The tradition of senior one-acts is underway, the theater department allowed their seniors to write and direct an act in which younger students will have the opportunity to audition and act in them. The acts are completely run by the students. These one-acts not only give excitement to the actors, but they also present creativity to the stage. 

These one-acts are just another way for seniors to direct others. Senior Nathan Watson has done all of the main-stage productions for theater since his freshman year. Watson student directed the most recent of the productions such as, “Legally Blonde” he talked about how he enjoyed his time when he directed the play due to the fact that it is less stressful than when he acted in plays.

It was less stressful to direct because it is worse when a mistake is made on-stage than when a mistake is made from the sides of the stage and out of view from the audience. Watson’s act is called “Connections” and it is four different scenes all interwoven with each other. He got his creativity from his passion for acting, he said, “The inspiration came from my quirky personality and it is just fun and lighthearted.”

Even the actors that started recently have been excited for the acts. Sophomore Brianna Ballard participated in her first production this year in the fall musical, “Legally Blonde” where she played as Elle’s mom, District Attorney, Joyce Riley, and was a part of the ensemble. Despite her short time in theater, she is still excited about the one-acts. 

Ballard said that the seniors have put in a lot of hard work and dedication to their acts. She decided to audition for Nathan Watson’s act, she said, “He is fun to work with and I just like that he is a funny guy.” Ballard continued when she said, “Alex put in a lot of hard work for him, and I think that Nate’s is going to be a lot of fun.” Ballard goes on to talk about how she started to act because her friends were in theater and she likes being involved in a group where she can sing and follow her passion. 

The one-acts allow a multitude of different creative minds to display a story line that they have worked toward for quite some time. Senior Clara Olpin wrote one of these acts. She has been in theater since her sophomore year. 

Her act follows the life of a teenage girl who is dealing with grief from the death of a family member and her friends who decided to cheer her up. Olpin was inspired by many things from her life to write this act. Olpin said, “I wanted to write something that was meaningful, but also funny and enjoyable. I have dealt with grief in my own personal life, so I brought some of that into one-act.” Olpin has brought her experiences from her personal life to make a meaningful and impactful story. 

This tradition is an experience that the actors in the theater department look forward to for all of their high school years. The seniors enjoy the liberty when they direct a piece that is completely their own and the underclassmen like the new stories that the seniors worked on. Theater not only came up with a fun tradition for their seniors, they came up with a way for them to include all of their peers for one last time.