeville also made one additional
appearance in 2004.
The Bald Soprano is an absurdist “anti-play” concerning the lack of communication. The
characters are beyond dysfunctional. All of them speak the same interchangeable
language, and thus are all leveled to one-dimensional insignificance. There is
no protagonist, no antagonist, and the characters lack self-consciousness:
Language alone is on heightened display.
Cast members were Allie Daniels, CJ Holmes, Alex Burniece,
Tyler Davis, Emily Schwegman, and Sebastian Bergeron. Support personnel
were Rachel Lantow, Catherine Bohr, PJ
Crowley, Anna Field, Elaina Holmes, Cora Huss, Alex Jehle, Christine Kawalek,
Ryan Linne, Tyler Munson, Missy Nelson, Katie Stangl, Jeff Steinkamp, and
Bailey True.
Representing
Section 6,
In Twilight of the Golds the
Gold family must make a difficult life-changing decision when faced with new
genetic information. The future of their world, as well as ours, may rest in
the balance. But after all, it is only information.
Cast members were Nate Irvin,
Kelsey Peterjohn, Ryan McCartan, Lauren Harvey, Shawn Gaebel, Jacob Fossing,
Kari Strohmaier, Devan Barlow, David Frankenfield, and Ryan Fargo.
Support personnel were Laura Grossmann,
Claire Pieper, Phil Holt, Troy Goemer, Ari Koehnen,
Emily Jordano, Josh Swanson, and Griffin Dooling.
The Minnesota State High School League State One Act
Play Festival does not involve direct competition. Judges rate the plays
according to specific criteria, including pace, blocking, costuming, and
projection of the play’s meaning. Each production is limited to 10 minutes of
stage preparation and 35 minutes of actual performance.
The
judges consult after each production and then openly critique each in front of
the cast, crew, and audience. “Starred performance” ratings are determined by
private balloting of the judges. One school from each of eight sections in each
class gets to perform at the state level. Two hundred and ninety-six teams
participated in One Act Play this season, 208 in Class A and 88 in Class AA.
Each cast and crew member
involved with these three “starred performance” productions was also presented
a Spotlight on the Arts Award of
Excellence recognition pin. This is a
fine arts recognition award created by Wells Fargo, the League’s premier
sponsor, in cooperation with the League. Each cast and crew was also awarded a
handsome acrylic trophy incorporating the Spotlight
on the Arts logo.
Eight Class A one act plays are scheduled on Friday,
February 13.
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