Since the competition for the UIL One Act Play is coming up, the hard-working theater troupe has already started their rehearsals. The competition will take place March 8 at Memorial High School and the troupe is very excited for the “eccentric” play they’re putting on this year.

“The underlying theme of the play is about what young people will do in order to feel safe in their environment,” teacher Sherry Frank said. “In the play, this young man is bullied by everyone in his school and has no one to intervene for him. One day, he runs into a young woman, who actually turns out to be a monster, and befriends her. In the end, this turns out to be a horrible decision, but this just goes to show what people will do in order to feel like they can survive in their environment.”

Frank had seen the play a couple of years ago with her colleague Rachel Seney. They both loved the play and thought it would be a great choice for UIL, but they faced a hard time since the play wasn’t part of the competition’s approved list.

“I contacted the publisher and the play was still in manuscript form,” Frank said. “She said that in order to get it approved we had to cut it and then send it to back to her so she could send it to the author’s agents in the United Kingdom and see whether he would approve our cutting.”

Being the biggest production that can allot the school academic points during the school year, the troupe has taken the competition very seriously and has already started rehearsing.

“We rehearse Monday through Thursday 3:30 P.M. – 5:30 P.M., Friday 3:30 P.M. -7:00 P.M. and we also rehearse every Saturday 9:00 A.M. -1:00 P.M.,” Seney said. “What’s amazing is that the kids are putting it all out there; they’re really pushing hard to do a great job and I’m so proud of them because the play we’re doing is fairly hard.”

The play is a real challenge for the technicians especially, since they are expected to work harder and faster to perfect the special effects.

“With this show, since we have seven minutes to set up our set the day of the competition, one of our biggest challenges would be the projectors we’re going to be using because you have to place them very specifically and be very precise,” senior Felipe Cardoza, the lead technician said. “It is a tech heavy show, but a lot of the stuff is tech stuff we’re already accustomed to so we don’t have to worry.”

Despite the show being a tough piece to put on, the troupe is glad they are doing this.

“This is something I’m glad I’m getting to do in high school,” junior Dylan Shaw said. “Last year’s show was very good show, but I think this year we can expect to go even further.”