Choctaw continues to dominate the One Act State Play competition with the sixth state tech crew award and ninth state championship under the direction of Mary Jane Burton.
The tech award is given to the school that scores the highest for set design, make-up and costuming, lighting, sound and load on/off set. Heath Weselak, set construction leader, explained, "Tech is behind the scenes. [We are] everything that happens magically. [We are] the support of the cast. We’re back stage making sure everything is running smooth and making everything as perfect as possible."
The tech crew sets the scene for the play, deciding how the audience will see the actors on stage.
This year the stage turned dark with the production of The Bad Seed by Maxwell Anderson.
Mattie Alexander and Hope Chancey play mother and daughter respectfully in the lead roles of Rhoda and Christine Pennmark in 1950s America. The play centers on Rhoda, a girl who at a young age has found out how to manipulate people. Although she appears to be innocent Rhoda, in fact, is hiding a dark side.
This dark side contrasts with the actress’s bright, bubbly personality. When asked about her character, Chancey responded, "As an actress, I view her as an amazing role to play. First of all, because I can be a completely different person, and it made me grow as an actress. It is hard to initially get into the mindset of that, but after awhile it just becomes natural. The thing with Rhoda is you have to make sure that walls are up so she can’t bleed into your real personality later."
Alexander knows about difficult roles as she played Violet Westin, a pill-crazed grandmother in last years’ One Act play, August Osage County.
Alexander said Bad Seed deals with "controversial subjects."
"When this play came out in the 1950s, this was definitely controversial. And so I really like that aspect where it’s a really dark play that in the 1950s was definitely not the norm."
The play’s leading ladies wouldn’t be champions without a great supporting cast.
Jackson Parker, who plays LeRoy the janitor - Rhoda’s antagonist - is one of these strong supporting cast members. He attributes the plays success to the story line and "Burton’s directing."
No one can dispute that Burton has had tremendous success placing second or higher in every state competition since 2005.
Part of the success is in how hard Burton pushes her actors and actresses.
"It’s a very rough process," Chancey said when asked about the preparation it took for the state championship play. " It takes a lot of will and it takes a lot of want to get that, but I think with anything you go after, you have to have that sense of passion for it and you definitely have to have that for drama."
This year several newcomers had to find their passion with only three of the 11 actors on stage having ever performed before. This provided a challenge for the seasoned director. Burton said her strategy was to "work from the bottom up" making sure that each actor would be on the same level by the time they competed at state.
Burton succeeded in getting all of her actors on the same level in order to win; however, even with a state championship, Burton believes she has not seen their "best show."
"Until as the director, I feel something, it doesn’t really matter," she said, "Theater is a unique art form - fine arts is unique - we feel something when we walk away from that."
Choctaw will be hosting two post-state performances of The Bad Seed this Friday and Saturday night at 7:30. Friday will be a buy one get one event. All tickets will be $7.
Saturday’s showing will feature sweets and seats. Free dessert will be served after the performance. Tickets for students, CHS drama alumni and seniors (62 and up) are $5; adults will cost $7. Burton asks that everyone arrive at the Performing Arts Center located at 14300 NE 10th St. by 7:15 to avoid late entry.
"I definitely want to thank everyone, that would be the CHS administrators, our incredible parent support group, our drama alum, our C.A.S.T officers, that’s our parents’ booster club, Caring Adults Supporting Theater, for all of their efforts,"
Burton said. "I specifically want to do a shout out to Chief Kula, Colonel Jones, and the [J]ROTC cadets for all of their help, Dr. McCharen, Billy Smith, Mr. [David] Reid, all the administrators that have supported us from day one. Also our personnel at the administration office, Brian Cannon who has made sure that our building was in excellent condition. As so again it has been a team effort and we couldn’t have done it without everyone pulling together."
