More one act play success

Houston County’s high schools performed well at their respective region one-act championship competitions last month, and some are looking forward to this weekend’s GHSA State One Act Play competition Saturday at Warner Robins High School.

Northside High School’s production of “Hairspray” won the 2015 2-AAAAA region one-act play championship Oct. 24, competed at the GHSA State One Act Play competition Saturday at Perry High School. The show took fourth overall.

Daniel Walker of the cast won the best actor award at region, and Tyler Staten, Kensly Gasbarro and Zhane Fuller were named to the All-Star cast.

One of the challenges, Gasbarro said, was in “trying to add your own flavor” to the character. She plays Tracy Turnblad, a teen in 1962 Baltimore whose main desire is to dance on the popular “Corny Collins Show.” Her wish is fulfilled and she is transformed from a social outcast to a star.

Walker, who plays Seaweed, said another challenge was the fact that Northside performed “Hairspray” five years ago. Putting one’s own twist on a character made him delve deeper into what the character would be while staying true to the story, not an easy task.

It was certainly not easy for Staten, who portrays Tracy’s mother, Edna Turnblad, and had to learn how to carry himself like a woman and wear high heels (“It’s a lot easier than it looks.”)

An encore performance of the play will be presented 3 p.m. Nov. 15 at the Ray Horne Theatre for Performing Arts. Admission is $5. Brian Barnett serves as Northside High’s one-act director and drama teacher.

Northside High placed at the GHSA State One-Act Play Competition 34 years in a row from 1974 to 2008. Overall, Northside has finished first or second place 28 times, 19 as state champion. Northside won first place in 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 and 2014.

Another first place in the region one-act competition was snared by Perry High School, which won the 2-AAAA one-act play championship Oct. 27 with its production of “Spooks is Real, Bobby T.”

The Perry High cast also won best set, best ensemble and best costumes, and

Tanner Jones was named Best Supporting Actor while Carter Whiddon, Cole Brown and Ansley Berry were named to the All-Star cast.

The tale, written by Perry High drama director Joe Sendek, is a “Southern fried comedy of terrors.” This is Sendek’s second original play that centers around main character Bobby T and his small town of Possum Trot. When Bobby T calls out a particularly frightening spook, Greenteeth Jenny (portrayed by Brianna Sanders), the town panics and hilarity ensues.

Mary Ross Murphy, 17, plays a teacher whose character was based on a play, “Mathilda,” by Roald Dahl, but the British accent of the character had to be replaced by a Southern drawl.

“The best part of the character was getting to boss around my classmates,” she said, as her classmates laughed.

Murphy has been acting for four years, she said, and enjoys doing musicals and one-acts because, “They’re both so different and both so fun.”

Perry High will next compete at the GHSA State AAAA One-Act Play competition 5 p.m. Nov. 14 at Warner Robins High School. The competition is free and open to the general public.

Other Houston County schools fared well at their respective region competitions.

Warner Robins High placed third for its production of “The Drowsy Chaperone.” Five students were also selected for the all-star cast: Chelsea Clark, Gideon Strickland, Samuel Copeland, Jordan Engen and Logan Fujimoto.

“In the region competition, we had five all-star cast members, which was more than the other schools, and we came in third place,” said drama teacher and director Nicholas Sostillio. “We’re in a very intense region and it makes it a little more difficult for us,” he continued, noting the first-place finishes of Perry and Northside.

Sostillio said he selected the play because it would push students out of their “comfort zone” and make them more creative. Also, there were many challenges to be met.

“The most difficult thing is, even though this is a one-act, we’re doing pretty much everything it takes to put on a full musical. We still have to have the choreography rehearsals, the music rehearsals, the building of the sets and the costumes, just condensing it down to 55 minutes and then try to travel with it,” Sostillio said. “So it does make it a little bit more difficult than if we were doing it on our own stage. We have to pack everything up, have to think about how will it fit through a loading door, who’s going to be carrying what and how’s it going to fit once we get there, and taking all those things into consideration it does make it a little more difficult because we’re doing everything it takes to put on a full show. That’s perhaps the biggest challenge.”

The play opens with the houselights down, and a man in a chair appears on stage and puts on his favorite record, the cast recording of a fictitious 1928 musical. The recording comes to life and “The Drowsy Chaperone” begins as the man looks on.

Mix in two lovers on the eve of their wedding, a bumbling best man, a desperate theater producer, a not-so-bright hostess, two gangsters posing as pastry chefs, a misguided Don Juan and an intoxicated chaperone, and you have the ingredients for an evening of madcap delight.

“It’s really interesting to see his memories come to life, the balance of the real world versus the show that’s happening, what he’s telling us,” Sostillio said. “There’s the constant breaking of the fourth wall as he’s telling the audience the story, he’s responding to them, and the actors themselves are almost overacting – they’re actors in a show. It’s something that’s over-the-top hilarious, nonstop from the moment it starts. We almost went overtime at competition because people were laughing and clapping so much.”

He added Houston County is known throughout the state for producing great shows.

“That’s exciting because you don’t realize that. For us it’s normal, but for everyone else it’s something extra, something amazing,” he said. “Houston County has the privilege of hosting the state competitions for everyone else. So, not only do we compete in them, we host them for everyone else, which is nice. We may not have the best facilities, but the GHSA told me we have the experience and the know-how to run competitions and keep the standards up.”

The Warner Robins High School Department of Theatre will present “The Drowsy Chaperone” 7 p.m. Thursday at 3 p.m. Nov. 15 in the school’s Ronald Barnes Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $5 at the door or buy ahead at wrhstickets.com.

In addition, Houston County High’s drama cast and crew won fourth in this region for “Ghost the Musical.” Jaime Hall and Nijia Pinkney were named to the All-Star Cast, and Lillie Claire Beck won Best Actress out of all nine schools. Amy Eller serves as theater teacher and drama director.

Houston County High School’s Theatre Department will present “Ghost, the Musical,” Nov. 12 – 14. All performances will be at 7 p.m. in the school theatre. Tickets are $5, either pre-sale or at the door.

Cindy Sams, drama teacher and director at Veterans High School, said students performed “The Elephant Man” for the region competition and placed in the runner-up slot.

Her troupe also garnered two awards for acting as Chandler Shearin won Best Actor and Emily Bodony won Best Supporting Actress.

Next up for Sams and her students is “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and “The Wizard of Oz.”

She’s currently applying for students to perform at the 2016 Georgia Thespian Conference Feb. 4-6 in Columbus.

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