SDSU will host the South Dakota High School Activities Association State One-Act Play Festival on Feb. 6, 7, and 8, at the Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center.
According to a student box office worker, the university can expect about 40 high schools to participate. Last year’s One-Act Festival was at Brandon High School and 45 attended.
This will be the first time that SDSU is hosting the South Dakota State One-Act Festival. In 2021, they hosted just the Class B State One-Act Play Festival due to COVID-19 guidelines.
Three classes of schools attend the state festival. Classes A and B compete at a regional level, and if selected, go on to perform at the state level. Class AA gets to compete at State automatically.
When asked how the festival works, Jim Wood, the artistic director of theatre at South Dakota State University said, “Each school gets a response based on performance and technical elements.”
Each school has 45 minutes to set up, perform, and take their set off stage. If they go over that time or leave something on stage, they are disqualified.
Wood’s experience with the State One-Act Festival consists of hosting it at a previous institution, judging at many regional performances, and judging at the state festival.
Wood said that with over 40 high schools entering SDSU, “The biggest challenge is going to be the logistics of our first time hosting the festival. Many faculty and student volunteers have participated at the state festival and know how to help keep it rolling.”
Student box office worker Asterin Foster said they are preparing for the event by “making sure everything is accessible, keeping the vending machine stocked, having students on duty to watch over everything, and make sure the festival is running smoothly.”
When asked how this event is going to affect SDSU, Foster said that it will allow high school students to see if they like our campus and are interested in coming here after they graduate.
Velda Schneider is one of the many high school one-act directors who will be attending the festival. When asked what she hopes her students will take away from this experience, she said, “I hope they will realize all of the hard work that they put in will be seen and appreciated by many people, and I hope that they will gain an even greater love for theater.”
Schneider teaches at Chester High School, which was one of the many class B schools that performed on SDSU’s stage in 2021.
When asked how this year’s festival will differ from when it was held here during COVID, Schneider said, “We look forward to having an audience this year. It broke my heart for our students when their family and friends couldn’t be there to watch them and support them when we last performed here. Our performance is at 8:45 a.m. on Thursday, so we hope for a good size attendance despite the early hour.”
