Stepping on the bus, the UIL theater team understood that the stakes were higher than usual. Still, they did their best to make their school proud. On March 4, they went to Austin High to compete against several other schools at the district level. The team performed Lauren Dunderson’s play “The Book of Will,” and competed against every school in the district.
“[The Book of Will] is about William Shakespeare after he’s dead and carrying on his legacy with all the plays he wrote,” junior actor Hudson Kerr said. “It’s also about publishing the book so everyone can have access to his plays.”
The crew prepared for the competition with auditions in late December, long before the UIL event itself. From then on, the cast of the show spent months memorizing their lines and rehearsing their scenes.
“We do auditions and cast it before we go to winter break,” Kerr said. “Then when we come back, we do rehearsals four or five times every week leading up to the show. The UIL performance was in Marc
h, and we had an early one in February.”
The UIL theater competition follows a different procedure than the academic or athletic competitions. Instead of taking difficult tests or running sprints, the UIL actors perform their plays for a panel of judges.
However, this year followed a new process. Due to an increased popularity in theater, there were more schools than usual competing at the district level. This meant that the judges were overbooked on the day of the rehearsal, and the teams needed a better solution.
“Since this year there were seven schools competing at the district level, we had to go on Monday to do our rehearsal,” Kerr said. “Then we had to go back on Tuesday to do the actual performance. That’s when the judges were actually taking notes for who was going to advance. Three teams advance of the seven that are performing.”
Although they did not advance to the next competition, the team enjoyed themselves while performing the show. They were able to perform their play for their family and friends, without the pressure of the judges, March 7.
“We got to perform it for our families and anyone who didn’t want to drive all the way up to Austin High,” Kerr said. “We got to have more fun with our show because it wasn’t as stressful as it was to perform for the judges.”
