The Hawk Theatre Company will compete in the UIL Zone One Act competition on March 6 and attend more competitions through the rest of the month, if they advance. 

One Act is theater’s UIL performance piece. The order of competitions is Zone, District, Bi-District, Area, Region and State. Unlike regular performances, One Act performances are shortened to 40 minutes. 

“We have to be extra careful with the cutting of our script and keep a close eye on its run-time to ensure we don’t get disqualified,” junior Shae Duggan said. “There are four other LISD schools we compete against in 6A, all of which have outstanding theater departments, so it’s crucial that we bring our ‘A’ game.” 

The judges score shows based on a variety of factors including acting and set design. Actors and technical theater students can also earn individual awards including Best Performer, All-Star Cast, Honorable Mentions and Best Technician. 

“I am extremely excited to compete again,” junior Macy Newman said. “My favorite party is definitely getting so close to my cast. We become a family and I’ve always loved that about the One Act play.”

The company originally planned to compete with Helen Edmundson’s adaptation of “Anna Karenina,” Leo Tolstoy’s classic Russian love story. Instead, the company will perform “Yerma.”

“‘Yerma’ is a completely different beast to tackle,” Duggan said. “It’s got singing, dancing, dream sequences, etc. — but it fits our company so much better. We have extremely high hopes for this show, and we cannot wait to take it to our first competition Friday.” 

While the actors focus on their roles and performances, the tech theater students will work on different aspects of set design, music composition and costume design. Junior and stage manager Tai Summrell is in charge of production because directors are not allowed backstage for the competition. She will also time the show and call cues for lights. The stagehands are in charge of moving the lights, so they wear morph suits to not be seen by the judges. 

“With lights, they have to set up cues and run through them during the show, which [sophomore] Gavin Guenther is in charge of,” Summrell said. “With sound, the main thing they focus on for One Act is composing our own music, which [senior] Benjamin Roche is doing an amazing job on. For costume and makeup, they match each already conceived design to a specific character in the show.”

Last year, the company performed “Mary Shelley,” and advanced to Region. The school made it further than any other LISD school. Despite the stressful environment, the company is looking forward to this year’s performance. 

“It may sound crazy, but I genuinely love waking up at 4:30 in the morning on competition days and spending the entire day with our company,” Duggan said. “It’s a bonding experience; we watch the other school’s shows together, we help each other get ready for the performance and the awards ceremony, and we have dance parties in the rehearsal room. I went home after Region being part of a family. That’s an aspect of this process that you can’t necessarily find anywhere else.”