Memorial theatre department will perform their one-act play “Antic Spring” in front of an audience for the first time tonight at Legacy High School as a part of WFISD’s annual one-act play festival.
Memorial will perform first at 7 p.m. and Legacy will perform their show, “The Cover of Life,” at 8 p.m.
Theatre teacher Zachary Jackson chose a comedic play because he wanted to keep this first year lighthearted and fun.
“We see a bunch of kids going on what they hope is a great day for a picnic, and we get to see all their different personalities clash with each other – that creates the comedy,” Jackson said.
Freshman Maisey Frazier plays the role of Blossom, who she describes as energetic and someone who wants to do things her way.
“We have a lot of the same personality traits and she likes to be over-the-top and I love being over-the-top,” Frazier said. “So, it has been super fun getting to play her, but it also hasn’t been as much of a challenge.”
Junior Bryleigh Tarter plays Ginger, who has a very different personality from her.
“My favorite part about her is she’s kind of insane and some of the things she says are just kind of nonsensical because she’s trying so hard to make everything perfect,” Tarter said. “It’s kind of challenging for me to play her sometimes because I don’t usually yell at people and she yells a lot.”
Senior Emily Kintner has taken on the role of assistant director this year which has been fun, but provided some challenges.
“So since it’s directing my peers, there’s a few who don’t take me seriously and it’s hard switching from ‘friend mode’ to ‘director-mode,’” Kintner said. “You don’t want to feel mean because these are your friends, but at the same time a job needs to be done.”
While Jackson staged a majority of the show, Kintner was given a few scenes to do. During rehearsals, she also helped by pulling out actors to run smaller scenes and giving notes.
“Seeing them grow as actors and really be their characters, and finally getting a thing right that we’ve been working on, it’s so satisfying,” Kintner said.
Kintner has been involved in one-act before as an actor, but assistant directing provides her with a whole new perspective.
“I’m nervous before any show, but especially this one,” Kintner said. “Anything can go wrong, that’s with any live theatre and since I’m not onstage, I’m going to be backstage or in the audience and I can’t do anything to help it if anything goes wrong.”
Jackson knows the performance tonight will be a good way for the cast to see what plays well in front of an audience and what they need to work on before district on March 20.
“I like to hear feedback from people that I talk to, regardless of if they’re lying to me or not,” Jackson said. “Also it’s good for the kids to get feedback from their parents or grandparents that come and watch. We can kind of jump from that point, ‘OK, we got comments about this, what can we do to fix it before we actually take it?’ So it’s a nice little test audience.”
Tarter feels nervous ahead of the first round of competition. She has done one-act before in middle school, however it can be much more intense on the high school level and the rules are different.
“I’m really scared and I think I’m going to blank on some of my lines, but it’s going to be fine,” Tarter said.
Frazier is excited about the performances. It’s her first year doing one-act, but it doesn’t make her nervous.
“I’m very much a competitive person and I like to win,” Frazier said. “So having something that I love so much and having something that I’ve put a lot of my life into become a competition, it almost makes me happy because I finally get to show people that I’m the best. I’m also glad that I get to do it with other people and I’m excited to see other shows too.”
