Every year the Davis theatre department puts on at least 3 main events, The fall musical, the one act play festival, and the spring show. This year however covid has put a big question mark after all of these, the fall musical has been pushed back to January and it is unknown if there is going to be a spring show. However the one act play festival is still going to be put on this year.

The one act play festival is a collection of 6 student directed one act plays that will be performed in February. This past week auditions and callbacks were held and cast lists posted.

This year we are determined not to let the arts die and to push for the ability to perform and try to have as close to a normal year as possible.

Part of the reason why one acts specifically is still going to happen is because of the great experiences and learning that can happen because of the festival.

All plays are overseen by the theatre teacher, Michael Wright, but are directed by seniors who are in advanced theatre. This allows for the one acts to be one of the most laid back and fun events of the year for theatre.

The directors were selected through an audition process putting their directing ability and their chosen show up to bat to win out. The chosen directors this year are Trey Peterson, Abby Mathews, Kenzie Carter, Nathan Peterson, Daniel Findlay, and McKenna Plowman.

With just two months of rehearsals casts must come together after school and push to get the shows done in time. The difficulty of getting these shows to be performance ready as some parts have no lines and only blocking and some roles have almost 200 individual lines.

So what makes one acts so fun? The combination of having all students and working together on something that you’re passionate for just ends up being a great time, not to mention countless relaxed rehearsal where games or food may play a large part in motivating and helping casts to become better actors.

The play festival also helps to induct students that previously haven’t been involved In theatre, auditions are open to anyone and so all it takes is hard work and a little bit of talent to get in. This also helps to get more involved in theatre if that’s what you want.

“I am excited to be director and get to work behind the scenes of the shows and be in charge of something that’s my own, one acts are 6 one acts directed by advanced theatre students who cast and direct the shows. Any davis high student can audition and it is such a fun experience where you can grow as an actor, makes lots of new friends, have something to look forward to and put effort into and experience something new” -Kenzie Carter, a senior and one act director at Davis

The one act play festival is one of the largest opportunities for students to show how talented they actually are and get acting opportunities that aren’t as available in the big musical or just small classes. Being involved can even help your chances to be cast in future shows or classes at davis high.

Most of the advanced theatre students have been in one acts every year and some even have been cast in two shows each year. It’s possible to get in without being in one acts or the musical but it certainly helps your chance if you have been more involved in the past.

Here at Davis we are dedicated to keeping the arts and theatre alive, during this pandemic it has become very difficult to put on shows or keep performances and activities for the arts. We want to prove that the arts can be safely and have just as much right to perform and go on as any of the sports teams.

So this year we ask for your help to support theatre and the arts by coming to shows and voicing your support that we will not let the arts die but we need to push and keep doing what we love to show that it can be done.