CHS’ play-acting class will present the One Act Play Festival Jan. 8-10, which features 23 different short plays directed by the 21 students in the class and is performed by over 100 students from the entire school.

The festival, which has been held at CHS six times in the last decade, is a summative assessment for the play-acting class in which each of the students directs and casts a one- or two-act play.  The students have spent most of the months of October and November working on their directorial debuts, and many have welcomed this new leadership role.  

“It is really new to be in charge,” junior director Laura Butvinik said.  “Other students who I have performed with in the past are now looking up to me, and the responsibility is huge.”

According to theater teacher Jessica Speck, each student director selects his or her play. Once the student has chosen the play some edits may be made to ensure that the content is school appropriate. After approval by Speck, the plays are subsequently handed over for further review by a parent advisory group, which is a new process since the controversy over the content of the fall musical Chicago.

In addition to selecting their own plays, students are responsible for selecting a cast.

According to senior Haylie Levin, it was an interesting experience selecting a cast because it was hard being in a situation where she had to judge people.  However, after experiencing the judging process first hand it has changed her views of it.

“When I use to try out for plays, I would be disappointed because I thought it wasn’t fair that I was picked,” Levin said. “Now I realize that the process is extremely fair and hard.”

The festival showcases the talents of the stage design class. Students in the class work closely with the directors in order to create the sets and to ensure that they can be removed offstage quickly.

According to Speck, the large number of students involved in a festival this size makes it an arduous task to undertake. Speck and assistant producer Jeff Wolf donate their personal time to supervise rehearsals, and according to Speck, it is also challenging for students because there are so many of them rehearsing all at the same time with only a limited amount of stage and rehearsal space. 

Each of the plays will only be performed once over the three days.  The One Act Play Festival will take place every other year in the future in coordination with the play-acting class which is also held every other year, due to the two prerequisites required to take the course.