{"id":1271,"date":"2023-01-28T13:27:43","date_gmt":"2023-01-28T17:27:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2022-2023\/?p=1271"},"modified":"2024-03-25T08:56:47","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T12:56:47","slug":"one-act-wonders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2022-2023\/2023\/01\/28\/one-act-wonders\/","title":{"rendered":"One Act Wonders"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Annual Festival Features Student-Directed Plays Competing at School Level Before Advancing to Statewide Competitions<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n

Chloe Yokitis<\/p>\nEditor<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ACHS Theatre Department held its annual One Act Play Festival Competition on January 6 and 7 in the auditorium. Five plays\u2014 Dinner with the MacGuffins<\/em>; I\u2019m Okay Now, Poppa<\/em>; The S-Word<\/em>; Just a Stage He\u2019s Going Through<\/em>; and Malaika Sings the Blues<\/em>\u2014 were featured. Just a Stage He\u2019s Going Through<\/em> placed first and moved onto the District level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just a Stage He\u2019s Going Through:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
From left, junior Maikol Centeno, freshman Ellie Hartman, senior Jay Andersen and senior Neya Alper star in<\/em> Just a Stage He’s Going Through<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Stage<\/em>, written by playwright Pat Cook and directed by seniors Neya Alper and Annette Haynie, follows Dwight (junior KD Bectel), an adult who discovers that he is a character in a play when he begins seeing rooms that aren\u2019t there and people who aren\u2019t real. After trying to convince his exasperated wife (junior Lucas Trueblood) that their bedroom is not an enclosed room but a room in a set, Dwight is visited by visions of his mother (junior Angelina Martinez), whom only Dwight can see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dwight finds himself at an invisible bus stop where he meets a charming cast of characters, including a quirky saxophone player sporting a rainbow cowboy hat (junior Maikol Centeno), an elegant, ritzy woman (senior Neya Alper), a hardened man who claims society is a \u201cman-eat-man world\u201d (senior Jay Andersen) and a respectable businesswoman (freshman Ellie Hartman).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dwight\u2019s acceptance of the world he now lives in comes with the surprise appearance of famed scientist Dr. Sigmund Freud (senior Jeffrey Brenchley), who speaks in a zealous Anna Delvey-esque accent accompanied with exaggerated hand gestures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m really happy with how the actors all worked together, both on and off stage,\u201d Haynie said. \u201cEach rehearsal, they seem to get better and more in tune with their characters!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The actors that performed at Districts were slightly different than those who performed at the school level, Haynie said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThree of the roles we originally casted now are filled by different actors\u2014 one of whom is my co-director, Neya Alper\u2014 so I\u2019m especially proud of how quickly they fell into the roles,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of January, Stage<\/em> competed against other high schools in the District One-Act Play Festival Competition at Lake Braddock High School. The students placed fourth, and Trueblood and Martinez received honorable mentions for best acting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Malaika Sings the Blues<\/em><\/strong>:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
From left, senior Naeem Scott, sophomore Matias Chase and senior Jasper Lavan star in <\/em>Malaika Sings The Blues<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Blues<\/em>, directed by junior Yahney-Marie Sangar\u00e9 and senior Nora Malone, is written by Sangar\u00e9 and was one of three student-written plays at One Acts. In the play, Malaika (freshman Jennifer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adu-Wadier), a D.C. native, visits a New Orleans bar with her boyfriend Ovi (senior Jasper Lavan). The bar, located in the city where her father is buried, is owned by the friendly River (senior Nathan Desta) and frequented by Malaika\u2019s uncle Solomon (senior Chidebelu Ojukwu). The play placed second in the school-level competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Malaika also meets Ella (freshman Lyric Hardemon), who takes Malaika under her wing and predicts that Malaika has a transformative journey ahead of her. And a journey it was. Minutes later, Malaika opens a report detailing her family history and discovers what she had suspected is true: Ovi\u2019s third-great grandfather owned her ancestors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Malaika\u2019s journey is brightened by her newfound community in New Orleans, including sharp-witted Achille (senior Naeem Scott)\u2014 \u201cDon\u2019t you ever want to burn down the White House?\u201d Achille asks Malaika when she mentions she lives in D.C.\u2014, River\u2019s good-humored nephew Isaiah (freshman Liam Fiore-Walker) and chess-playing Eloi (sophomore Matias Chase).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blues<\/em> features swinging jazz dance scenes and lively musical numbers featuring Nina (senior Isa Valenzuela) and Achille on vocals, Louis (senior D. Jalon Reed) on the saxophone and Pianist (Lavan) on the piano.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Desta, who played River, said that his favorite part of the play was \u201cadapting to [its] uniqueness,\u201d which was \u201cunconventional\u201d\u2014 though this also proved to become a challenge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[It was difficult to pull] off all of the dances because we thought it would\u2019ve been easy, but none of us had really done jazz dancing,\u201d he said. \u201cAll of the musical elements were extensively rehearsed so there was a lot of time and effort put into them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said he hopes the play resonated with the audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI hope it speaks to people trying to figure out what their purpose in life is,\u201d he said, \u201cbecause I feel like that\u2019s what Malaika is going through.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dinner with the MacGuffins<\/em><\/strong>:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
From left, junior Jei Huddle, senior Michael Goldsberry, senior Nehemiah Thomas, junior Lucas Trueblood and senior Owen Maccubbin star in <\/em>Dinner with the MacGuffins<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dinner<\/em>, written by Chris Sheppard and Jeff Grove and directed by junior MC Finegold-Sachs and senior Jeneya Kamara, is a fourth-wall story like Stage<\/em>. It is centered on teenager James (senior Nehemiah Thomas), who discovers that he sees an audience that no one around him detects. His girlfriend Karen (junior Jei Huddle) and grandfather (senior Owen Maccubbin) try to convince James that there\u2019s no audience, but to no avail. James does not budge. The play placed third in the school-level competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The kooky yet warm family dynamic between the characters is built on by James\u2019s parents, Helen (senior Michael Goldsberry) and Dwight (junior Lucas Trueblood).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dinner<\/em> is sprinkled with surprises, like the appearance of FBI agents (juniors Alexander Cirmo and Yousef Khalid) and a game-changing discovery about Grandpa\u2019s past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Junior Vanessa Mensah stars as a \u201cplant\u201d: she sits in the audience until her character\u2019s phone rings\u2014 which James hears, since he can hear the audience\u2014 and she unexpectedly gets out of her seat and walks across the theatre. \u201cI\u2019m at this play,\u201d she says with her smartphone up to her ear, \u201cabout this Black boy\u2014 with white parents, can you imagine? I think he must be adopted or something!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finegold-Sachs said that they really \u201cenjoyed\u201d co-directing with Kamara and is excited to keep pursuing this interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt made me decide that I definitely want to try doing student leadership for theatre next year,\u201d Finegold-Sachs said. \u201cAnd I really do enjoy directing, because while it\u2019s hard, it feels so good seeing your work come through at the end.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They said that they\u2019re especially proud of the play because it was produced entirely by Advanced Theatre students, and historically, the play put on by the class has not done as well in competition as the other plays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m really proud of my actors, seeing how they grew and how the effort changed. And while it wasn\u2019t perfect, it was good, and I can\u2019t wait to see what else they do\u2014 especially with Black History Month coming up and having a different play to do,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The S-Word<\/em><\/strong>:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Junior Peter Russo stars in <\/em>The S-Word<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The S-Word<\/em>, directed by sophomore Quinn MacBride and junior Jei Huddle and written by MacBride, follows friends Ari (freshman Ailinn Colarulli), Casey (senior Amiera Miller) and Parker (senior Kai Avila) as they plan for a picnic. But before they leave, Ari and Parker share some startling news: anyone who speaks the word \u201csandwich\u201d will be hunted by murderous sandwiches who are hell-bent on getting revenge for being eaten for years with no consequences. The play placed fourth in the school-level competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The characters have their first encounter with the Sandwich (ju-nior Peter Russo) when it chases a hunchbacked old lady (senior Owen Maccubbin), clad in a baby blue nightgown and hobbling across stage with her walker. After the audience witnesses the characters surviving several close calls, panicking for their eventual dooms, figuring out what to eat for lunch and finding romance, the play goes out on a sweet note with a full-circle twist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very surreal experience knowing that you have the power to make the play whatever you want it to be, because it never feels like that. In the end, it\u2019s up to the actors to do what feels natural, and to the directors to tell them to keep doing something or never do something again,\u201d said MacBride. \u201cIt\u2019s keeping everything in mind while trying to uphold the writer\u2019s vision\u2014 which, luckily, wasn\u2019t too much of a problem for us, since I wrote it!\u201d said MacBride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MacBride says that they and Huddle got to know each other at the annual spring Writers\u2019 Festival event where S-Word<\/em> premiered. That\u2019s where they \u201crecruited\u201d Huddle, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe work really, really well together; we agreed on almost everything and the things we didn\u2019t agree on, we were able to compromise on. It meant that the play didn\u2019t turn out exactly how I imagined it when I was writing it, but that was a good thing,\u201d MacBride said. Huddle says that the relationship between the co-directors and the cast was \u201camazing.\u201d The cast, which was primarily made of new actors, was one of their highlights of the experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn my opinion, one of my favorite parts about One Acts is how we introduced so many new actors into our department,\u201d Huddle said. \u201cIn The S-Word<\/em>, for our three lead actors, this was either their first high school experience acting, or at least their first lead role\u2014 and they all killed it!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m Okay Now, Poppa<\/em><\/strong>:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
From left, junior Maikol Centeno and freshman Kit Vontz star in <\/em>I’m Okay Now, Poppa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Poppa<\/em> is a story about the importance of real friendship and family throughout difficult times. It is written by junior Rachel Ross Calixto and directed by Ross Calixto and junior Tanween Syed. The play placed fifth in the school-level competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poppa<\/em> follows the friendship between teenagers Rhea (freshman Kit Vontz) and Molly (senior Rodase Demissie).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rhea and Molly, who were close friends before Molly moved away, reunite when Molly travels into town for Rhea\u2019s birthday. Rhea\u2014 who has finally come to terms with her romantic feelings for her friend\u2014 is ready to make the most out of Molly\u2019s visit and tell Molly the truth. With the help of her friend Owen (sophomore Matias Chase), she prepares to face her feelings on the night of her eighteenth birthday party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when what should have been a sweet moment turns sour, Rhea is reminded that the world is not always a kind place. In the aftermath, Rhea leans on her kindhearted father (junior Maikol Centeno), and they share a tender moment as she is reassured that even when she didn\u2019t know it, her father was cheering beside her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is Ross Calixto\u2019s first year directing a play. In last year\u2019s One Act Festival<\/a>, she acted in a play called The Couch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs an actor myself, I was used to hearing how important relationships amongst actors are outside of characters. I guess I didn\u2019t really understand it until I saw it myself while co-directing this play,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ross Calixto says that she thinks of the play, which she wrote over the summer and finalized in the fall, as a coming of age story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have had some friends say that the play touched them because they found it relatable in many aspects,\u201d she said. \u201c[The purpose of] my play was really to portray that it\u2019s okay if things don\u2019t necessarily work out the way one might want them to.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Featured Image from left: Junior KD Bectel, junior Angelina Martinez and senior Jeffrey Brenchley star in <\/em>It’s Just a Stage He’s Going Through<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All photos by Chloe Yokitis for <\/em>Theogony<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The ACHS Theatre Department held its annual One Act Play Festival Competition on January 6 and 7 in the auditorium. Five plays\u2014 Dinner with the MacGuffins; I\u2019m Okay Now, Poppa; The S-Word; Just a Stage He\u2019s Going Through; and Malaika Sings the Blues\u2014 were featured. Just a Stage He\u2019s Going Through placed first and moved onto the District level.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":1283,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[355,352,354,353,209,351],"class_list":["post-1271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-competition","tag-one-acts","tag-plays","tag-student-directed","tag-theatre","tag-theatre-department"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2022-2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/IMG-4222-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2022-2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2022-2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2022-2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2022-2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2022-2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1271"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2022-2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1408,"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2022-2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1271\/revisions\/1408"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2022-2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2022-2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2022-2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2022-2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}