“Spearfish high school, you may take the stage!” The state one-act play festival is often a three-day extravaganza of over forty schools coming together to showcase some of the best high school theater talent in South Dakota. This year, however, it’s not quite the same.
Initially, Brandon Valley was planning to host the event in its entirety this year but plans changed as the festival got closer. Discussions between the Speech Advisory Committee, the Board of Directors of the South Dakota High School Activities Association, and the SDHSAA Covid Task Force decided the best plan, if the performances were going to take place as live, in-person, the three classes had to be split up. Brandon Valley was chosen to host the AA’s, Rapid City Central, the A’s, and the Performing Arts Center at South Dakota State University in Brookings would host Class B.
In December, however, the Speech Advisory Committee passed a recommendation to the SDHSAA board to have the state one-act play festival be a virtual submission event this year, rather than live performances. But the board denied the advisory committee’s request, which left some who are involved with state one-acts scratching their heads.
“We all felt the same way, go virtual. And granted things have better in the past week or so but frankly, I’m scared to death. I’ve turned down judging jobs in regions and such, because I just didn’t feel safe,” explained Kevin Brick, Brandon Valley stage manager.
Four of the ‘AA’ schools who qualified for the state festival, Sioux Falls Lincoln, Sioux Falls Washington, O’Gorman, and Harrisburg, still opted to submit their performances virtually, which the SDHSAA allowed schools to do if they desired. This means the ‘AA’ site at Brandon Valley high school only has a total of ten performances. The Class B event in Brookings has sixteen and the ‘A’s’ in Rapid City have fourteen.
Even though there are fewer performances at each venue to orchestrate, it’s still a challenge to those tasked with organizing and running it.
“It’s way harder. It’s the logistical side of it. Not mixing cast members, keeping things flowing. I felt we had to go with masks and all that,” said Brick. “We couldn’t open up our dressing room, because we couldn’t possibly ask our staff to disinfect after each performance.”
Another concern is even though kids are getting the experience to perform their plays live, they’re still missing out on key components that traditionally made the state festival great.
“Over fifty percent of the experience for our kids is being able to watch other kids perform, and learn from that. Coaches learn and kids learn, and it’s lost,” explained Brick. “We’re fortunate, because my Brandon kids are working and can work, and we can have audience members.”
Both the ‘AA’ and ‘A’ event are allowing a limited number of audience members to attend each play. There is also a thirty-minute break in between plays this year, to allow time for people to exit the auditorium and a new group to enter. The ‘B’ festival at SDSU in Brookings, however, is not allowing an audience for those performances.
Despite the change in format, the risks that may come with it, and the additional organization, now that it’s here and happening Kevin Brick admits, this was probably the right thing to do.
“It’s not the best situation, but it’s something, they get to do it. I didn’t think it work, but it’s working,” Brick stated. “It’s great that they get to perform for their families, critiqued, and such. I can see why the board did what they did, it’s that important.”
For more on the state one-act play festival, click here.
