The UIL Theatre team competed against six other shows Friday, March 18. “The Crucible” cast and crew are set to compete against five other schools Thursday, March 24.  The Bi-District competition will occur at Ray Braswell High School. 

“Competing is a two day process,” junior actress Marissa Denman said. “The actual competition is on the second day, but the first day is rehearsal. We work cues and go through the show, but we are not really running the full thing. For competition day, we go to the place we are competing and we have an assigned room that we stay in. We stay there or watch the other shows until it is our turn to go. (When we compete) we set up, start the show, perform and strike.”

After, the team enters a room, where a judge will critique them for 10 minutes.

“After that, we can wait in our room, or watch the remaining shows until awards,” Denman said. “At awards, they announce the shows that advance and the alternate show. They also announce awards for specific actors and techs who have gone above and beyond.”

“The Crucible” is typically set in 1690s Salem, Massachusetts during the Salem witch trials. The varsity team has set the show in a dystopian setting, with futuristic ideas of government corruption, and the costumes have taken many concepts from the 1950s.

Senior Marlee Parrish, who works as an actress and as a student director for the show, has helped the concept come to life.

“I think our unique interpretation of the show is bringing more entertainment,” Parrish said. “It’s also bringing a deeper message than what people originally thought when reading the script in class. I think bringing in the dystopian concept has made it a more dramatic interpretation of what is going on in real life. It may seem like a stretch, but if you look at society in any of the other governments, this is basically what they are going through, too.”

Students in English III classes have read “The Crucible” this past quarter. In order to help students get a full understanding of the script, Principal Dr. John Burdett set up a schedule for the cast and crew to perform. Theatre held one performance each class period on March 14-15. 

“I think we are at a solid point in the show,” junior technician Gabe Torres said. “Doing tech, there have naturally been a couple of bumps in the road. However, all of us techs have started communicating better in the booth and backstage. I think the performances we did for the English III classes really helped us get in a lot of practice, and provided us with the groundwork with how the show works and runs.”

The cast and crew won a total of five individual awards, which was the most of any company in the competition. Actors Pierce Polomsky, Lauren Grammer and Cooper Smith won the All-Star Cast award. Senior Karolina Rubio-Terrazas won Honorable Mention All-Star Cast. Senior Charlie Yohannan won the All-Star Crew award.

“Last year was a big step for myself as an actor,” junior actor Cooper Smith said. “Getting to participate in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ was such a fun experience, and I think I can say for everyone we had lots of fun getting to do that show. I got to experience UIL truly for the first time last year because COVID-19 ruined it my freshman year. That show taught me a lot as an actor, and every show I do I feel like I add a new ability as an actor. I can’t wait to see what else Prosper Theatre can do.”

As a rule in the UIL competition, the students are timed during the setup and strike of the set. There is seven minutes for set up, and seven minutes for strike. They use this time to turn their set pieces into a school in the show’s new setting.

“The show has been going really good,” senior actress Karolina Rubio-Terrazas said. “It has required a lot of hard work, a lot of long hours and a lot of performances, but it’s been really worth it – getting up on the stage and competing it, seeing it all just come to life and advancing. Hopefully, we can advance this week, too.”

The varsity team performed their public performance Tuesday, March 14, at 6:30. The public performance is for family and friends of the cast and crew to have a chance to watch the show.

“Our take on ‘The Crucible’ is a more dystopian view of the play,” junior actress Lauren Grammer said. “It has been removed from the 1600s and made less about heaven and hell and more about government and how hysteria and mistrust can destroy a society. We chose to separate it from the puritanical origin because we wanted to demonstrate that it is not just a show about some random pilgrims and religious circumstances based 400 years ago – or even in the 50s – but a story that is still relevant today. It is not just about the church, but about human nature, and seeing these characters turn on each other when the circumstances test them is a timeless story, and we wanted to demonstrate that. We felt it was an important message, and that’s really our goal – to tell that story.”