The junior high one-act play cast rehearses a scene.
The junior high one-act play company is preparing its performance for next month’s district contest.
Seventh grader Kalan Stephens said the actors are working to be in the correct positions and consistently face the audience.
“Memorizing the longer parts of the script has been difficult, but I always read over my part really quickly when my lines are coming up to make sure I am prepared and ready to read,” Stephens said. “The play is funny because it’s a bunch of modern people trying to act out Greek mythology.”
As stage manager, eighth grader Blake Foster controls the backstage and manages props.
“I make sure everything is where it’s supposed to be and that the play doesn’t go over 45 minutes,” Foster said. “When people don’t forget their lines, the stuff the characters do can be really funny.”
Eighth grader Kooper Keeter said the hardest part of her position is timing.
“I think keeping up with sound queues is the most challenging part for me,” she said. “The actors on stage are not loud enough most of the time, so it can be hard to hear them, making it difficult to come in on time.”
Seventh grader Hadley Canada said memorizing lines has been the hardest part, but she tries to look at them often enough to practice without a script.
“The play is funny because of who is paired up to be romantic, but we need to work on staying focused,” Canada said. “My favorite part of practices is being with everybody, but there’s always so much giggling that we get in trouble.”
Seventh grader Tyler Trapp agreed that they could take the play more seriously.
“We definitely need to stop laughing so much to be ready for contest,” Trapp said. “Memorizing and knowing the correct timing of when to act has been difficult, but I enjoy being on stage.”
Stephens said he signed up thinking he would be crew but ended up enjoying acting.
“Mrs. [Becky] Nogle gave me characters that would fit me best,” Stephens said. “One of them is really funny, and I guess some are romantic.”
Many of the actors play multiple roles, including Trapp.
“For the most part, we got to choose our roles, but I was a little late, so I kind of got the leftovers,” Trapp said. “I play three characters and get to move around a lot.”
Canada said eighth grader Jayden Peters forced her to try one-act, but she likes it now.
“My characters fit me perfectly,” Canada said. “I have to be funny but also talk like I’m in Greek mythology.”
Foster said his favorite part of rehearsals is when they practice scenes without messing up.
“I just really like this play and can’t wait to see how we perform,” Foster said.
