At their area competition in Graham on March 29, the high school one-act play troupe was announced as third place play and will be advancing to region competition on April 21 at Grayson College in Denison.
Juniors Kadence Huffman and Camryn Cox were awarded All-Star Cast and Honorable Mention All-Star Cast, respectively while junior Sara Schroeder was given an Outstanding Crew Member award.
At the bi-district contest in Haskell on March 23, “Meet Me in St. Louis” received second place play with individual awards as follows: Cox and Huffman for All-Star Cast, junior Kelsey Aultman for Honorable Mention and junior Candace Taggart for All-Star Technical Crew.
At their district meet in Seymour on March 9, “Meet Me in St. Louis” was named first place play and individual awards were given to Aultman and Huffman for All-Star Cast, Cox and senior Breden Hulse for Honorable Mention and Taggart for Outstanding Lights Technician.
Director Leslie Graham said she felt a wave of overwhelmed and excited emotions when hearing the troupe would advance to region competition.
“Now that we’ve advanced, we need to work on keeping it fresh because over time it has become too rehearsed and predictable and you can see cast members anticipating what is about to happen,” Graham said. “I also think we need to have each character examine motivation to help drive the actions in the play.”
Playing the role of the girls’ father “Mr. Smith,” Hulse said he felt strong emotions, since the troupe had not advanced from area for over five years.
“I was in total shock and on the brink of tears because it just didn’t even feel real,” Hulse said. “For our acting at region to be great, we need to sound actually genuine and in the moment, so we can react to events happening on stage instead of sounding fake or out of place.”
Schroeder said she was in shock as well, seeing as she originally didn’t expect the troupe to advance from district or bi-district.
“After hearing the critiques from area competition, it seems the more technical side of the show also needs some work,” Schroeder said. “To prepare for region, we just need to fine tune our sound and light cues, so the sound comes more naturally and the lights can reflect our comedy’s vibrant nature.”