The 60th annual State One Act Play Festival took place at O’Gorman High School in Sioux Falls over the weekend. It began on Thursday and concluded on Saturday with an awards ceremony. Forty-four schools from around South Dakota performed at the event.
One Act Play is basically the same as a typical high school theater performance – except it’s only one act long. This means each school is given 45-minutes to get on the stage, perform, and then get off the stage. Exceeding the designated time limit can result in a penalty, which in turn could effect the score the school receives from the judges.
Justin Speck is the theater director for Rapid City Central, and this is his twelfth with the Cobblers. Speck said the One Act Play Festival gives students the opportunity to perform in front of other students, who are just like themselves.
"How often do you get to perform at home for your own crowd when all the people in the audience, at least the majority of them, are moms and dads, relatives, and administrators, teachers and people from the community," said Speck. "When you come to the State One Act Play Festival, you’re a theater kid performing for twelve hundred other theater kids."
Speck said all the schools competing aim for a Superior rating. He explained for a school to earn that rating, two of the three judges critiquing the performance must agree that the performance was in fact superior. A school can’t be considered superior without a majority decision.
For more information on the event, and to see photos of the performances, click here.