Just last week, Elkhorn North’s One-Act team competed in Districts, the last competition of their season. One-Act is a series of competitions where schools perform 30-minute plays, eventually going to districts to attempt making state.
The group presented an adapted version of Pride and Prejudice, with sophomore Zen Wesselmann as Darcy and junior Myles Ferry as Elizabeth, the two main roles, with English teacher Kelly Smith directing.
This was ENHS’s first year with a One-Act team, which proved to have multiple struggles. One major hindrance was the cast was unable to use the auditorium to rehearse as it overlapped with the musical. Student actors were forced to practice in the pods, with little room and no set.
Because of this, the first two competitions had to be cancelled, since the group had no preparation time onstage whatsoever. Despite this, everyone put in their best effort to make the production work.
“ I think the fact that we didn’t have a stage for the first few weeks helped us a lot to become closer because we had to overcome many problems together,” Wesselmann said.
This year, the cast had a director who was new to the school. Kelly Smith teaches Honors English 9 and English 11 in room H218. She worked hard with the cast, balancing the play, her job, and her home life.
“Just getting the script down to a manageable 30 minutes was a struggle,” Smith said. “People don’t realize that it is a full-time job, cutting and cutting a script while trying to have it make sense.”
Her hard work was not missed by the cast and crew, noticing the dedication Smith brought to each practice.
“I know it had to be very tough on her [Smith] because she was the only person doing it. But she did an amazing job. She was really kind to all of us,” freshman Lincoln Petrick said.
The team pushed through their struggles and worked diligently to produce a show, with their first competition on Nov. 23 at Pawnee City High School. They placed No. 3 out of 8 eight schools.
“I think our group did really well,” Ferry said. “We were a new group and we only had 5 days to get most of the tech and blocking down on stage, but we were able to get third place at our first competition, so that truly felt great.”
The group adapted and refined their show between Pawnee City and Districts. While they placed 7th at Districts, they accepted the placement with smiles because they knew how much they had accomplished.
“I think we did really good overall. From our first practice to our performance at districts, there was a huge difference and I definitely did better just as an actor,” freshman Chloe Holmquist said.
The cast also made some meaningful friendships that would have never come to be without this team.
“I definitely made some friends with people who I would have never talked to otherwise. And I definitely became better friends with people I already knew,” Holmquist said.
The opportunity to express themselves also allowed them to make new friends as they were unafraid to show their true colors.
“I made quite a few new friends and they are all like me: quirky and very weird. So we fit well together,” Petrick said.
Memories with these new friends will be forever cherished by these actors, as they were put in some weird and hilarious positions they had never been in before.
“One of my favorite memories is that we got the entire auditorium (8 schools) at districts to do the macarena and at the end, the auditorium all clapped and hyped us up,” Ferry said.
Overall, the cast and crew faced multiple challenges in their season, but still overcame them, improving their show and being able to present it at districts. With a great group to fall back on next year leaves Smith with high hopes for next performance at Districts.
“I’m looking forward to really stretching what we’re going to do with the stage. They’ve brought the bar up and we did really well because of them,” Smith said. “ I think they have set the stage for the future.”
