MSHSL Section 1-A One Act Play Festival

The top two winners from the Sub-Section contests compete for the chance to move to the State festival. Participating schools were: Dover-Eyota; Fillmore Central; Kingsland; Rochester Lourdes; St. Charles; Stewartville; Triton; Zumbrota-Mazeppa.

Plays performed were:

Wiley and the Hairy Man -- Jack Stokes
Under Jeckyll's Hyde -- Tim Kelly
The Cry of Crows -- James Lee Bray
Amber Waves -- James Still
Line -- Israel Horovitz
Viet Rock -- Megan Terry, adapted by the cast and crew
That Was No Lady, That Was a Private Eye -- Dennis Snee
The Ugly Duckling -- A.A. Milne

Wiley and the Hairy Man was an interesting cross between theatre and reader's theatre. It was well done, but the very nature of the piece probably kept it from being outstanding in any way.

Under Jeckyll's Hyde looked like an embarassing romp. Most of the actors couldn't be understood, they seemed to try too hard to be funny, and they seemed to run around without purpose. The lead role did well as Mr. Jeckyll, but was much too stiff as Dr. Hyde.

The Cry of Crows was a powerful piece, well performed. The high school students did a remarkable job with an attempted rape scene, making many of us in the audience feel uncomfortable. The acting was extremely good, and certainly put this in contention for top spot.

Amber Waves was an interesting play about the death of farms in the 1980's. The acting was mostly good, but the writing lent itself to a one-note performance. The set was nice, but over-done. Rear-screen projections kept us occupied during scene changes (of which there were too many).

Israel Horovitz is a recognizable name for decent theatre, and his play Line was certainly one of the better written pieces. It also happened that it was one of the best performed as well -- a nice combination. Only five performers (four of them male!) and smooth direction had this play a crowd favorite. If I have any problem with Horovitz it's that I feel he writes stock characters, all of which were immediately recognizable to me on the stage here.

Viet Rock was an ambitious work, done in a style that I think is tailor made for State, avant garde theatre. I was impressed with the number of men in the show (seven), and their attempt to push themselves to doing something "different." I give them points for their attempt and goal, but at times what they were doing fell flat. Not surprisingly, much of what they were doing was a hit with the students that went to see this with me.

That Was No Lady, That Was a Private Eye was an attempt to combine humor, mystery, and feminism all in one. Unfortunately, nothing hit any strong moments, except for the stage hand who controlled the plant that withered and died on stage.

The Ugly Duckling looked lost on the larger, university stage. The role of the king was still strong, as in last week's performance, but the rest of the cast and staging got lost in the much more open stage.

My guess at the outcome was that it would be a toss-up between Line and The Cry of Crows. Acting and directing was strong in both. I was leaning toward Line because it was a stronger script.

Actual outcome -- a tie for first place, which then went to judges' preference, which meant: 1st place - Line; 2nd place - The Cry of Crows.

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM -- Rushford-Peterson high School

playwright: William Shakespeare
director: Daniel Munson

Shakespeare's classic story of crossed lovers and an ass.

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A delightful, abbreviated production by high school students.

MSHSL Sub-Section 1-A One Act Play Festival

Six, one-act plays, produced and performed by area high schools as part of the Minnesota State High School League One Act Play Festival. The schools are: Chosen Valley; Fillmore Central; Houston; Kingsland; Mabel Canton: Rushford-Peterson. The plays are:

The Betrothed -- Jerome McDonough
The Ugly Duckling -- A.A. Milne
Juliet's Ghost -- Kenneth R. Preuss
Under Jeckyll's Hyde -- Tim Kelly
A Midsummer Night's Dream -- William Shakespeare
Time Flies & Lives of the Saints -- David Ives

The Betrothed was a dreadful work. As staged by this school, it was very unclear as to what was happening and who the people were. Poorly paced and an unfocused script this play was clearly the worst of the lot. The director could have done a much better job making the ideas clear and the cast most definitely could have used more rehearsal time.

The Ugly Duckling was well staged, and the cast did an admirable job. I felt that it lacked energy from many in the cast, though I respected the work done by the lead ("King"). The character of "Dulcibella" was well defined and maintained.

Juliet's Ghost was a meandering work that really lacked focus. There seemed to be no direction -- groups of kids gathered in clumps in the center of the stage and would step forward to deliver a line. I normally don't mind having females play male roles (it is often necessary in high school theatre), but why choose a play that requires six men to play boyfriends when you only have one boy in the cast? I would have seriously considered a different show seeing who I had audition.

I did not see Under Jeckyll's Hyde, though I heard it was quite good.

I directed the production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, so it is difficult for me to be objective regarding the performance. I did think that my cast rushed through it much too quickly. A total of four minutes off their average time. Some were WAY too fast ("Oberon" and "Puck" in particular), but over-all I thought they did an very good job.

Time Flies & Lives of the Saints was a very interesting production. There actually seemed to be three short plays put together. None of them was really very interesting and relied too much on a one-note joke. The acting was fair and the direction fair. Nothing outstanding and nothing dismal.

Based on what I saw and taking in consideration my own bias, I would have chosen Midsummer for 1st place and Duckling for 2nd. Actual outcome: Jeckyll/Hyde - 1st; Duckling - 2nd.