By Gwenna Ihrie
Nebraska thespians from 17 high schools took center stage on November 23rd at Lincoln High School for the first annual Lincoln High Play Production Festival. Schools from cities all over Nebraska were at LHS presenting their 30-minute One Act shows in the Ted Sorensen Theatre. Schools included David City performing “Atrum Crepusculm,” Wausa performed Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds,” and Fillmore Central performed “It’s a Wonderful Neverland.”
Lincoln High’s students in “A Company of Wayward Saints” showcased their comedy at an early 8 a.m. start time. They were the first to perform.
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The festival is an opportunity for schools to perform their one-act and receive criticism from 13 different judges before the District One-Act Competition in December. They have time to change anything the judges may have pointed out that they feel would improve their chances of making it to the state competition.
Since it was a festival, there was no “winner,” LHS Theatre Director Patsy Koch Johns said. “We perform and we are critiqued and…we work.”
The last performance began at 7:15 p.m. for Osceola High School, with awards and recognitions following the end of their show and criticism time.
“Over a thousand students, parents, judges, audience members, and teachers graced our halls and strutted the boards of the Ted Sorensen Theatre-a pretty good tribute to him,” Koch Johns concluded. She hopes to make this an annual event.
