The AHS Drama Club has been meeting for early morning play practices since mid-October. They have been learning lines, arranging blocking, developing characters, adding in technology, and working to pull everything together to make one solid piece. The play they have been working on is a one act play entitled, “Selfie” by Bradley Hayward. A synopsis of the play follows: It's senior year and problems are mounting for a group of high school students as they prepare for the future. Facing bullies, divorcingparents,peerpressure, terminal sickness, and their own self-judgment, the characterssearchforwaysto stand out. As they document theiryear,oneclickatatime, they come to realize life is not about what other people see -- it's about the pictures they have of themselves. This play features selfies of the characters projected on the stage to go along with movement of the play. The group traveled to Mitchell, SD on January 17th to compete againstotherareaschools in the Region 4B Competition. Other schools attending were Kimball, Ethan, Mt. Vernon, and Armour.

The region competitions happen by the schools coming togethertoperformtheirshows at the same venue in front of three judges. The judges for these competitions are experienced in teaching, directing drama, and acting at various levels from high school to professional acting. Each play is critiqued immediately following the show. The critiques sessions are great times for students and directors to get tips on nearly every aspect of drama. Each group is judged on a set of criteria including interpretation ofthepiece,tempo and rhythm of the play, blocking, composition,picturization, depth of characterization, and theensembleworkofthegroup. The judges also rate the cast members after each performance and mark whether they think each actor is superior or not.Anyactorreceivingasuperior rating from 2 out of three judges earns a medal. During the competition, each school startswithabarestageandhas 45 minutes to set the stage, perform the play, clear the stage, and strike the show. Any school that goes over the allotted time limit is automatically disqualified and its actors cannot receive any individual awards. After all theplaysarecompleted,then the judges rank the plays in order. The judges comments and scores are tallied and awards are announced. The schools placing 1st and 2nd earn trophies and advance to the State One Act Festival.

Avon High School unanimously took 1st place. Every cast member from Avon also received medals after being ranked Superior Actor by at least two of the judges. Ashley Tolsma, Kaeli Wallinga, CalebWallinga,Megan Gretschmann, and Noah Watchorn earned superior rankings from all three judges! Ethan High School received 2nd place and will bejoiningAvonatthefestival at O’Gorman High School. Avon will take the stage on Thursday, February 2, 2023 at 9:45 am.