Bringing Home Another Victory, Drama One-Acts
By Aidan Rodriguez
Crushing the competition, the Owasso Theatre Troupe 4722 put on a brilliant performance at Union High School on Saturday, April 17. Performing the play entitled “The 39 Steps,” this small but mighty group put on the performance of a lifetime!
The play begins with Richard Hannay, a brilliant and handsome gentleman (played by Lucas Booth) being framed for the murder of Annabella Schmidt (played by Marie Sanders) by two spies (played by JJ Willis and Axyl Langford). Hannay must evade capture and outrun them, but obstacles seem to turn up everywhere he goes. Along the way, he runs into a nine-and-a-half fingered professor (played by Ashton Slaughter) and a damsel in distress love interest (Natalie Turner).
The troupe brought home a superior ranking as they did last year with their one-act titled “Declaration.” This is the second year in a row that Owasso has brought home the first place trophy for one-act, a feat that hasn’t happened since before Mr. King began his tenure here. On top of the troop’s big win, there awaited another victory for the students. Lucas Booth, who played Hannay, won the overall award for Best Actor. However, the award didn’t come easily to Booth. He struggled to fully capture the essence of his character, but all the same, worked hard to find it.
“It was a lot harder to prepare for my character than I thought,” explains Booth, “because I thought I could just do the voice and it would be fine; it was a one-dimensional character.”
The acting was a large contribution to the one-act win, but another group of students needs to be recognized. This group works behind the scenes to make everything perfect. The stagehands, also known as movers and shakers, play a vital role in the play working.
Senior mover and shaker Tara Mason explains her role in the play, stating, “It means you have to be secretly on stage. You have to be able to move props, move [the] set, make sure everyone is in costume and make the actors look good while being seen as little as possible.”
Without this group of students, the play would not have been possible. Mason, for example, was in charge of moving the door around the stage, moving the couch and making sure the actors were in the correct outfits.
For Seniors, this was the perfect way to end the season, but it also comes with sadness.
Booth exclaims, “It was the perfect ‘last hoorah’ for a Senior in this department.” He continues with some sorrow, “It’s a bitter-sweet feeling [leaving Owasso]. I’m going to miss my theatre dad [Mr. King], and I can only hope that I leave some kind of legacy.”
Booth will continue his acting career at OU where he is studying film and film acting. Not all students are taking this path, though. Mason is going to school to become a doctor. While everyone is pursuing a different path, everyone can agree that they had fun in this class and the memories they made will stay with them forever.
Congratulations again to the Owasso Theatre Troupe 4722 and Lucas Booth for their amazing performance! The actors and actresses have one final performance, though. You can go watch them and support them at the musical “Godspell” on May 21 and 22.
One-Act Team celebrating their victory (All photos taken by Ryan King)
From left to right: JJ Willis, Lucas Booth, Ashton Slaughter and Axyl Langford with their awards
Lucas Booth holding his Best Actor trophy