At Wylie High 20 kids from advanced tech and mainstage have been hard at work on a play called The Taxidermist Daughter. After hours of work, rehearsing, building and performing the group is just now able to reap the rewards of their hard work though the UIL One Act contest. However, the way UIL works for theater has changed since last year by adding a new section called Zone. Because of the district being so large Zone splits the district into 2 areas Zone A and Zone B which was a two day event. This allstar cast of theater students was able to advance from Zone with a multitude of rewards.
“5 schools competed in zone A and 4 school zone B,” Kimberly Irby (11), who was one of the two main leads playing Cassie Pine said, “and that way 3 schools got to move on from each competition. Because typically with competitions it’s 6 schools competing, but these district comps are larger. In previous years it’s been 9 school competing but they were like ‘thats alot and we want to give out more awards’ which is what zone is for so at zone we had a 75% chance of moving on cause 3 of the 4 school move on in Zone B and then 3 out of the 5 schools were moving on in Zone A, so there’s zone and district then theres By-District which we are about to go too next I think Area after is region and finally state.”
When coming to these competitions Wylie high seems to always have a uniquely complex one act play that makes the audience and judges alike perplexed. The Taxidermist Daughter is no different; it’s a play that tackles many dark themes such as grief, rage, and loss.
“This play is dark,” Carley Knight (12) , who plays the other main lead star as Connie Gifford said. “It deals with a lot of hard topics, but it’s really a cool show and it’s a show that’s never been done before in this area. It’s from a British Playwright and follows these two girls one is Connie who is 20 years old and when she was 10 she had an accident that gave her amnesia so she doesn’t remember the first ten years of her life. The other girl in this story Cassie is a person from those first ten years. The conflict is that one night in Connies fathers taxidermy museum these guys attack Cassie and the dad felt bad but the guys who attacked Cassie were of really high repute. Then her father took her to this estate where she went crazy and now she’s back for revenge so she’s slowly killing these guys as Connie is slowly remembering who Cassie is. so it all culminates to become really dark and super creepy but it’s a good show.”
With this play being such a dark and horrific play naturally the actors have all had to push themselves beyond their comfort zones. The central conflict revolves around a group of men sexually assault Cassie and lead to her becoming a broken revenge filled character.
“I struggled with the role alot when I first got it because it’s a very ethically bad role.” Owen Nunn (11), who plays an attacker of Cassie and won honorable mention All Star Cast said. “It took me a lot of rehearsing, talking with fellow cast, and directors to be able to make choices for the character. I talked a lot with the cast which helped me not become comfortable with the role, but become overall comfortable. so I am able to put on a performance for all the people watching.”
While others on the cast might not have to feel as much of a struggle as the men who play the attackers in this show there are others who have to deal with a different struggle and that’s in the complexities of showing such a divisive character that must be given the right respect and time in order to do them justice.
“Difficult is an honest word.” Irby said, “She is a very complex character because you can see where she’s coming from, so for me with this character it’s very fragile. You want to do her justice and you don’t want to do her dirty. The script is so hard to understand and through one read it’s really quick and really easy to look at this script and be like oh she’s just a crazy woman and that’s it but she is such a real person, and from the comments I’ve heard about this show is that you feel bad for her. you are rooting for her while she’s doing these awful things to these men, so I take it seriously. It’s also a privilege too when you’ve been given this much responsibility to portray a character like cassie you wanna do her justice so i definitely feel the responsibility.”
However this process being as demanding as it was didn’t come without its proper gratitude. At each of these UIL One Act Play contests there’s 18 acting awards, 8 honorable mention all star cast, 8 all star cast and 2 outstanding performers. Wylie high was able to walk away with some of the best awards of the contest.
“When we competed at zone our first competition I won best overall performer” Irby said, “at zone me and carley out of 4 schools were awarded the outstanding performer which was really really cool because it means out of 4 plays we were the top 2. Then this past round at districts I was awarded the all star cast metal that means I was in the top 10 actors out of 6 schools so that was a really cool thing that I earned.”
Irving and Carley were able to capture the heart of all the judges through their heartbreaking performances and with the help of an amazing 20 man cast the theater department is advancing at a pace that seems to not be able to be stopped.
“So the cool thing about being a best performer” Carley Knight said “is that you are normally competing in 6 shows and so of the 6 whole different casts the judges have to pick the best of the best throughout the whole day. So to be picked is like saying you’re the best person who performed today. It’s really cool because obviously we work really hard in rehearsals and you know I was talking to Mrs.Harrison saying that you feel stupid when you’re messing with little things on stage but you know it pays off and people do notice.”
The UIL One Act contest has been a stressful process for the people involved but with a dedicated and hard working team as the theater department has the awards and applause should look to not be dying down any time soon for the exceptional students.